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The Virginia Tech Hokies didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, but they took the next step this season. They were one of the best teams in the ACC and had wins against all of the storied programs in the conference.
Alabama started the year with some nice conference wins over Texas A&M and Auburn. They leaned on youth and needed star freshman Collin Sexton to be a leader right away…and it paid off for the Crimson Tide.
Who do you think will win?
Do you have #8 Virginia Tech Hokies or #9 Alabama Crimson Tide?
The Virginia Tech Hokies is about as balanced of a team as you will get in this tournament. Five players average double figures and can pick up the slack if someone is struggling. They had some big wins over Virginia, Duke and North Carolina, so they can beat any team on any given night. Their only red flag is that they aren’t very big as Kerry Blackshear Jr. is their tallest player at 6’10 and the second-tallest is only 6’6. They could struggle against a taller, physical squad.
The Alabama Crimson Tide is led by former NBA point guard Avery Johnson. He will need his star freshman Collin Sexton to play out of his mind to advance in the tourney. They looked like a lock to be an at-large bid going into early-February…but then they lost five-straight games and six of their last eight games. They aren’t exactly coming into the tournament on fire.
Crimson Tide’s Sexton is the best overall player in this game and is one of the best in the entire field. It’s very hard for a single player to dominate games in the NCAA Tournament. The strongest overall team usually advances. The Hokies are the better overall squad, but the Tide could make things close. I’m a big fan of Tech coach Buzz Williams and he will lead the Hokies into the next round.
Prediction: #8 Virginia Tech Hokies
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About the Author…
Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.