Like last year, I will be doing a Match Up of the Day blog everyday for the rest of March Madness.  Today’s match up of the day is the 2 seeded Wisconsin Badgers vs the 7 seeded Oregon Ducks.

7 Oregon keys: 

The Oregon Ducks are the most prolific offensive team in America.  They run a up tempo fast offense which is very similar to the play of their football team.  The X-factor for the Ducks is big man Elgin Cook. Cook just came off of playing the game of his life.  Cook was so ecstatic about playing in his home town of Milwaukee and I am waiting for an encore for him today in Milwaukee.  Cook also has a huge challenge in containing the pride and joy of Benet Academy, Frank Kaminsky the all BIG Ten 1st team center.  It will be a struggle to contain him for Cook because of Kaminsky’s range from the 3 pt.  Jason Calliste also has to play well if the Ducks want to pull of the upset.  He is probably the best 6th man in the country and he has a beautiful stroke from beyond the arch.  He had a monster game in the regular season to help the Ducks take down Arizona and I am looking for him to have the same impact.  By the way, he’s my favorite Oregon player.

2 Wisconsin keys: 

The Wisconsin Badgers are one of the top defensive teams in all of college basketball but their weak link is their own offense.  The Badgers struggle to score and they have the slowest offensive production.  Frank the Tank is going to have to carry the load for this heavily favored Wisconsin team.  Wisconsin’s defense has to step up against this high powered offense.  For Wisconsin to win the game they have to slow down the tempo and not let the Ducks get any fast break opportunities.

Prediction: I believe the Oregon Ducks offense is going to be too much to handle for the Badgers.  Oregon 74 Wisconsin 65