WiNK
This past weekend, the first two rounds of the annual NCAA Men's Basketball tournament, colloquially known as March Madness, took place. This leaves only sixteen teams left out of the 68 teams that qualified for the tournament. The teams that are left are: #1 seeds Duke, Virginia, North Carolina, and Gonzaga, #2 seeds Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Michigan State, #3 seeds LSU, Purdue, Houston, and Texas Tech, #4 seeds Florida State and Virginia Tech, #5 seed Auburn, and #12 seed Oregon.
Note: This was written before the Sweet Sixteen took place.
Synopsis
So far there have been 52 games played and teams eliminated, but this has not been a very exciting March Madness. That is just my opinion, but there are also stats to back it up as well. Since the beginning of the modern era of March Madness seeding in 1979, this year is tied with 2009 for the Sweet Sixteen with the highest seed numbers. This basically says that there have not been upsets, because the higher the seeds the more and better the upsets are. One of the biggest stories of the tournament so far is actually not a part of the tournament, but one man named Gregg Nigl. He has a perfect bracket so far, the first person to do ever do this (that can be verified). The chances of this are 1 in 282 trillion, so him doing this is very impressive to say the least.
Most Notable Games So Far:
- Duke vs UCF
This was one of if not the most exciting finishes of the first weekend of the tournament. Both teams were very even for most of the game, led by Aubrey Dawkins and 7'6" center Tacko Fall of UCF, against R.J. Barrett and likely number one pick Zion Williamson. This game came down to the final minute with Duke down three. Zion drove the lane and got fouled on an and-one. Zion missed his free throw, but R.J. Barrett got the rebound and scored to give them the lead. UCF had one more chance but barely missed both shots that they took.
Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhvE-nD-56o&feature=onebox
- LSU vs Maryland
This game was slightly less close, but it was still tight when it counted. LSU built a nine point lead at halftime but a late defensive tightening from Maryland brought them back into the game. With very little time left on the clock, and Maryland down three, Anthony Cowan Jr. drove and then kicked the ball out to an open Jalen Smith in the corner, who coolly knocked down the three to tie the game. However, that was not enough for them as Tremont Waters drove through three defenders and made a very heavily contested layup for the win.
Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXZYhlvkZAQ
- Iowa State vs Ohio State
Ohio State only barely made it into the tournament at all, with them being one of the two lowest teams to get a bye past the First Four. They did not play like that in this game, with them leading by a few points for almost the entirety of the game. With Iowa State down three, the game came down to one last second shot by point guard Nick Weiler-Babb. He missed this long three pointer and Ohio State went home with the upset win.
Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD7qd--xTX4
- Belmont vs Maryland
Belmont came into this game after just having beaten Temple in their First Four Matchup. They proved that they might have deserved higher placement with how well they played against Maryland. Belmont was down and had the ball with under ten seconds left when Eric Ayala of the Terrapins iced the game with a deflected pass that led to a steal. Maryland hit their free their free throw and Belmont was forced to throw up a prayer that did not fall.
Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdXz13se7Wg
- Kansas State vs UC Irvine
UC Irvine was the only teams that was seeded 13-16 that managed to get a win in their first game. To go along with that accomplishment, this was also the first win in the UCI Anteater's school history. They were down with nine minutes to go but Evan Leonard sparked a comeback with back to back threes and several other shots to eventually give UC Irvine a healthy six point win.
Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPXTT480y4w
My Predictions
I think that the Final Four will end up being a three ACC one, with Duke, North Carolina, and Virginia making it, as well as Texas Tech from the West Region. For Duke and North Carolina, I feel like they are definitely both good enough to make it. Possibly more important than that, both teams are currently very hot right now. North Carolina has only lost one time in the last month and a half, and that was to a Duke team by only one point in the semifinals in the ACC tournament. On the other hand, Duke has won 23 of their last 24 games with Zion Williamson. They did lose several games over a small stretch of time near the end of the season, but Zion wasn't playing which barely even counts for them because of how much of a difference he makes. I'm not too high on Virginia in the East region, however I also think Tennessee is the worst of the two seeds and Oregon is a twelve seed so realistically Virginia's path to the Final Four is not too difficult. The West region is definitely the one that is up for grabs the most. I could see any of the four teams remaining going to the Final Four. They are all really strong teams, but because I think Gonzaga can be inconsistent, and Texas Tech is underrated I'll cast my Final Four vote for the Red Raiders. Besides, picking Gonzaga, and thus an all #1 seed Final Four would be really boring. One interesting anecdote about this region is in my family's annual bracket competition, each of us predicted a different one of these four teams to make the Final Four.
I think the championship will be a classic Duke-UNC battle. The aforementioned ACC semifinals was an amazing game that came to several last second shots to put pressure on the other. Duke and UNC match-up with each other really well and both teams will need players to step up and perform. I think that the X-Factors in this potential title matchup are Cam Reddish of Duke and Cameron Johnson of North Carolina. Yes, I know that Zion is obviously the most important part of Duke's chances of winning. However, picking him is boring and overdone. One of Duke's biggest weaknesses is their outside game and three-point shooting, instead preferring to pound the ball in the paint with Zion and R.J. Barrett. Cam Reddish has been Duke's most productive and efficient three point shooter all season. North Carolina has very strong and disciplined bigs, so Duke will have to be able to score from the outside as well as the inside. Coby White will keep North Carolina with Duke, but a great game from Cameron Johnson is what they need to win. In the ACC semifinals, the only game between these two teams in which the squads were at full strength, Cameron Johnson dominated the first part of the first half and this gave UNC a sizable lead, however, Johnson cooled down and Duke started to come back. Duke is the favorite, but I predict North Carolina to win in a very close game with Luke Maye continuing his strong tournament performance and earning the Most Outstanding Player award.
Your Predictions:
I sent out a poll on Monday to the high school as well as the eighth grade asking who they thought would win March Madness. Unsurprisingly, Duke had a majority of the votes, with 58% of them going their way. The only other team that had a sizable vote count was my pick to win, North Carolina, with 21% of the votes. The other teams that received votes were, Auburn (2), Gonzaga (2), Michigan (2), Houston (1), Tennessee (1), and Virginia (1).