Officially the first game of March Madness was Tuesday with Arkansas- Pine Bluff defeating Winthrop 61-44. The Golden Lions are only team from Arkansas to make the tournament, and they now get to face #1 Duke in first round action. The bulk of the bracket madness begins Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and I have the distinct pleasure to pick your game of the day for you on the opening day.
I struggled with this pick because I really wanted to say the game to watch would be Notre Dame versus Old Dominion. But I knew it would be hard to sell our viewers on checking out a game between two teams that average 76.8 and 67.5 points per game respectively. Both of those teams play a slow-it-down pace that will bore the average fan to tears.
So The Game to Watch is: Washington versus Marquette.
It is a battle of the Big East versus the Pac-10, all taking place on a court in sunny California. The Golden Eagles of Marquette earned the sixth seed in the East Regional after finishing the regular season with an 11-3 record with two Big East tournament victories. Marquette, despite losing three seniors off of last year’s second-round team, is at its best when they are penetrating and dishing out to their excellent shooters. The Golden Eagles have three shooters averaging over 37 percent from three-point range.
The Washington Huskies enter the tournament as one of the hottest teams, winning seven straight. The Huskies like to run the court and spread the ball around to different players, the style of play that Razorback fans are used to seeing from in the mid-90s. Washington’s offense thrives in transition and is streaky when it comes to jump shooters.
Expect a lot of fast paced action, and it both teams hit their shots, this game will go down to the final buzzer. Both teams play without a true center, and both are led by veteran senior forwards. With this even match-up, Marquette’s tougher conference schedule will probably have the biggest impact.
The game tips off at 6:20 central.
– Jonathan Weaver