March Madness is finally here! The time has come to crown the college basketball national champion by playing 63 games in 18 days. 64 teams all start off with the same dream but only one will remain on April 2nd to cut down the nets and claim the 2012 championship.
Part of what makes the NCAA Tournament so fascinating is that everybody in America is a part of it. Besides the 64 schools representing nearly every state or region in the United States, more than 35 million Americans will fill out brackets. Everybody, from your grandma to your wife to your boss, will fill out a March Madness bracket. This means all those people will have teams to root for besides their own. Maybe they won’t watch every game, or even just one, but you know if they finish with a better record than you you’re gonna here about for a long time.
This year’s bracket seemed a lot easier to predict than the past couple of years. The teams that have earned a seeding from #1-#4 are in an elite group all their own. Kentucky, Syracuse (not anymore since their best player is ineligible for the tournament), Michigan State and North Carolina all earned #1 seeds. The #2 seeds are Duke, Ohio State, Missouri, and Kansas. I really can’t imagine any of those teams not winning the national championship. Sure, Butler has played in the last two national championships and VCU made it to the final four last year but this year is different. Looking at the bracket I can’t seriously picture any team seeded four or higher making the same kind of run Butler or VCU did.
A month ago I had the expectations of four to five schools from Indiana making the NCAA Tourney. As it turned out though, only three were selected. Indiana, Purdue, and Notre Dame all earned a spot to play in March Madness. The Hoosiers are seeded #4 and will play New Mexico State Thursday night. Purdue is a #10 and faces St. Mary’s Friday night. The Irish earned a #7 seed and goes up against #10 Xavier late Friday night. I expect all three teams to win their first game, although Notre Dame and Purdue face really good teams. Even if those two do win, they will have to face a #2 team. That is why I only predict Indiana will make it to the Sweet 16.
Speaking of predictions, here are some of my picks I made in my 8th and final edition of my bracket.
Sweet 16
South- #1 Kentucky, #4 Indiana, #3 Baylor, #2 Duke
West- #1 Michigan State, #4 Louisville, #3 Marquette, #2 Missouri
East- #1 Syracuse, #5 Vanderbilt, #3 Florida State, #2 Ohio State
Midwest- #1 North Carolina, #4 Michigan, #6 San Diego State, #2 Kansas
Ok, so I didn’t go with any upsets in the South or West. That’s just because I don’t believe any of those teams will lose. The only teams I could see losing is Baylor or Indiana. Baylor has not impressed me all year and Indiana has a tough second round matchup. In the West, Louisville and Marquette may trip up in the second round. In the Midwest, I have San Diego State beating Georgetown in the second round.
Elite 8
South- #1 Kentucky, #2 Duke
West- #1 Michigan State, #2 Missouri
East- #5 Vanderbilt, #3 Florida State
Midwest- #1 North Carolina, #2 Kansas
Pretty boring picks here, I know. The only shockers, obviously, are Vandy and Florida State. Vandy will be going up against Syracuse who is without their best player.
Final Four
#2 Duke, #1 Michigan State, #3 Florida State, #1 North Carolina
Everybody and their mom has Kentucky winning it all. Not me. In at least the last two tournaments, the overall # 1 seed hasn’t even made it to the Final Four. Furthermore, only two #1 teams have made it to the Elite 8 in the last four tournaments. That’s basically why I’m going with Florida State and Duke, because the law of averages has to play out.
Championship
#2 Duke vs. #1 North Carolina. Duke wins by one point.
How much more epic can it possibly get? This is the biggest rivalry in all of college basketball and perhaps in all of college sports. These two played each other twice during the regular season and split the series. How exciting would it be to see these two storied programs go at it for the national championship?
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