Two head coaches who had a previous coaching stint together and are currently running similar styles of play are about to put their respective national title bids on the line this Friday night in Chicago for a fantastic March Madness opening round matchup.
Bob Huggins and the West Virginia Mountaineers love to drive down lanes for quick buckets and swipe possessions away from their opponents with great precision. The same could be said of Brad Underwood and his Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks, who once again dominated their low-major conference for yet another automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
Will the Mountaineers continue their trek towards the summit of the Big Dance’s mountain, or will the Lumberjacks cut their opponents down to size? Let’s find out more about these two outstanding programs below.
Then, head on over to previews for North Carolina vs. Florida Gulf Coast and Xavier vs. Weber State for a couple of other compelling East Region battles that are worth placing even more March Madness stakes at.
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March Madness No. 3 West Virginia vs. No. 14 Stephen F. Austin Preview
Where: United Center, Chicago
When: Friday, March 18, 7:10 PM ET
Line: West Virginia Mountaineers (-7.5) vs. Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks (+7.5); total: 145.5 – view all March Madness lines
TV Broadcast: CBS
Betting on the West Virginia Mountaineers
The No. 3 West Virginia Mountaineers reside in the very crowded Big 12, yet they still emerged as the second-best team from that stacked conference with a stellar 26-win season.
WVU’s core is rich in talent, beginning with senior guard Jaysean Paige, who leads his team in scoring (13.9 PPG). Paige is joined by 6-foot-9 junior forward Devin Williams, who nearly posts a double-double on a nightly basis. And with this pair of elite players manning both the perimeter and the post, West Virginia has managed to hurt their opponents this season from basically anywhere on the floor.
Well… not exactly anywhere. The Mountaineers are one of the worst three-point shooting programs in the country, averaging just 6.1 three’s per game with a rather dismal 32.9-percent clip.
Fortunately, the team will see a Stephen F. Austin team in the first round that is very much akin to their own style of play, which isn’t really surprising considering that Lumberjacks head coach Brad Underwood spent a season as an assistant head coach with the Huggins-led Kansas State team of 2006.
Underwood truly benefited from the tutelage of one of the best collegiate basketball minds there is in WVU’s Huggins, who trails only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim in career wins amongst active coaches in Division I. This Friday night, will the master teach his apprentice a thing or two about what it’s really like to be a dominant force at the Big Dance?
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Betting on the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks
(Disclaimer: Seeing that this article was written and published on 3/16, we’ve indulged ourselves to take this rare and coincidental opportunity to make a ton of references about a famed WWE legend to spice up our write-up for SFA below.)
Someone please get the No. 14 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks out of the Southland Conference already ‘coz it’s just not fair anymore.
Stephen F. Austin undoubtedly opened up a can of whoop-ass on each of their conference rivals this season, finishing with a perfect 20-0 conference record (what?!) and cruising to its third-consecutive Southland title and NCAA Tournament appearance. As a matter of fact, the Lumberjacks were the only ones to go undefeated in conference play this entire season (what?!), and have an unbelievable 53-1 record in Southland since 2014 (what?!).
Throughout those three seasons, SFA’s been all about the Thomas Walkup Show. Walkup just won his third-straight conference championship MVP, with the standout senior forward posting stellar averages of 17.5 points, 6.8 boards and 4.5 assists per game this campaign.
And when you look at the Lumberjacks as a whole, that’s when you’ll notice the similarities between them and the Mountaineers right away like what we’ve mentioned earlier. They are 28th in the nation in scoring (79.5 PPG) and eighth in steals (8.4 SPG). In addition, they’re only second to WVU in creating opponent miscues at a shade under 18 forced turnovers per contest.
Granted, however, Stephen F. Austin had to go up against some very weak competition as a mid/low-major program. Then again, three-time Southland Coach of the Year Brad Underwood is determined to prove that his brand of basketball is much superior compared to that of his mentor’s.
In support of that claim, the Nacogdoches, Texas rattlesnakes have actually done something way better this season than WVU: hit shots from deep. The Lumberjacks are shooting 37.5 percent from beyond the arc (50th in the nation), and their three’s will come in real handy should they not be able to fight fire with fire in the steals and forced-turnovers departments.
Writer’s Prediction
Cue the sound of broken glass and let the beer bath begin! Stephen F. Austin (+7.5) pulls off the stone-cold, stunning upset of WVU… and that’s the bottom line.
