Millions of fans throughout the country filled out their brackets after the field of 68 were announced, thinking they would be the one to win their pool. I thought the same thing. My confidence was rolling after the end of the first day. There were not many upsets that occurred in the opening day. The one that seemed a little surprising was No. 11 Colorado upending No. 6 UNLV. The only other game that produced a higher seed defeating a lower seed was No. 12 VCU defeating No. 5 Wichita State. We all know that besides the seedings, we can’t characterize that as an upset after VCU’s final four run last year. It was almost expected that it would be a close game where Shaka Smart’s squad would come up with a big shot to win the game.
Things were looking good going into the second day of the second round. The first wave of games in the day produced on upset. No. 11 NC State proved to have too much size for No. 6 San Diego State to handle. After picking the Wolf pack with the minor upset, I was still sitting pretty. Then the wheels came off the wagon.
If you recall, last week I picked Missouri to win the National Championship. Well we now know how that played out. In one of the biggest upsets in tournament history, the Tigers were shocked by No. 15 Norfolk State. This was a personal record for me and not in a good way. Never had I predicted a National Champion that has not made it passed the second round. If that was enough damage to everyone’s bracket, Duke and Michigan made sure they would increase the pain. There have been No. 15 seeds that advanced before, but never two in one year. That was until Lehigh University took a page out of Norfolk State’s book when they defeated Duke, 75-70. The madness was not over. The Michigan Wolverines, who I picked to reach the Sweet 16, was upset by No. 13 Ohio. Another 12 seed to advance past the second round was the South Florida Bulls, who defeated the woeful Temple Owls.
With my bracket shattered into little pieces, I went on to the third round focused on all but my bracket. The Saturday matchups went chalk, as there were no upsets across the slate of schedule. Sunday’s matchups did not create as much drama as Friday’s, but we still witnessed a couple upsets. NC State will continue their magical run, with their 66-63 win of Georgetown. The Ohio Bobcats shared the same fortune with their 62-56 victory over South Florida. The third round was complete when No. 6 Cincinnati defeated No. 3 Florida State, which seemed like a shock to most. After beating Duke and North Carolina on their way to an ACC Championship, many saw Florida State as a smart pick to the final four.
With the majority of my teams making an early exit, I decided to make round-by-round picks for the next couple weeks. The Sweet 16 will get on its way on Thursday, March 22. Kicking it off in the East Region will be No. 1 Syracuse and No. 4 Wisconsin. Syracuse’s 2-3 zone will force the Badgers into ill-advised shots. The absence of center Fab Melo will not come back to haunt the Orange this game. Syracuse will await the winner of the Buckeye State Showdown, when Cincinnati takes on Ohio State. The matchup to watch here is big man Yancy Gates vs. big man Jared Sullinger. Although Gates will be a tough test for Sullinger, Ohio State has too many other weapons they can beat you with, and will find a way to defeat the Bearcats. The victory will set up an Elite 8 match between the Orange and Buckeyes. The question here is who will guard Sullinger? We have finally made it to the point where Melo’s absence will hurt Syracuse. Even with the 2-3 zone, Ohio State will find a way to pick apart the defense and get the ball down to Sullinger, allowing him to send them to the final four.
From east to west, the other slate of games on Thursday features Michigan State vs. Louisville and Marquette and Florida. All year long the Spartans have played with a chip on their shoulder after being overlooked numerous times, even as a No. 1 seed. Don’t expect them to stop now. Naismith player of the year candidate Draymond Green will lead his team over Louisville. Although this might not be the prettiest of games, the nightcap will keep you awake. Both the Florida gators and Marquette Golden Eagles like to run up and down the floor and use their speed to beat their opponents. Marquette will have more firepower to get past Florida. The Golden Eagles pace will prove to be too much for Michigan State lifting them into the Final Four.
The South region will feature No. 10 Xavier and No. 3 Baylor, followed by No. 4 Indiana and the overall No. 1 seed Kentucky. Xavier was handed a gift in the third round when they faced Lehigh instead of a matchup they anticipated in Duke. The Musketeers do not size up well against Big 12 powerhouse Baylor. Perry Jones III and Quincy Acy will have stellar performances in route to their win. The nightcap features Kentucky against the only team that defeated them during the regular season, the Indiana Hoosiers. Revenge will be on the Wildcats minds, and that they will get. Plain and simple, Kentucky is miles ahead of any of their opponents in their region and will cruise on to New Orleans.
The final region to play out will be the Midwest. In their third round game, North Carolina star point guard Kendall Marshall broke his non-shooting wrist, and is questionable to play. Although the injury will not come back to bite the Tar Heels against the Cinderella team of the tournament, Ohio Bobcats, it will turn out to be a critical loss in their Elite 8 matchup against Kansas. Kansas will be more focused against NC State after they nearly got upset by Purdue in the third round. Thomas Robinson will return to his dominating form, leading the Jayhawks to the Final Four.
There you have it. Kentucky, Marquette, Ohio State and Kansas is my new and improved Final Four. I originally had Kentucky, Ohio State and Kansas in my Final Four. Hopefully your bracket is still intact through the first three rounds unlike mine.
This year has been a prime example why we call this tournament March Madness. We see upsets that we can’t even predict, games play out that we couldn’t imagine, and fans go to immeasurable limits of cheering. How far have you gone?
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