2012 NCAA Tournament Third Round Predictions

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West Region

#1 Michigan St. over #9 St. Louis

Michigan St. did exactly what people expected them to do in their second round game against LIU. They won convincingly and moved on to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. To me, I feel Michigan St. will keep up this winning way against St. Louis. The reason being Draymond Green. In their second round game, Green had a triple-double with twenty-four points, twelve rebounds, and ten assists. I feel like this team got started in the Big Ten Conference Tournament and are not going to be stopped. Green is doing exactly what he said after the Big Ten Conference Tournament finale, he is making footprints on Michigan St. to where Tom Izzo will talk about the “Draymond Green Era” in the future.

#5 New Mexico over #4 Louisville

I am picking New Mexico in this game because of two things. First off, New Mexico shoots the ball better than Louisville. They shot a 50% against Long Beach St. in their second round game. Second, New Mexico plays defense. New Mexico will make life hard for Louisville in their third round match-up.

#6 Murray St. over #3 Marquette

This will be Murray St.’s first real contest of this season. They will need to play a lot better than they played in their second round game against Colorado St. Marquette will be a tough opponent, but let’s be honest. BYU made Marquette look a lot better then they actually are. This is because BYU should of never be in the NCAA Tournament. Thank you Marquette for proving my point. The one thing that works in Murray St.’s favor is that Marquette turns over the ball more often than Murray St. I’m picking Murray St. to win and get to the Sweet 16.

#7 Florida over #15 Norfolk St.

To be honest, we should have seen Norfolk St.’s upset over Missouri coming. Missouri is becoming that team that is a choke artist in the NCAA Tournament. For the second year now, Missouri has been bounced out of the NCAA Tournament during the round of 64. This is why Norfolk St. beat Missouri. The reason I think Norfolk St. will lose to Florida is that Florida has one of the best starting five in the nation. Florida will not choke like Missouri did.