Player to Watch: Kris Dunn, Providence
Senior guard Kris Dunn and his nine-seeded Providence Friars began the season with high expectations. But in the second half of the conference season, the Friars dropped six of eight games, which led to Dunn and Co. limping into the Big East Tournament. Dunn, though, has dominated college basketball nevertheless with a flurry of lethal 3-point shooting and dynamic drives to the basket. Dunn won the Big East Player of the Year for the second straight season, doing so in convincing fashion. He is going to hear his name called in the NBA Lottery come June, but before that Dunn and his Friars are going to try and say a prayer, make a vow to play good defense, and extend their practice into the tournament’s second weekend.
Dream Matchup—Early Rounds: No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 5 Indiana
Indiana and Kentucky first met in December 1924, with the Hoosiers defeating the Wildcats 20-18. Kentucky and Indiana have met 54 times since then, with Kentucky leading the overall battle 31-23. Meeting 56 looms large in a possible second round matchup between two familiar foes. Both teams feature elite point guards. Kentucky is led by freshman guard Tyler Ulis, while Indiana is led by senior guard Yogi Ferrell. Both teams won their respective conferences and have legitimate Final Four potential. Plus, who wouldn’t want to see two of college basketball’s most boastful coaches pace the sidelines.
Dream Matchup—Late Rounds: No. 3 West Virginia vs. No. 4 Kentucky
In last year’s NCAA Sweet 16, the fifth-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers declared they would upend the then-undefeated Kentucky Wildcats. Things didn’t go as planned for the Mountaineers, as Kentucky and its NBA-laden roster demolished West Virginia and its vaunted full-court press. Flash forward to this March, and a possible rematch between West Virginia and Kentucky looms large in the Elite Eight. This time around, West Virginia is a little bit better, and Kentucky is a little bit worst. Kentucky, though, is coming off a convincing SEC Championship victory and looks poised for another deep tournament run. West Virginia made a deep Big 12 conference run of its own, falling to Kansas in the Big 12 Championship game, and hopes its full court pressure will force the Wildcats out of the tournament.
Dark Horse: Indiana
In a region full of teams that made deep runs in their conference tournaments, like North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia and Xavier, the dark horse of the East Region is a team that stunningly went one-and-done in the its conference tournament. Led by senior guard Yogi Ferrell, the fifth-seeded Indiana Hoosiers are the dark horse in the East Region. Indiana won the Big Ten regular season title outright, posting a 15-3 conference record, but stunningly fell to the Michigan Wolverines in their one and only conference tournament game. With more than a week’s rest, head coach Tom Crean has had plenty of times to digest the film and devise a way for Ferrell, freshman forward Thomas Bryant and junior forward Troy Williams to succeed when the games count for real. A second-round date with Kentucky is looming large, and so are matchups against potential Final Four foes North Carolina, Xavier and West Virginia, but after a dominant 32-game regular season in an elite conference, Indiana has shown it can compete with the best of them.
Grab Bag
On the surface, it looks like West Virginia junior forward Devin Williams once reached into a grab bag to find his pair of optics. Instead of wearing contacts or getting lasik eye surgery, Williams has been wearing goggles which make him appear more like former NBA players Horace Grant and Buck Williams. And while Williams’ odd optics differentiate him on the court, so does his play. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native averaged 13.3 points and 9.3 rebounds during the regular season and is coming off of a 31-point, 10-rebound dominant performance against Kansas in the Big 12 championship. While West Virginia is known for its effective press and stellar guard depth, Williams provides the Mountaineers with a consistent rim presence on both sides of the floor, just not consistent enough to have 20/20 vision.
