Snowflakes: Southern Sweet 16

Here a quick primer for our teams in this weekend’s NCAA Tournament.

East – This is definitely the Heavyweight bracket for our Swampland region. With #1 overall seed North Carolina playing near home in Charlotte, the Tar Heels have to be the favorite to advance to the Final 4. The more interesting contest comes in Thursday night’s athletic matchup of Tennessee and Louisville. That game will feature two dynamic coaches who are out to prove something this postseason. Bruce Pearl is trying to establish Tennessee’s basketball identity by navigating the Vols into the Elite 8 for the first time in school history. Rick Pitino is trying to get his program back into the national conversation with another Final 4 appearance. Pitino is 7-0 in Sweet 16 games so it will be interesting to see how coaching experience and that “we belong here” feeling affects both teams.

South – This region has two teams in Memphis and Texas with very similar themes as they prepare for Friday night’s action. Both coaches are desperate to make the Final Four, and they may play each other to do it. John Calipari reached a Final 4 with UMass in 1996, but has not been able to take the Tigers despite immense regular season success. Getting to the final weekend or even winning it all will help Coach Cal achieve his goal of being a national program, instead of a regional one. Rick Barnes has taken the Longhorns to one Final Four (2003) in his 10 seasons at Texas. Once again, here’s a coach who has had a ton of regular season success trying to get it done in late March.

Midwest – Davidson is the only Southern team in the region, and they have the story of the Tourney so far in Stephen Curry. He dropped 40 points on Gonzaga and followed that up with a 30-point performance against a loaded Georgetown team. All of the ACC coaches that passed on Curry must be sick watching him carry undersized Davidson to the Sweet 16. This is especially true for Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg, who wanted Curry to walk-on his first year before giving him a scholarship. That fact will be tough to swallow for Hokies’ fans as they watch Curry (son of former Va. Tech Hall of Famer Del) become a star in the Big Dance.

West – There are two great stories in this region with Western Kentucky and West Virginia advancing. As I wrote in last week’s column, you had to like Western’s chances to win in the first round. Well, the Hilltoppers took it one further by making it to the Sweet 16 and now sit ready to try and shock America when they face UCLA. Bob Huggins has been a savior for the West Virginia athletic program. After all of the ugliness of Rich Rodriguez’ departure to Michigan, the Mountaineer fans have to be thrilled with another alum coming back to Morgantown and raising their spirits. The West Virginia administration must do what it takes to keep Huggins there and avoid another Rodriguez-like debacle.

- Patrick Snow

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