A Quick First Look At The 2024 South Regional

This is not an easy path but is it possible? In March, anything is possible.

There’s a lot we don’t know about this year’s field yet but Duke opens with Vermont and the Catamounts are not bad.

They are 28-6 after the America East tournament. They beat Charleston and Saint Louis early in the season but lost to Virginia Tech 73-51. You may remember that Duke survived a serious upset bid in 2013, 91-90.

Assuming Duke wins that game, they’ll get the winner of Wisconsin and James Madison. Wisconsin is well coached by Greg Gard, who took his team to the Big Ten conference tournament finals. As for Madison, they’re in the Sun Belt and are currently 31-3 which is certainly impressive. The best wins are against Michigan State (you may remember that one), Kent State in double OT and they also beat Kenny Blakeney’s Howard squad 107-86.

Wisconsin is surely keenly aware of that Michigan State score and will not be caught napping on that one.

Houston is going to beat Longwood - that’s about as stone cold as possible - and will face the winner of Nebraska and Texas A&M, featuring former Blue Devil Henry Coleman. It looks like an easy path for Houston to the Sweet Sixteen and probably the Elite Eight, but injuries are a big factor for the Cougars.

On the bottom side of the bracket, NC State and Texas Tech is an intriguing matchup but the Wolfpack needs rest. Can they match their emotional level in the ACC Tournament?

Not likely. They’ll have to really reach down to advance.

And if they do, they’ll probably see Kentucky. The Wildcats have been mildcats lately in the post-season but we can’t see Oakland pulling that off. Caveat - lots of research to come and we could change our mind on a lot of teams. That said, it looks like Kentucky has a solid path, probably at least to the Sweet Sixteen.

Florida gets the winner of Boise State vs. Colorado and that’s a matchup that we’ll have to think about before considering the next game.

Marquette is the #2 seed and Western Kentucky is one of those sort of second-tier teams from the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio/Tennessee region that are always dangerous. Think of WKU, Murray State, UT-Chattanooga, Southern Illinois, Belmont and other schools in the same class. That’s a very tough kind of school to open the tournament with. We don’t know much about WKU yet but the Hilltopers have a rich history and expectations and Marquette may or may not have Tyler Kolek but he certainly won’t be in top-flight condition. So a door could be open for Western Kentucky.

Plus for all his accomplishments, Shaka Smart has not been a great post-season coach. He did get VCU to the Final Four in 2011, but other than that, he has gone out in the first weekend every time his team has been invited. It’s worth remembering.

Standard disclaimer: we’ll be revising our opinions as we learn more about the field. This is based on what we know today and there’s a lot we don’t know yet.