March Madness, the best time of the year, is back. Like the last couple of years, there is no clear favorite. You have the traditional powerhouses like Duke, Michigan State, and North Carolina built with top recruits, and top-notch coaching, but you’ve also got, team-oriented powerhouses such as Villanova, Gonzaga, Xavier, among others. There could be a cinderella like Butler or George Mason in years past, or you could have top seeds do something they seemingly never do, which is take care of business against teams they are “supposed” to beat. That’s why this is the greatest few weeks in sports. No team is safe. In order to come out as the Champions in early April, a team has to be perfect for 6 games.
South
The South is a very interesting portion of the bracket, with multiple big name programs, as well as solid mid majors.
Virginia, the Number 1 seed, had their best season since a guy named Ralph Sampson was still on campus. We can just go ahead and ignore UMBC playing against UVA, they should consider themselves lucky if they even score over 40 points. The only problem with the Cavaliers is that they only score 67ppg. Cincinnati, the number 2 seed, is built a lot like Virginia, with a stout defense(albeit against inferior competition in the AAC), but once again is offensively challenged. This is a team that will be on upset alert, maybe not in the first round, then early on in the tournament.
Arizona is the four seed and comes into the tournament on fire after a slow start to the season. The Wildcats started off the season as the #3 ranked team, dropped out of the rankings altogether by Week 4 of the season. Thanks to the emergence of freshman Deandre Ayton(20 ppg, 12rpg) as one of the best, if not the best, players in the country, Arizona has a legitimate shot of making a run in this year’s tournament.
Kentucky, coming off of their 31st SEC tournament title, enters the tournament on a bit of a hot streak of late as well. However, they play an equally hot team in Davidson that has four shooters on the court at all times. Kellan Grady, a freshman guard, is shooting 38% from three, and is averaging 18ppg. As a team, Davidson shoots nearly 40% from three-point range. The Wildcats from Kentucky are on upset alert in this game. If they start slow offensively and play uninspired defense, Kentucky could be in for a long night.
Besides Kentucky, I don’t really see a game that could provide an upset in the first round. Loyola-Chicago seems to be a team that many people are picking as a mid-major that can make a run, but in the first round they face a Miami team that beat UNC just a few weeks ago, and is battle tested/well prepared thanks to the gauntlet they faced all season in the ACC.
Even though Virginia is a great team this year, I think Arizona is poised to make a big run. Unless one of these teams comes up with an answer for Ayton and Allonzo Trier, then I think they will be very tough to beat.
West
The West portion of the bracket may not have the big names that the South has but it should still be very interesting to watch.
Xavier is the number one seed but may have the most difficult path of all of the number ones. They play the winner of the 16-seed play in game. It won’t matter who they play, this will be a blowout. Xavier is led by two seniors in Trevon Bluiett, who is averaging nearly 20 ppg including 42% on threes, and J.P. Macura, who is averaging 12 ppg. For Xavier to make a deep run, these two need to play well. Xavier will play the winner of Missouri vs FSU, which could be a tough game for the Big East regular season champs. Missouri recently got back Michael Porter, Jr., who will be a Top 10 pick in the NBA draft. If he had played the entire season, they could very well have been a much higher seed. FSU is always a good defensive team, and their size could cause problems for the Musketeers.
UNC, in my opinion, is the team to beat in the West. They boast 5 double digit scorers, led by Junior Luke Maye and Senior Joel Berry II, both of whom are averaging over 17 ppg. The 2-seed is the defending national champs and were a missed Kris Jenkins buzzer beater away from a chance in overtime in the 2016 Championship. Berry and Maye were on both of those teams, making this the most experienced team in the country. It also helps that they’ve been playing high intensity games all season in the ACC.
The four seed Gonzaga Bulldogs, runners up a year ago, have yet another strong team under Coach Mark Few. Despite losing Karnowski down low, the WCC champs replaced him with another solid big man in Killian Tillie, who is averaging 13 ppg and 6 rpg. Gonzaga was largely written off after their blow out loss to Villanova at MSG. Though they aren’t as talent as they’ve been in years past, this team is yet another top 20 seed that can make a run in the tourney.
Michigan is one of the hottest teams in the country, coming off a run to a championship in the Big Ten Tournament. However, the Big Ten was the weakest power 5 conference, so it’s not quite as impressive as one might think. They don’t have a star scorer, and when you look up and down their roster, they have a lot of players that are very streaky. That could bode well in the NCAA tourney, but I think it more shows the possibility of a team that will fizzle out early in the tournament.
Look for UNC to make it to the Final Four for the third year in a row, led by Joel Berry, and Theo Pinson, who came on strong at the end of the year.