Kentucky | Syracuse | Missouri | Kansas

#4 Kansas

Remaining Opponents: #3 Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas

Prediction: Their remaining schedule is no cake walk.  Missouri has already beat them once, by 3 points, even though they lost the other night. Oklahoma State is the only team with a losing record that they play, but even they have beaten Missouri. I think it will be tough but they will most likely receive the #1 seed if they can continue to win.  They have lost against teams that they should not have lost against.

Thomas Robinson is one of the best players in the league in my opinion, if not the best. He is a 6’10 Junior and will most likely be a top 3 draft pick. He plays 31.1 minutes per night and averages a double-double (17.7 PPG & 11.8 RPG) He shoots almost 55% from the field and puts in 1.8 APG, which is a decent amount for a big man.

Senior Tyshawn Taylor is a great #2 on the team behind Robinson.  He scores 16.6 PPG, while averaging 5.1 Assists.  He will be a first round draft pick, but most likely a lower one.

Junior Jeff Withey is the surprise this season.  He is a 7-footer who puts in 9.5 PPG while grabbing 6.6 boards. He also has high FG% at 56%. If an NBA team really needs a center that they don’t mind working with, he would not be a bad choice.  He dropped 25 points against Baylor.

Travis Releford is another Junior guard who is 6’6.  He plays nearly 31 minutes per game, and puts in 9.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 2 APG. He also shoots over 50% like two of his teammates.

Elijah Johnson is yet another Junior guard for the Jayhawks.  He is only 6’4 but contributes his share of points (8.6) and assists (3.7).  He also leads the team in steals with 1.6 per game.

With Selection Sunday less than 3 weeks away, I thought it would be a good idea to look into the top teams to try to figure out who will be rewarded the #1 seeds in each bracket. So each day this week, I will be putting up a short summary of each team’s top players, remaining schedule, and other projections.

Kentucky | Syracuse | Missouri

#3 Missouri

Remaining Opponents:  #5 Kansas, Iowa State, Texas Tech

Prediction: Missouri has had a great season so far.  They have only lost three games.  Unfortunately, two of those losses were to Kansas State, and a fluke loss to sub-.500 team Oklahoma State by 7 points.  Other than that they have been flawless, winning many games by double figures.  They beat Kansas once before a few weeks ago, by 3 points, and will face them again on Saturday.  This is going to be a close game but they are away.  I do not think they will win this game.  Since they already have three losses, I do not think they will be a #1 seed come March 11^th.

Marcus Denmon is a 6’3 Senior who, in my opinion, is one of the top players in the Big 12.  He averages 17.8 PPG, 5.2 RPG, in 33.9 Minutes a night. He has scored over 20 points in 9 games this season. Denmon shoots almost 90% from the free throw line.

Senior Kim English is their #2 scorer with 14.2 PPG, and 4.1 RPG.  He also shoots over 50% from the field. He is barely behind Denmon with 32.9 Minutes per game.

Ricardo Ratliffe is the third senior in this line up.  He is a 6’8 forward who averages 13.7 PPG on 73% shooting from the field.  He also grabs 7 rebounds per contest.

Junior Michael Dixon is a 6’1 guard who puts in 12.6 points of his own, while assisting 3.1.  He also shoots almost 90% from the foul line.

Flip Pressey is the young gun on the team.  He is merely a sophomore and scores 10 PPG on 31.4 minutes per game.  He also grabs 3.2 boards per game, and 2.1 steals per game.

Mizzou is a veteran team which will hurt them in the future.  However, we are just looking at this season and if they can win the Big 12 (assuming they can beat Kansas) then I think they can get the #1 seed.  I just think Kansas is a better team overall, even though their record does not show it.  They are both 12-2 in the conference.

#3 Missouri was upset by unranked Kansas State for the second time this season.  This will make my blog about Mizzou a little more difficult later on.  They lost 78-68. Rodney McGruder dropped 24 points against the Tigers. Michael Dixon was able to put in 21 points off the bench, and star Marcus Denmon added 19 of his own in the losing effort. Ricardo Ratliffe had 14 rebounds but missed the double-double by 1 point.

#8 Georgetown was also upset, but they lost against unranked Seton Hall who they should beat every day.  Senior Jordan Theodore scored 29 points for the Pirates.  He shot a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the arc.  Not one player on the Hoyas scored in double digits in any column (points, assists, rebounds). Seton Hall 61% from the field, 61.5% from 3-point range, and 78.9% from the free throw line. Georgetown only recorded 9 assists as a team.

Newly ranked #21 New Mexico was upset by rival Colorado State 71-63.  Key players for the Rams were Pierce Hornung (13 pts, 5 rebs) & Dorian Green (17 pts, 8-8 ft). New Mexico’s Kendall Williams (16 pts) & Demetrius Walker (14 pts) each had good games.