Arizona State looked like a title contender early this season, but there’s a reason why they play more than a dozen games. The Sun Devils looked pedestrian once the Pac-12 conference schedule was underway.

Syracuse was probably the last team in the field; I refuse to believe otherwise. You could make the case for other teams to have leapfrogged them for an at-large bid. The Orange were among a middling group in ACC standings. Many teams split home-and-away games with each other, so it’s hard to separate any of them from the pack.

Can either one of these teams be a real threat to the TCU Horned Frogs in the first round?

Who do you think will win? 

Who do you have: Arizona State Sun Devils or Syracuse Orange?

I feel like the Arizona State Sun Devils made it into the NCAA Tournament just because of a two-week period late last calendar year. They beat Xavier at a neutral court and then won at Kansas by ten points. They were a consistent 90+ point team, game after game. Well, as soon as the Pac-12 schedule started, all their shooters got ‘dead arm.’ Buckets were no longer falling with ease. They were scoring consistently in the 70’s by the end of the regular season. They come into this game losers of five of their last six games. They might be the worst skid of any tournament team.

I honestly have no idea how Syracuse made it into the tournament. I thought Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s had a better résumé. I mean, they were destroyed by UNC in the ACC Tournament.  I guess the bright spot of them being included is we get to see Tyus Battle and Frank Howard chuck wild shots.

Man, this might be the worst NCAA Tournament game in a long time. Is it too late to re-think this 68-team field? I mean, 66 teams is good enough. If I had to pick one, I’m going to take San Diego State. Syracuse can have trouble scoring at times and even at their worst, Arizona State should be able to muster up more points than Syracuse.

Prediction: #11 Arizona State Sun Devils

**Check out the rest of our NCAA Tournament picks** 

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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.