What you need to know to fill out a winning bracket this year.
TRAVERSE CITY, MI --
Michigan State’s Chances- with Izzo in charge they’re always good. But with as up and down as these Spartans have been it’s tough to see them getting passed Florida in the second round. You can pencil them in to “upset” #7 seed UCLA in round one, but another magical Sparty run probably isn’t in the cards this year.
Michigan’s Chances- This season the young Wolverines proved they can play with anybody in the nation, but not necessarily beat them. They have down to the wire losses to Ohio State, Kansas and Syracuse, but they haven’t been able to beat a top 25 team all season. They got a good seed at #8 in the west, but they also got a tough draw. They’ll play in Charlotte where a win over Tennessee would likely set them up to take on Duke in what will essentially be a road game for the Wolverines. UofM has the athletes to give the Dukies trouble, but they’re a year out from being able to finish against the top teams in the country.
Must See Game of Round 1- Southeast Regional, #6 St. Johns vs. #11 Gonzaga
Gonzaga seems to always be involved in round one nail biters and head coach Steve Lavin has the Red Storm playing better then anyone expected this season. This one goes down to the final minute.
Must Miss Game of Round 1- West Regional, #7 Temple vs. #10 Penn State
Unless you really like defense, stay away! Penn State just beat Wisconsin 36-33 in the lowest scoring game in Big Ten tournament history. The Owls preach defense first and have held opponents to just 40 per cent from the field this season.
#13 Seed That Will Go Far- Oaktown in the house! The Oakland Golden Grizzlies feature future NBA Lottery pick Keith Benson and they play the streaky and beatable Texas Longhorns in round 1. I’m thinking sweet 16 for the Grizz.
#13 Seed That Won’t Go Far- All the “experts” are picking Belmont to upset Wisconsin in round one, that means they won’t so find another Cinderella.
Best Non #1 Seed- It’s a tie between #2 San Diego State and #3 Connecticut, both in the west region. The Aztecs have only lost to one team this season, BYU and they avenged that loss in the Mountain West conference finals blowing out the Cougars in the Championship game. UConn just won the Big East tournament and with star guard Kemba Walker playing better then anyone else in the country the Huskies have a very legit chance to win it all. If things pan out the way they should UConn and SDSU will meet in the Sweet 16 in what will probably be the game of the tournament.
Who will win it all?
It’s always fun to pick upsets, but in 7 of the last 10 years a #1 seed has won the tournament and of the other 3 winners the lowest seed to win it was a #3. I think the tournament sets up nicely for three of the top seeds to get into the Final Four, with Duke the lone top seed not getting to Houston. But it won’t be a #1 seed cutting down the nets this year, 3 seed Connecticut will take down Kansas in the championship game to win the national title.
