Mr. Jackson, If You're Nasty

Cedric Jackson, the recently canonized patron saint of WGASIG, helped Cleveland State upset Wake Forest, finishing with 19 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and, that's right, three steals. I read somewhere that this kid liked the big stage. 

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Eric Maynor first made a name for himself when he single-handedly knocked out the Duke Blue Devils in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament. Since then, coach K’s bete noir has gotten even better, averaging 22 points, six assists and almost two steals per game this season for Virginia Commonwealth University, the Colonial Athletic Association champion. Arguably the best point guard in the country, Maynor is one of those rare talents that can simply take over a game at any given moment, and will undoubtedly be a first-round pick in the upcoming NBA draft, along with UCLA's Darren Collison, his opponent in the first round of the NCAA tournament. 

Maynor is dangerous, folks, and as good as the game.

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Matt Kingsley (right) is the anchor of Stephen F. Austin’s punishing team defense, which, believe it or not, allows fewer points per 100 possessions than title contenders Wake Forest, Kansas, Duke, Villanova, Pittsburgh, North Carolina and, among others, Syracuse, the Lumberjacks’ opening round opponent. Kingsley, a 6-9 senior center, can also ball on the other end of the court, averaging 16 points and eight rebounds this season. He scored 20 or more points eight times and notched a respectable six double-doubles, to boot. Named the Southland Conference’s player of the year, Kingsley also picked up the conference tournament’s Most Valuable Player award after the Lumberjacks won the Southland Conference championship, the first in school history.

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Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado, a 6-9 junior center, is an absolute beast on the defensive end. Not only did he lead the country in blocked shots with approximately 5 per game, his 165 total blocks this season broke Shaquille O'Neal's Southeastern Conference record of 157, which has stood unthreatened since 1992.  Varnado, who has a 7-4 wingspan, was named the SEC defensive player of the year last week, becoming the first player in conference history to win the award two years in a row. During the SEC tournament, he averaged 14 points and more than 5 blocks over four games. In the Bulldogs's 64-61 victory over Tennessee in the championship game, he put up 10 points and blocked six shots, locking up the tournament's Most Valuable Player award. Varnado should give Washington all it can handle inside when the Bulldogs, winners of six straight, take on the Huskies in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

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Arizona will only go as far as center/power forward Jordan Hill takes them. Sure, the Wildcats have small forward Chase Budinger and point guard Nic Wise to help pick up the offensive slack, but Jordan is the team's defensive presence and, as far as I can tell, its singular source of toughness. Hill, a 6-1o junior who averaged 18 points, 11 rebounds and about 2 blocks per game this season, knows how to finish around the basket and holds his ground defensively on the low post, which could give Utah's Australian center Luke Nevil, a 7-1 junior, all he can handle. 

The Wildcats have a long history of stinking up the NCAA tournament, and a number of sports writers and commentators believe the wildly inconsistent Cats, who lost to UAB but also beat Kansas, Gonzaga and UCLA, didn't deserve to make this year's tournament, especially as a 12-seed. If Hill plays like he did against the Bruins on Valentine's Day (22 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks), however, he and his Arizona teammates might just silence a few critics and, in the process, bust up a bracket or two.  

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Cedric Jackson, a 6-3 senior transfer from St. John's, averaged 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals per game this season for the upstart Horizon League Champion Cleveland State Vikings, who enter the NCAA tournament with a more efficient defense than DeJuan Blair's Pittsburgh squad and winner of four straight, including an upset over the Butler Bulldogs in the Horizon League championship. In the Vikings's December win over Syracuse--at the Carrier Dome, no less-- Jackson finished with 13 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Against the Bulldogs, Jackson, one of the country's best at picking an opposing player's pocket, led the Vikings with 19 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and, yup, three steals. He seems to like the big stage. 

Jackson and the Vikings take on Jeff Teague and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Friday night in Miami, in the opening round of the Midwest region.

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Ben Woodside, a fifth-year senior for the North Dakota State Bison, averaged an impressive 22 points and six assists per game this season. He also shot an ungodly 42 percent from beyond the arc. This past weekend, he hit a 17-footer against Oakland in the Summit Conference tournament championship to put the Bison into the NCAA tournament for the first time, in the school's inaugural year in Division I competition. Woodside even had a walk-on role on this here blog earlier this year, after he dropped 60 points in a triple-OT loss to Stephen F. Austin.  

Woodside and his No. 14- seeded Bison take on the number three seed Kansas Jayhawks in the first round of the Midwest region, in Minneapolis, Woodside's home state, and a manageable drive, I've been told, from the NDSU campus.

You've been warned.