2014 NCAA Tournament South Region Sweet Sixteen Game Breakdowns
#1 Florida vs. #4 UCLA (Memphis, Tennessee)
In the only thing that has gone to script so far in the south region, the first-seed Florida Gators will face the fourth-seed UCLA Bruins in the Sweet Sixteen. In round three, Florida just wore Pittsburgh down and handled its business. The Panthers needed to come out as well as they did against Colorado and it simply didn't happen. Instead, Florida muscled its way through to the Sweet Sixteen. On the other side, UCLA similarly took care of its business in a comfortable win over the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. SFA got a favorable matchup in round two against an undersized and offensively underdeveloped VCU Rams team. It wasn't so fortunate in the next round and went home because of it.
As for the Florida/UCLA game, this is classic defense versus offense. Florida comes in with perhaps the deepest club in the nation, filled with athletes who can defend their position. Anchored by Patric Young in the middle and even bringing in superb rebounders like Dorian Finney-Smith off the bench, the Gators have thrived on their ability to stifle opponents. Meanwhile, UCLA brings a huge backcourt and an extensive guard rotation on a roster that is one of the highest scoring and best sharing teams in the country. If it comes down to one team playing the other's game though, the advantage has to go to Florida, especially considering the Gators have been consistently better all season and haven't been prone to poor showings like the Bruins have on occasion.
#10 Stanford vs. #11 Dayton (Memphis, Tennessee)
At some point, some credit has to be given to the Dayton Flyers for the wins they are collecting here in the tournament. However, much like Ohio State struggled to produce offense in round two, the Syracuse Orange were abysmal shooting the ball in round three. A team with the likes of Tyler Ennis and Trevor Cooney didn't make a single three-point shot all game long and finished under 39% from the floor. Dayton deserves credit here for its defense, but, more importantly, the Flyers also hit many big shots of their own. In fact, they were much better against the Orange zone than in the previous round.
Stanford, on the other hand, seemed to clearly be the better team in each of its first two wins in the tournament. The reason New Mexico was expected to give the Embiid-less Kansas trouble was the same reason Stanford excelled. The Cardinal's size really disrupted Kansas on both ends but especially defensively. Along with dropping into a zone, everything Stanford did on the defensive end gave KU problems. Andrew Wiggins was a no-show, often finding himself standing in place in the corner, watching the offense. If not for Stanford's lack of a point guard and a flurry of turnovers late, the final score wouldn't even have been in doubt.
In a surprising matchup in the Sweet Sixteen between the 10th and 11th seeds, Stanford has to be given the edge. Not only are they the more talented team, they have looked better thus far as well. Dayton continues to get overlooked because its two wins, albeit upsets, came against two of the biggest slumping teams in the country in Ohio State and Syracuse. The Flyers' best chance in this next game is getting Stanford's interior players in foul trouble and leaving the entire scoring load on the shoulders of Chasson Randle. They should also consider applying full-court pressure early in this game, taking advantage of the lack of ball handling on Stanford.
West Region Sweet Sixteen Game Breakdowns
Midwest Region Sweet Sixteen Game Breakdowns
East Region Sweet Sixteen Game Breakdowns
