Originally Posted by KC_Connection
KU's projected opponents and their 3PA%/national rank in 3PA% (bolded top 100):
WKU (36.4%, 78)
UNC (30.7%, 243)/Villanova (35.3%, 108)
Michigan (34.0%, 151)/South Dakota St. (36.4%, 78)/Akron (36.6%, 71)/VCU (36.2%, 83)
Florida (40.4%, 31)/Northwestern St. (29.7%, 267)/Minnesota (29.7%, 268)/UCLA (23.8%, 334)/SDSU (32.4%, 187)/OU (26.4%, 311)/Georgetown (32.6%, 184)/Florida Gulf Coast (34.8%, 125)
For reference, 43.9% of ISU's shots are threes (9th ranked nationally). The more threes a team take, the more difficult it is for KU's defense to make a major impact on the game and the more luck there is involved in the outcome. While WKU isn't a good team (183 in KenPom), they're kind of a difficult 16 in that regard. As for the 2nd round, UNC is playing quite well recently so that could potentially be a difficult game, but their style (quick, many possessions, lower percentage of threes) plays more into what KU does than most of these teams. Florida would prove to be a really difficult opponent in the E8 if both teams get that far as they limit the possessions and also take a ton of threes.
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