March Madness Picks 3/25 – Elite 8 Battles Are Here

March Madness Picks 3/25 – Elite 8 Battles Are Here

by Thomas Quaynor – College Basketball analyst for Wannamakeabet.com

The East region’s Elite 8 gives us an unexpected matchup as the 9-seed Florida Atlantic Owls (34-3, 18-2 Conference USA) battle the 3-seed Kansas State Wildcats (26-9, 11-7 Big 12) tonight at Madison Square Garden, the winner advances to the Final Four.  

Kansas State is a 1.5-point favorite and the total is 144.5. Florida Atlantic got here by escaping Memphis 66-65 in the first round (the first NCAA tournament win in school history), then knocking off Cinderella 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson 78-70 last Sunday and used a second-half surge to upset fourth-seeded Tennessee on Thursday night.  Kansas State beat 14-seeded Montana State 77-65 in the first round, outlasted 6-seeded Kentucky 75-69 in round two and needed overtime to knock off 7-seeded Michigan State 98-93 on Thursday night. The East region opened up after top seed Purdue became the second 1-seed to lose to a 16-seed in the NCAA tournament. 

WHO TO WATCH FOR TONIGHT + GAME STORYLINES

The biggest star in this game and perhaps the player of the tournament so far has been Kansas State point guard Markquis Nowell. His dazzling passes and clutch shooting is a huge reason why Kansas State has made it this far. The 5-foot-8 New York native had an NCAA tournament record 19 assists, along with 20 points and 5 steals in the overtime win against Michigan State. 

Nowell is averaging 21.3 points, 14 assists and 3.7 steals in the tournament. Nowell now has the opportunity to put his name alongside other famed New York City point guard greats (Kenny Anderson, Bob Cousy, Stephon Marbury, Pearl Washington, Tiny Archibald) if he puts up another legendary performance and clinches a Final 4 berth in Madison Square Garden. 

Kansas State senior forward Keyontae Johnson (17.7 ppg, 6.9 rebs, 1.1 stl, .516 FG%) leads the team in scoring and has a remarkable comeback story. Two seasons ago, Johnson was an All-SEC performer and the 2020-2021 SEC Preseason Player of the Year for Florida, he suddenly collapsed during a road game at Florida State on December 12, 2020 and was in a medically induced coma for three days. 

Johnson reportedly turned down a $5 million dollar insurance policy that he could have collected if he never played another minute of college or pro basketball. Eventually he was cleared to play by multiple doctors, transferred to Kansas State last August and the rest has been history as Kansas State is on the verge of making its first Final 4 since 1964 and Johnson has a shot to play in the NBA next year. 

Florida Atlantic has used a 4-gaurd, gritty, hard-nosed approach to dominate Conference USA and then grind out three wins in the NCAA tournament. The Owls are the first team to reach 34 wins and an argument can be made that they were badly under-seeded in favor of average teams from the bigger name conferences. Junior Johnell Davis leads FAU in scoring at 13.9 ppg, Davis scored 29 in the second-round win over Fairleigh Dickinson. FAU has had seven different players lead them in scoring this year which indicates a true team-oriented approach to winning, they aren’t the typical college team that has one or two stars who carry the team.

THE PICK

Florida Atlantic is a great story but I think their runs ends here, Kansas State has too much talent and they have the momentum after knocking off two NCAA blue-bloods in Kentucky and Michigan State…Lay the 1.5 and take Kansas State!