In last year's NCAA Basketball Tournament, everyone pretty much knew that the Kentucky Wildcats would be cutting down the nets at its conclusion. This year is far from obvious. There is no clear cut favorite and even the highest seeds have glaring weaknesses.
It seemed that the NCAA didn't get as much press as it has in the past. Maybe due to ESPN trying to ram the NBA down our throats. I tried to check out a few games during championship week only to find some random regular season NBA game on the main channel. The meaningful college game was demoted to ESPN2. SportsCenter has been too obsessed with the Miami Heat winning streak to even consider showing highlights of any of the lesser known college teams. So even trying to get a glimpse of some teams has been hard to come by. So for the second year in a row, I know very little about the entire field.
I decided to choose Louisville as my champion. For me it basically came down to either Louisville or Duke, who I was shocked to see in the same region. Since I can't bring myself to ever put Duke in that position, Louisville was my choice. Louisville plays very aggressive on defense, which leads to an explosive offense. Rick Pitino is a good coach and it has been awhile since he won, so maybe he is due.
Duke is always strong in the tournament. Last year's loss to Lehigh in the opening round was an anomaly. The reality is that everyone plays their best against Duke, so if they have an off night, their opponent will be advancing. A quick example of this is that every team that beat Duke this year, stormed the court after the victory, even Miami, who is also a number 2 seed.
The Midwest region is very strong. Not only do you have Louisville and Duke, Michigan State and Saint Louis round out the top 4 seeds. Tom Izzo is also a great coach and Michigan State seems to peak in the tournament. Saint Louis is the sleeper in this bracket. They a very good team coming out of the surprisingly strong Atlantic 10.
The other team I would consider a favorite would be Indiana. There offense can put a lot of points on the board. Wisconsin is the sole reason, everyone is afraid to put them on the champion line. The Badgers beat the Hoosiers in both their meetings this year. I still put Indiana in my championship game because I didn't see anyone else in the East region more worthy of advancing.
The other two regions the West and the South are completely up for grabs. Look at the top seeds in the South region: Kansas, Georgetown, Florida and Michigan. Kansas lost to TCU, who went 11-21 (2-16 in the Big 12) and was destroyed by Baylor (19-14) 81-58 late in the year. Georgetown lost to South Florida, who was 12-19 (3-15 in the Big East). Michigan lost to Penn State, who went 10-21 (2-16 in the Big 10). Florida's worst loss was to Arkansas, who finished with a winning record, so I will advance the Gators to the final four.
The top seed in the West region is Gonzaga, which will probably mark the first year that the number one seed in the region is the underdog to make the final four. I figured that since Gonzaga is always a fun pick, this would be the perfect year to pick them to make it to Atlanta. Ohio State is the number two seed and is coming off the Big 10 championship, but there are plenty of holes in that team as well, considering they can go long periods of time without scoring. I wouldn't be shocked if Wisconsin sitting at the 5th seed in the region were to advance to the final four.
If there is a year that a mid-major comes away with a championship, this might be it. No team compares to what Kentucky had last year. And each of the top-seeded teams is a prime target for an early exit. There are a lot of games to be played and I'm sure we'll be glued to the television, internet or radio waiting for the events to unfold. Let's go dancing!
~Brad
