Stanford and New Mexico are playing live on the NCAA tournament schedule on Friday and the matchup between the Lobos and Cardinal and its streaming live from TBS and on the radio from Westwood from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis from Missouri and has a 10 seed taking on a seven in what could be a very solid matchup.
Stanford comes into the game after losing bad to eventual Pac-12 champion UCLA and guard Chasson Randle will be matched up with Kendall Williams for the Lobos and this could be a great game on both sides, as each have experienced players and a solid resume from the season. The Midwest region is the toughest bracket and these teams are in the South and the Mountain West tournament champions are the seven seed and they come in after going 15-3 in the conference on the season and defeating San Diego State in the title game.
New Mexico forward Cameron Bairstow was tops on the team in scoring and he ended up leading the conference in scoring for the season and now he has the chance to keep things going in the NCAA tournament against Stanford and that could be tough against a solid Cardinal defense. The Lobos come into the game scoring over 70 points per contest and they are ranked in the top 40 in rebounding with nearly 40 per game and they are 29th in assists and shooting over 46 percent and they have been a solid offensive team all year.
The team is big up front and they are eighth in rebounding on defense and 32nd in blocks per game and they are also in the top 80 with 66 points allowed per game. Last season they were upset by Harvard early and now they have the chance to get to the next round against Stanford. The Cardinal won the NIT two years ago and they have lost four of seven games coming into the tournament, but the team is confident and Randle along with Dwight Powell are the top options for the team, as Powell is second in scoring and rebounding for the team coming in.
The next game for each team could be against Kansas or Eastern Kentucky and it's likely that the Jayhawks will win that game and Florida is the favorite in the region right now. The team matches up with Pitt next and they will face off against each other on Saturday and that game should be tight. The South bracket had a big upset in the first game with Dayton and now they will play against Syracuse and the Orange come into the tournament a number three seed and they are looking to bounce back after a loss in the ACC tournament.
