It’s March - it’s Madness!
It’s that time of year again where the best 68 college basketball teams in the US fight in a winner-take-all tournament. Every year March Madness lights up televisions across America, stories of Cinderella are told and a king is crowned.
St John’s (where your hoddler-in-chief went to university) return to the tournament after being crowned Big East champions for a second year running.
The reward: A five seed. Which is dumb and renders the entire Big East tournament meaningless. But apparently a Week 2 defeat to Alabama carries more weight than beating UConn twice. And how the 10th-ranked team in the country gets a five seed is also baffling to me.
Anyways enough of my ranting. At the risk of spoiling any bracket competitions I am participating in this year, I am going to be sharing my thoughts on the field from Elite Eight onwards. Let’s get to it:
Elite Eight:
St John’s (5) vs Michigan State (3)
Florida (1) vs Houston (2)
Arizona (1) vs Purdue (2)
Michigan (1) vs Iowa State (2)
Only one double-digit team advanced to the Sweet 16 last year (don’t remind me), and all four number-one seeds reached the Final Four. Can that seriously happen again?
I kind of hope it doesn’t pan out this way because where’s the excitement in that? My big guess is that the St Johns defense overwhelms Duke, the tournament’s top seed overall, and that Tom Izzo’s Michigan State takes out UConn (apologies to any New Englanders out there).
Otherwise it’s hard to see where the upsets will be coming from. Can Vanderbilt (5) give Florida trouble again in the Sweet 16? Houston look about as strong as a one seed. I think Arizona could be in some trouble regardless if they play Wisconsin (5) or John Calipari’s Arkansas (4) in the Sweet 16, but analysts love picking Arizona to win it all this year.
Then Michigan’s got a pretty easy draw up to Iowa State.
Final Four:
Michigan State (3) vs Houston (2)
Arizona (1) vs Michigan (1)
Call me crazy but I’m not sold on Florida this year. They lost to Duke, UConn and Arizona (although I’m ignoring that same logic in the St John’s debate), and also had a bad loss against TCU in out-of-conference play.
I think Arizona gets through the gauntlet, while Michigan is able to ride a bit of momentum in fending off Iowa State. Mostly, I just cannot imagine three teams from the Big 12 in the Final Four.
Championship Game:
Arizona (1) def Houston (2)
Could the title finally be heading back to the West Coast? It can, if Arizona doesn’t choke again in this Big 12 matchup.
I’m not thrilled with this bracket. I kind of want to pick Wisconsin over Arizona in the Sweet 16 because I think it’ll be fun, and because Wisconsin have given some top teams a lot of trouble lately. But if I do that, then who goes to the Final Four? And the who goes to the championship game?
Or should I just pick SJU again?
Fitzie’s track of the day: Clarion-Clipperton Zone, by Laurel Halo
And now for your links:
The Athletic ($$): “Tottenham went back to basics at Liverpool – and it could be what keeps them up”
The Standard: “Richarlison can save Tottenham and Atletico Madrid ban is blessing in disguise”
Alasdair Gold: “Igor Tudor’s brutal message to Johan Lange and why he got so irritated at Liverpool”
BBC: “How Chelsea signed a star team with hidden payments”