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 2nd
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 3nd 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 9th championship.
