The NCAA basketball tournament features parity but Kansas is a popular choice among expert sources to win the national championship.
Former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher likes the Jayhawks as do CBS TV analysts Greg Anthony, Charles Barkley and Seth Davis. “They’re well coached, they’re well drilled, they don’t beat themselves,” Dutcher said about Kansas, 32-2.
Dutcher told Sports Headliners “if there’s a team in the Big Ten” with a chance to win the national title it’s No. 1 tournament seed Ohio State, but he said the Buckeyes’ close wins this winter over mediocre Northwestern indicate that an opponent able to run a slowdown offense can upset them. Dutcher said that deliberate style gives the Buckeyes “fits.”
Asked to name a potential tournament Cinderella story, Dutcher talked about San Diego State, a 32-2 team and No. 2 West Region seed whose coaching staff includes his son Brian, a University of Minnesota graduate. Jim Dutcher said that while the Aztecs have a high seed and been ranked among the nation’s top 10 teams, there are college basketball observers who doubt the quality of teams from the Mountain West Conference.
The Aztecs’ reputation is not only questioned, but they have never won an NCAA tournament game. “They’re kind of in the Butler category of a year ago,” Dutcher said.
Butler, from the low profile Horizon League, made it all the way to the national championship game as the 2010 Cinderella before losing to Duke.
San Diego State opens tomorrow against Northern Colorado, 21-10 and a No. 15 seed. Dutcher told his son by telephone on Sunday that “you’ve got to overcome poor coaching and get them (the Aztecs) to Anaheim.” Then Dutcher would travel from Minneapolis to see the Aztecs during the second weekend of the tournament.
Anaheim might be the site of a San Diego State versus Connecticut game as part of the tournament’s West Region. Dutcher predicted the No. 3 seeded Huskies could be upset, though, by Missouri on Saturday of this week if both teams win opening games tomorrow. He likes Missouri, a No. 11 seed, to possibly upset No. 6 Cincinnati tomorrow.