Murray State had a great season and is probably the best Ohio Valley squad to play in the NCAA Tournament in recent memory. The conference has had some tournament upsets in the past, so the Racers could be a dangerous team.

West Virginia tied Texas Tech for second place in the Big 12 regular season. They made it to the ACC Tournament final, but lost to Kansas.

The Mountaineers are a touch match-up for most teams, let alone against a smaller conference team. Does Murray State have a chance for an upset?

Who do you think will win? 

Do you have #5 West Virginia Mountaineers or #12 Murray State Racers?

West Virginia is all about pressure. They push the tempo on offense and forces turnovers on defense. Head coach Bob Huggins only knows one way to coach and the Mountaineers are trained warriors. It’s difficult to prepare for them as they excel at so many things. The only hope a team has, especially in the early rounds, is to stop Jevon Carter. He is prone to streaky shooting, but he’s always solid on defense.

Murray State is one of the hottest teams going into the NCAA Tournament. They have only lost one game since January 11th. They rolled through the Horizon League regular season and tournament. If they had a little better of a match-up, say if they were to play #5 seed, the Racers could be a sneaky upset pick.

The Mountaineers should be able to stop Murray State’s Jonathan Stark. He hasn’t faced the kind of defensive pressure he will see in this game. I don’t like Murray State’s second or third scoring option. This is just a bad match-up for Murray State, so I’m taking West Virginia.

Prediction: #5 West Virginia Mountaineers

**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.