Sweet Sixteen: Atlanta

Well because it's too late for me to make picks for games tonight I have decided to breakdown the Sweet Sixteen by region, looking at the possible contenders and identifying the pretenders for the national championship ( Sorry MVC, you are in the latter).

Atlanta: When looking at the Atlanta bracket it appears it will produce the best tandem of games compared to the other regions. 3 of the teams in the region were mentioned at the beginning of the season as national title contenders: Duke, Texas and West Virginia. While all three of these teams can lie claim to title aspirations LSU cannot be brushed aside, their combination of Glen "Big Baby" Davis and freshman phenom Tyrus Thomas is as formidable as any in the country.

(1) Duke vs. (4) LSU

How they got here
Duke: wins vs (16) Southern 70-54 and (8) GW 74-61
LSU: wins vs (13) Iona 80-64 and (12) Texas A&M 58-57

Things to Look For:
LSU's forwards - Duke has to be concerned about LSU's BIG and talented front line, it will be interesting to see who has the assignment of covering Glen Davis at the beginning of the game, Coach K might want to keep freshman Josh McRoberts on the SEC player of the year so Shelden Williams doesn't get into foul trouble early on. Just as intriguing to see will be who draws the assignment of Tyrus Thomas, Redick is not athletic enough to cover him man to man and if Williams covers him Thomas can step outside and stroke the outside twine nullifying Williams shot blocking ability.

J.J. Redick- Redick hasn't exactly been "Mr. March" (unlike our friend A-Rod) and has been bearing the burden of scoring alot of the Dukies point during the regular season. Redick even went an unheard of 2-7 from the FT line Saturday against GW and although he went 50% from the field, it makes you wonder how much he has left in his tank for the stretch run.

Depth - Both teams don't have the luxury of having a deep bench, LSU goes 7 to 8 deep but they do have the best player coming off either bench, Tyrus Thomas. Coach K mainly sticks with a 7 man rotation he utilizes Demarcus Nelson as another guard and energy guy Lee Melchionni who can hit from outside when called upon.

Line: Duke -6
Duke ATS - 14-18-1 (1-1 NCAA tournament)
LSU ATS - 13-14-2 (1-1 NCAA tournament)

Pick- Duke
The backcourt of Greg Paulus and J.J. Redick will be too much for LSU to match. Duke has to cutdown on turnovers and the turnover prone LSU has done a good job of protecting the ball so far. Glen Davis will get his points inside but the outside shooting of Redick along with the expierience of Duke helps them take control of this game.

(2) Texas vs. (6) West Virginia

How they got here
Texas: wins vs (15)UPenn 60-52 and (10) N.C. State 75-54
West Virginia: wins vs (11) Southern Illinois 64-46 and (14) Northwestern State 67-54

Things to look for:
1-3-1 Zone- West Virginia plays a very unique style of zone, the 1-3-1, with this zone they always have a guard running the baseline looking for steals or to pressure outside shooters. Most teams in the tournament have a hard time adjusting to this defense because it's not used commonly. Texas does have a slight advantage because of a previous meeting earlier in the season where they won 76-75 at Austin.

What team will show up? - With Texas it is hard to predict what you are going to get on any given night, they have the NBA talent (Aldridge, Tucker and Gibson) it's just a question of whether or not they will show up and play. Early season losses to Duke and the already discarded Tennessee raised some eyebrows but Texas righted its ship and after their 75-54 trashing of N.C. State, it finally looks like Texas may be living up to expectations.

Free Throws- West Virginia who shoots around 75% from the line shot an unusual 8-12 (67%) at Texas during their meeting in November. The usually reliable Kevin Pittsnogle (86%) and Johannes Herber (80%) both missed front ends of 1 and 1's that could have prevented Lamarcus Aldridge's last second tip-in for the win.

Line: Texas -5
Texas ATS - 14-15-1 (1-1 NCAA tournament)
West Virginia - 14-14-2 (2-0 NCAA tournament)

Pick- West Virginia
Texas is so inconsistent that it is baffling how they get down in games and can go so long without scoring. They also lack a true PG which will hurt them against the 1-3-1 zone. While West Virginia does not have the athletes to match up with Texas their cutting offense will give Texas problems. The outside shooting from Gansey, Pittsnogle, Beilein and company will make the difference in the end.