March Madness
Every year just before Easter comes a time where anything and everything can happen, it’s called March Madness. We have seen a healthy serving of buzzer beaters, including a “hail mary” pass from Grant Hill to Christian Laettner, to huge mental mistakes (Chris Webber’s timeout with no timeouts remaining). Nonetheless, during this time everyone becomes a college basketball fan and fills out a bracket, hoping to be the person who picks the major upset that wins them their local office pool. The reality is no matter how much we analyze these games the outcome is very unpredictable. That is why the local office pool is usually won by some lady that chooses her team based on the names of mascots or team colors.
With that said, I will give some things to watch for in each bracket:
West
Potential Cinderella: Long Beach State University. This may be somewhat of a “homer” pick but I have watched this team all season and have played tough teams on the road and have been in every ball game. They have a lot of good 3-point shooters and are very active on defense. Their Achilles heal is their lack of a defensive post presence. However, the x-factor in all of this is Casper Ware, the Big West Conference player of the year is very streaky and has the ability to take over a game offensively as long as he is wise in his shot selection.
Best First Round Matchup: Long Beach State vs New Mexico. These may be the two hottest teams coming in to the tournament both won their conference tournaments and are very good defensively. This game could come down to whoever blinks first. The winner of this game is pretty much a lock to head to the sweet 16.
Potential Final Four Candidate: Missouri or Marquette. I haven’t really picked one team as a lock in this bracket because I think it is very wide open. I think there are 3 teams at the bottom of the bracket that have the most potential Missouri, Marquette and Murray State (pending if they’re record isn’t just inflated by the opponents they play)
South
Potential Cinderella: UNLV. I know youre thinking a 6-seed is not really a Cinderella, but if you look at how far this team has potential to go. Theyre looking at a possible sweet-16 appearance against Duke which let’s be honest Duke usually does really well in the tournament or loses a game everyone thinks that they can win. For UNLV, which beat North Carolina earlier this season a win against Duke is very possible.
Best First Round Matchup: VCU vs Wichita St. Last year’s Cinderella team is back with a whole new cast, mostly underclassmen to take on a strong mid-major in Wichita St. The Shockers have won big games this season including conference rival Creighton and UNLV. At the same time the Rams of VCU don’t have any big wins against the RPI top-50, but after seeing what coach Shaka Smart did last year it is very possible for the Rams to pull the upset.
Potential Final Four Candidate: Kentucky. This is Kentucky’s region to lose. They have lost two games all season, one was a last second shot on the road in Indiana, the second was the final of the SEC tournament which didn’t really have meaning for Kentucky because they were a lock for the tournament and basically reached the final to secure a #1 seed in the big tournament. Freshman phenom Anthony Davis is a walking double-double and blocks almost five shots a game. Plus the Wildcats have four players who average over 10 points per game. Coach Calipari will have his guys ready and usually performs very well in the tourney especially since coming to Kentucky.
East
Potential Cinderella: Vanderbilt. Like UNLV they have potential to go to the elite eight because of who is on their side of the bracket especially with Fab Melo out for Syracuse. Since Syracuse has lost a big inside presence offensively and defensively they’re definitely the most vulnerable one –seed in the tournament. Plus coming off a big win against Kentucky to win the SEC tournament, Vandy is playing at a high-level and with a lot of confidence. Don’t be surprised for this team to reach the elite eight.
Best First Round Matchup: None that I think have amazing written all over it
Potential Final Four Candidate: Florida St. This one is very simple. Great defensive team that is strong inside. Plus, they beat Duke twice and North Carolina three times, including both on back to back days in the ACC tournament. A feat that major hasn’t happened since Chris Jericho beat The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin on the same night to become the first ever “undisputed champion”.
Mid-West
Potential Cinderella: North Carolina St. This team had an impressive showing at the ACC tournament and was one bad coaching decision away from beating North Carolina in the ACC semi-final. They have a favorable bracket with two winnable games, San Diego St. and Georgetown. The question is which North Carolina St. team is going to show up the one that took UNC to the wire or the team that UNC blew out in January. Nonetheless, a spot in the sweet-16 is possible.
Best First Round Matchup: Creighton vs. Alabama. Two evenly matched teams which is a classic 8-9 matchup. X-factor is sophomore Wooden Award candidate Doug McDermott and his 23.2ppg. McDermott can score from anywhere on the floor and is more than capable of throwing his team on his back. This is a very winnable game for Creighton, the bad news is the next round is almost guaranteed to be North Carolina.
Potential Final Four Candidate: North Carolina. Best team in this bracket by far and it is very hard to see anyone upsetting the Heels especially if John Henson comes back healthy to solidify the third scoring option in the lineup.
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