Whitmer's Tourney Preview: Boston Teams and Undefeated Dreams
BOSTON (CBS) - March has been strenuous for residents of the north east, but luckily the madness is about to set in.
It's tournament time in college basketball!
Michael Whitmer of the Boston Globe joined Rich Shertenlieb, Jon Wallach and CSNNE's Trenni Kusnierek on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich Wednesday morning to talk potential Bostonian bracket busters, as well as the college basketball question of the year: Kentucky or the field?
Whitmer, who covers the Northeastern Huskies for the Globe, spoke about 14th seeded NU's odds of pulling an upset over No. 3 Notre Dame on Thursday.
"They got a tough draw. Notre Dame is a really good offensive basketball team, and I wouldn't say Northeastern's strength is their defense," said Whitmer.
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The Huskies enter the big dance with an overall record of 23-11 and winners of the Colonial League. Northeastern has had a fantastic year shooting the ball at 48.6 percent from the field, which ranks 12th in the country due in large part to senior big man Scott Eatherton. Eatherton leads the team in scoring at 14.6 a game shooting 59.4 percent from the floor.
As good of a season Northeastern has had, Notre Dame is a whole other animal.
The Fighting Irish have hit their stride late, coming off an ACC Championship win over UNC while shooting a staggering 51 percent from the floor this year--the second-best mark in the nation.
"[Northeastern] can shoot the ball well, and if they can catch Notre Dame on an off night, it's a one game deal. It's not a best of three or best of seven. Anything can happen in one game," said Whitmer.
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Whitmer believes that Harvard, the 13 seed in the West Region, has a better chance to pull off an upset against No. 4 North Carolina. This year's berth marks the fourth straight year Harvard has made the field of 68, notching two tourney wins in the past three years.
"This time of year it matters if you've been on this stage and you've had success," said Whitmer.
While the two teams from the Bay State, in addition to the sixth seeded Providence Friars, have an opportunity to make some noise in the tournament for the New England basketball faithful, one team stands so far above the rest that Vegas odds makers put them against the rest of the teams at even: The Kentucky Wildcats.
The platooning Wildcats, fueled by the pursuit of perfection on the court and with coach John Calipari's hair, enter the tournament undefeated at 34-0.
"So much money has been coming into Kentucky that it's now worse odds than even. I think it's plus-120, which means you would have to give $120 bucks to get back $100," said Rich.
Kentucky appears to be on another level among the rest of the field, but in a single-elimination tournament, regular season accolades are meaningless, and one bad night could ruin the run of a squad that Whitmer says contains eight first-round draft picks.
"Maybe they all won't come out this year, but I think they've got eight NBA first-rounders on their team," said Whittmer.
"There's a couple teams that I think could give them a run. If they meet Wisconsin in the semifinals I think that could be a good game."
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