Sweet 16 Picks: A Sneak Peek

Tomorrow, I'll have a more comprehensive look at Thursday and Friday night's eight Regional Semifinal matchups over at SB Nation, but tonight, I want to give you a sneak peek at my picks (which will likely be half to three-quarters correct).

Thursday Night

West
Syracuse over Butler: Even without Arinze Onuaku, the Orange will be too much for the Bulldogs and will snap their 22-game winning streak.
Kansas State over Xavier: The second matchup may be closer than the first, but the Wildcats will have too much defense.

East
West Virginia over Washington: The Mountaineers will miss Truck Bryant, but not on the defensive end, where they'll have an advantage over the Huskies.
Kentucky over Cornell: This one will be a lot closer than you'd think, but the Wildcats' strength inside will be the difference.

Friday Night

Midwest
Northern Iowa over Michigan State: The Spartans will have ballhandling issues because of a lack of backcourt depth, and the Panthers will take advantage.
Ohio State over Tennessee: This won't happen because of Evan Turner alone. He'll need to shift the focus to David Lighty, Jon Diebler, and Dallas Lauderdale. 

South
Baylor over St. Mary's: The Bears have interior players who can stop Omar Samhan and guards who can create better than the Gaels'.
Duke over Purdue: The Boilermakers' lack of frontcourt presence and scoring difficulties will cost them in this one.

I'll post a link to my SB Nation preview sometime tomorrow, after it's published.