Madness in March

            In this year’s tournament, it’s Kentucky & everybody else. With the Wildcats having a perfect season & sliding past their first 2 tourney games with ease, they are this much closer to becoming the first NCAA Men’s basketball team to go undefeated since Bob Knight’s 1976 Indiana squad. #1 seeds Wisconsin & Duke are the most competitive teams in the field with the best chance to knock off Kentucky. #1 seed Villanova was up there too but got exposed by North Carolina State in the round of 32. Duke, with Jahlil Okafor & one of the best backcourts in the nation, cruised past Robert Morris & San Diego State. They have a Sweet 16 matchup with #5 Utah this Friday. Wisconsin beat Coastal Carolina & Oregon to earn their way into the Sweet 16, where they will face #4 North Carolina. 

            The 2^nd round of the tournament played out last Thursday & Friday with plenty of upsets & tight games. Rule #1 about upsets: they’re unpredictable. Many people liked lower-seeded Eastern Washington, Ole Miss, Buffalo & Valparaiso to advance to the next round. But it was the teams no one expected that completed the upset bid. #14 seeds Georgia State & UAB defeated Baylor & Iowa State, who were expected to make deep runs in the tourney, by 1 point to advance. UCLA, a team that many thought didn’t deserve a spot among the 64 teams, surprised SMU on a controversial goaltending call and ended up beating UAB in the next round. In the 3^nd round over the weekend, the biggest games were #7 against #2 matchups, Wichita State vs. Kansas & Michigan State vs. Virginia. The lower seeds beat the higher seeds for a spot in the Sweet 16. Louisville & Northern Iowa was another exciting game that saw Louisville hold off a UNI comeback to beat them by double digits. Notre Dame beat Butler by 3 and Dayton blew a lead against Oklahoma to lose by 6.

            The 8 Sweet 16 matchups are Wisconsin & North Carolina, Arizona & Xavier, Gonzaga & UCLA, Duke & Utah, Kentucky & West Virginia, Notre Dame & Wichita State, Louisville & North Carolina State, and Oklahoma & Michigan State. I predict Louisville & Michigan State to advance with the Spartans winning that matchup to play in the Final Four. I picked Notre Dame to beat Wichita State in my bracket but I want to see a Wildcats & Shockers rematch of last year’s tourney game when Kentucky beat an undefeated Wichita State team. The Shockers can’t look ahead but I bet they would want to avenge that loss by ruining Kentucky’s perfect season. Wisconsin & Arizona will meet in the Elite 8 along with Duke & Gonzaga. Arizona will advance but lose to Kentucky in the Final Four. Duke will advance & beat Michigan State to face Kentucky in the championship game. For all the marbles, Kentucky will beat Duke for their 9^th championship.