NCAA Tournament: Utah State vs. Washington fearless prediction and game preview.
Broadcast
Date: Friday, March 22
Game Time: 6:50 ET
Venue: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
Network: TNT
All You Really Need To Know About Utah State (28-6)
(Mountain West), NCAA NET Rank: 29. Midwest 8-seed
The Aggies overcame an earlier loss to San Diego State to win the Mountain West to win a revenge game for the conference tournament title. Outside of that one gaffe, they won 17 of 18 games with a high-powered offense that managed to survive the slow and go Aztecs when they absolutely had to.
With 6-11 Neemias Queta on the inside, and G Sam Merrill doing everything else, the offense can handle any style. The passing is terrific, the blocked shots are intimidating, and they dominate the boards. No big-name team will want anything to do with this group.
All You Really Need To Know About Washington (26-8)
(Pac-12), NCAA NET Rank: 45. Midwest 9-seed
The offense was suffocated by Oregon twice in the last four games – including in the Pac-12 title game – but the Huskies still managed to win the conference regular season. They struggled early on against some of the better teams – losing to Gonzaga, Auburn, Minnesota and Virginia Tech -but they did enough in conference play.
It’s a young team with a terrific defense that blocks shots, comes up with takeaways, and keeps games in the 60s. There aren’t enough rebounds, and the ball movement isn’t quite there, it’ll be a tough out thanks to its D.
– Fill out your bracket in the CFN NCAA Tournament Pool
What’s Going To Happen
Well this makes sense … take two teams from the Washington and Utah and bring them to Ohio.
This is a bad, bad team for the Huskies to deal with. The Aggies rebound, and Washington doesn’t. It’ll be the high-octane Mountain West offense vs. the fantastic Pac-12 defense, but Utah State can D up in a big way, too. The Huskies will have way too many one-and-done possessions.
Fearless Prediction & Line
Utah State 78, Washington 69
Line: Utah State -2.5, o/u: 135
ATS Confidence: 3.5
5: Watching games by Vegas pool working on fruity drink No. 3
1: Watching game online while doing TPS reports in your cubicle
