From schoolyards to office water coolers and in dormitories across the land, the annual passage of spring is upon us. Just as the snow starts melting and patches of green start spreading, the jotting down of the NCAA Basketball Tournament brackets has become a tell-tale sign of winter’s end.
March Madness has begun, and for those who have yet to fill out a bracket, this writer offers humble suggestions over what may or may not transpire over the next three weeks.
Keep the bleeding to a minimum
The key to making a bracket is picking the upsets, and while no top seed has ever fallen in the first round and second seeds are a virtual lock, catching which third, fourth, and fifth seeds get sent packing is the name of the game. Going against the favourite has its obvious consequences, but to prevent a bracket buster look at what team they would play in their next two matches. Both the lower seeds in the Villanova (5) vs. New Mexico (12) and Florida (4) vs. Ohio (13) matches have the ability to pull off an upset, but for any of the aforementioned teams to get past top-ranked North Carolina will take a perfect game, so there is little to be bitter over if your pick bows out early.
Take a hard look at those 8’s and 9’s
The games between the eighth and ninth seeds in the first round usually go down to the wire. Whoever comes out is likely to do some damage in subsequent rounds. Last year, the huge upset was UAB (9) over Kentucky (1), causing tumult in brackets everywhere. The tourney also had one crazy eight in Alabama, as the Crimson Tide took out Stanford (1) and the washed over Syracuse (5), before succumbing to eventual champion U. Conn. (1).
This year the best bet of a repeat is in the Albuquerque Region, with either Pacific (8) or Pittsburgh (9) ousting Washington (1). The Tigers shoot 50 per cent from the field and 40 per cent from beyond the arc, while the Panthers dominate the interior with their physical play. Whichever team survives will give the Huskies all they can handle.
Beware the BE and the ACC
The Big East Conference has contributed six teams to the big dance this year, and is home to the last two national champions0-U. Conn. and Syracuse. But make no mistake; the Atlantic Coast Conference has the cream of the crop in this year’s field, with Duke (1), North Carolina (1), Wake Forest (2) and Georgia Tech (5). A successful bracket will hinge on determining who gets the best of the potential BE vs. ACC matches, which could include: Tar Heels vs. Huskies in the Syracuse Regional, Blue Devils vs. The Orange in Austin’s Sweet Sixteen, and Wake Forest (2) vs. West Virginia (7) in Albuquerque’s second round. If the Demon Deacons can put their history of early season exits to rest and make it past the Mountaineers’ barrage of threes, they should make it to the semi-finals as the Southwest representative.
In the Chicago Region, expect BE league co-champion Boston College (4) to give Illinois (1) a run for its money. The Eagles, who get a bad wrap for playing .500 ball after their 20-0 run, have power forward Craig Smith to cause havoc with the guard-heavy Fighting Illini. That said, Illinois is the top seed in the tourney and playing in their home state, and if they get past the Eagles, they have an open lane to the Final Four.
