And by stop I mean start, and by hammer I mean the Men’s NCAA Basketball tournament. March Madness is finally upon us and that means it’s time to make our picks. In a normal year, I’d be confident as hell in my picks and telling everyone I know how my bracket is gonna be unbelievable… This year, not so much. The tourney is a wide-open hell-in-a-cell free-for-all and way too many teams have a shot at winning. Consequently, the big dogs like Indiana/Louisville/Kansas are vulnerable in almost every match-up they’re gonna get after the round of 64. The playing field (playing court?) in this tournament is so level that I have no idea what is going to happen and neither does anyone else. That being said, here is exactly what is going to happen region by region….
MIDWEST: The Midwest region is going to be a blood bath. We’ve got the #1 overall seed Louisville along with Duke, Michigan St., and quasi-sleeper St. Louis. I expect all of those teams to be prepared to make a deep run because of the quality of their coaches, not to mention the elite talent that they put on the floor. Pitino, Coach K, and Izzo have all won this thing before and I wouldn’t put it past them to be dancing again this year in Atlanta. St. Louis’ coach Rick Majerus is actually dead but I don’t think that will get in the Billikens’ way, mostly because Billikens is a fucking hilarious word and I don’t know what it means. I imagine it being a pelican named Bill, but I don’t think that’s right. They’re logo is also phenomenal. Why is he winking at me? What’s his deal? Anyways, in the end I see Duke making it to the Final Four after beating Mich St. in the Sweet 16 and then Louisville in the Elite 8, but this region is going to be extremely tough for no matter who makes it through. Look for the National Champion to come out of this region, Duke or not.
WEST: The West region is for pussies, there’s no way around it. There are 4 teams that I could see making it out of the West, and maybe one of them has a shot at a title. First let’s look at 1 seed Gonzaga. Although everyone says that the Bulldogs are a bunch of pretenders because they play in a weak conference, I think they have a decent chance of making some noise in the tournament because this region is diluted. If basketball has taught me anything, it’s that white foreigners are shifty and surprisingly good at it. Kelly Olynyk reminds me of a mix between Dirk and Steve Nash. No he’s not nearly as talented as either of those guys, but he is tall and he is Canadian. And those things might count for something down the stretch, so I’m giving the Zags a chance. However, despite Olynyk’s propensity for being tall, Canadian, and having dumb hair, I like Wisconsin to defeat Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. Unlike the Bulldogs, the Badgers have played against and beaten quality opponents in the Big 10 all season long. We’ll see how Olynyk and Co. respond to playing a team that is capable of playing competitive basketball. Ultimately I see Wisconsin going down in the Elite 8 to rival Ohio State because, well, you’ve gotta give the Buckeyes credit for winning the Big 10 tournament. These guys are battle-tested like few other teams in the country, proving that they can beat anybody, anywhere, at any time. That’s the type of team this tournament demands. The other school that has the potential to make it out of this region (besides Gonzaga, Wisconsin, and Ohio State) is New Mexico. I don’t know anything about New Mexico except that other people who know more about college basketball than I do talk very highly of them. That’s good enough for me, I’ll give ’em a shot. But don’t get me wrong, Ohio State is the only team here that could win it all.
SOUTH: The South region might be the deepest in the dance, and I expect a ton of competitive games in this part of the bracket. I like Kansas here, but they’re going to have a string of very difficult match-ups after they slide by Western Kentucky in the first game. In the round of 32 they’re going to play the winner of UNC/Villanova, neither of which will be an easy out. North Carolina has the talent to be a Final 4 team if their big name players like McAdoo, Hairston, and Bullock step it up for only a few games. Don’t forget that they were playing in the ACC final against Miami less than a week ago. If freshman pg Marcus Paige can play mistake free ball then this #8 could beat Kansas in the second round and I’d be hard pressed to call it an upset. If the Jayhawks get Villanova in that game instead then I think they win handily. I like Villanova and respect their ability to beat top-tier teams, which they’ve demonstrated throughout the season, but I don’t see them doing it twice in a row. Too much to ask for them to beat UNC and Kansas back to back but I guess if Arciadocowhoever is on crazy fire than anything is possible. At least that’s what KG told me. Anyway I like Kansas to beat UNC, giving them a sweet 16 match-up with the winner of Michigan/VCU. Once again, that sucks because I have Kansas going all the way to the championship game. Why do god and the NCAA bracket committee have it in for Kansas? I don’t know… But I do know that Michigan and VCU, like UNC, are potential final 4 teams. Still I like Kansas for a few reasons. If they get VCU, I think that Elijah Johnson and Ben McLemore are good enough ball-handlers to break through that hectic VCU full court press, and once they get the ball into the half court they’ll be ok and run their offense efficiently. VCU thrives off getting turnovers and I trust the Jayhawk guards to protect the ball. Michigan scares me a bit more. Trey Burke is nasty and I love how clutch little Timmy Hardaway is. Those two guys can make up a 10 point deficit in no time with they way they shoot the 3, and role guys like GRiii, Horford, and McGary are all talented even if they don’t bring it every game. By the way GRiii is Glen Robinson the third; its a nickname I made up because it’s great and not some dumb typo so back off and accept its greatness. It’s like RGiii but backwards. Fucken perfect nickname. So assuming Kansas makes it through that sweet 16 game (an admitted gamble), they end up playing Georgetown or Florida in the elite 8. Somehow I like the Jayhawks to keep rolling no matter who they face. Georgetown plays great D but I’m hoping that at least one guy, whether it’s Mclemore, Johnson, Whitney down low, or maybe someone off the bench can get hot. Conversely, if your Kansas coach Bill Self you really only need concern yourself with stopping player of the year candidate Otto “the palindrome” Porter. The Hoyas lack another go-to scorer and that will end up being their demise in crunch time. If it’s Florida, Kansas is praying that the Gators on the court will resemble the squad that recently blew the SEC Championship against Ol’ Marshall, not the team that has been to the elite 8 two years in a row and was an early favorite to get there this year. I picked Kansas in each one of these games so I’ll stick with them, but I really don’t know if they can make it through this three game gauntlet in tact. The South is going to be chaotic, no doubt about it.
EAST: I see the least parity in the East region, where Indiana and Miami are the only big shots and I don’t think anyone else can play with them. Maybe I’m discounting Syracuse too much, but I’m pretty sure that they just got ran out of the gym in New York last weekend. Totally embarrassed in that second half, in the Garden, which should almost be like a home game for them. And like 2 weeks before that, getting spanked by Georgetown in the final (not at all final) game of that historic rivalry? This Syracuse team just doesn’t have it. I think Miami and Indiana are taking relatively easy paths through the field until they cross in an elite 8 game which is a complete tossup. Both teams handle the ball well, shoot the 3, and have bigs that can finish at the rim. I pick Miami here because I want them to win, simple as that. However, I do think it’s a justified pick. Both teams are beatable on any given day, which was shown consistently throughout the season. For that reason, the overwhelming talent of Oladipo and Zeller don’t necessarily scare me as much as they should. The Miami guards play great D and they have some huge bigs that could elbow Zeller around the paint all day. Miami’s guys are all like 26 years old and they will body up a soft Indiana team. I’m taking the Canes to the Final 4.
FINAL FOUR:
Kansas over Miami because that’s what I picked. While writing this article I changed my mind, and now think Miami could make the final, but I’ve already picked Kansas in my bracket and here at Bush League we stick to our gut. I think Kansas is going to be bruised and battered from their own region and lose this game. Miami’s old dudes and Shane Larkin will be too much. But Kansas is gonna win anyway. Fuck it.
Duke over Ohio State because Duke is a complete team. Every other team I look at is good in certain areas and just ok in others. Duke handles the ball, they shoot the 3 (not just 1 guy but like 4 dudes can really shoot the rock), they go inside, get to the line, and they play smothering D.
I like Duke to win the National Championship for those reasons. Curry and Kelly making smart decisions and Shooting 3s, Plumlee finishing at the rim, and defense all around. Coach K and the senior leadership on that team will make sure that the Blue Devils are cutting down the nets in Atlanta.
AW