A lot to talk about in sports right now but the latest dispatch, my official round 1 break down. Plus final four predictions. Hate myself this year, I am so chalky, fade me, Bracket time.
South
Favorites
Auburn- J0hni Broome is an absolute menace on the basketball court and one of my favorite players to watch in the country period. Chad Baker Mazzaro is a shooter and has a really cool name, also a total wild card.
Michigan- Dusty May has gotten to the final four with worse rosters than this. Dustin Wolf is a classic lumbering, white, arm acned, college big that can absolutely ball. Love me some Tre Donaldson at point and Vladislav Goldin as well. This team is really fun to watch.
Ole Miss- Shaun Pedulla is a classic March Madness player if I have ever seen one. Chris Beard’s teams remain insanely fun to watch.
Upsets to Pick
Yale over Texas AM- Texas A&M struggle to score 70 points on probably 3 out of every 4 nights, that’s not the recipe for a deep tourney run. Yale meanwhile is the class of the Ivy League and plays fun run-and-gun offense with a bunch of cold-ass white boys leading the way. The Bulldogs can pull the upset here.
Lipscomb over Iowa State- More a bet against Iowa State, they’re missing the best player on the roster and have been ass lately, shout out Matt Norlander and the TBALL metric. Lipscomb has three shooters hitting threes at a 35 percent clip or better, perfect recipe for an upset.
New Mexico over Marquette- Great guards lead deep march madness runs and there probably isn’t a better mid major guard in the country, with apologies to Utah State and Mason Falslev and Ian Martinez, than Donovan Dent at New Mexico. Richard Pitino has turned the program into the class of the Mountain West. If they had won the tournament in the Mountain West we are probably talking about a 7 or 8 seed.
Hot Takes
Auburn doesn’t make it out of the first weekend losing to a Louisville team with a home crowd behind it. I also think Ole Miss makes a run here to the final four.
West
Favorites
Florida- They score at an insane clip. Walter Clayton Jr. is an insanely fun guard to watch and they’ve got two really good scoring forwards inside the paint. This is a very balanced team that scores a ton of points and has the best resume in the country. You don’t want to play them in March.
St. John’s- Ricky Pitino turned the program from an afterthought to a final-four contender in two years. This is hard, tough, strong Big East basketball. No one has been able to stop this team since December really. If the Big East had been even a little bit better than the middling league it was this year they would no doubt be a one-seed.
Upsets to Pick
Drake over Missouri- Ben McCollum is one of the hottest coaching names in the country for a reason. This is a Drake team that beat K State, Miami, and Vanderbilt this year. On the other side I just view Missouri as a middle-of-the-pack SEC squad, this would be the one upset I would really be shocked if I got wrong. Drake is just a better team with a better coach.
UNC Wilmington over Texas Tech- Just don’t buy Texas Tech, this is one of my bigger upset picks of the tournament but I feel pretty confident in it. You can catch the red raiders sleeping.
Arkansas over Kansas- First off, neither of these teams is actually good. This is just a bet on John Calapari slaying last years March demons and grabbing a win in round 1. Also who doesn’t what to see Pitino v Cal in round 2?
Hot Takes
Drake makes an elite 8 run but other than that my bracket is chalky here. St. John’s out-grinds Florida to grab the final four spot out of the bracket.
East
Favorites
Duke– Aburns resume is undeniable for the number one overall seed, they beat Duke this year, but to me this is the best team in the country. Forget Cooper Flagg for a second. Kon Knueppel is an absolute baller and one of the best shooters in the nation. Tyrese Proctor is a hell of a point guard averaging 5 assists a game. Kahman Maluach is an NBA level prospect at big. That’s without Cooper Flagg, who you could sit in round one and get fully healthy. The Blue Devils are the most talented roster in the nation and the best suited to win a title in my opinion.
That’s it- This is the bracket of upsets, let’s get to it.
Upset Picks
VCU over BYU- BYU is a very good team, it would not shock me if they end up in the elite 8 but Ryan Odom in two years has turned VCU into one of the best teams in the country from the mid major level. Odom is a prime target of Villanova and Virginia and I believe he has something to state at VCU. He was the architect of the greatest upset in tourney history UMBC over Virginia.
Robert Morris over Alabama- NCAA tourney upset are often driven by pace. Alabama has the best pace in the country, Robert Morris has one of the slowest. Bama is also injured, slumping and not shooting well from three. Robert Morris can get this win.
Hot Takes
Bama doesn’t make it out of the first weekend. Also Arizona could make an elite 8 run. Ultimately though I believe VCU gets to the elite 8 where they lose to Duke.
Midwest
Favorites
Houston- Kelvin Sampson remains one of the best coaches in America with another defensively tough team that can score with the best of them.
Kentucky- Year one of Mark Pope has been up and down but the wild cats grabbed a 3 seed and some impressive SEC wins. The pressure comes now though, this team has to get out of the first weekend to fully sell the fan base, I think they can. Go Utah boy.
Clemson- The second-best team in the ACC and the only ACC team to beat Duke, a five seed sure but this group has the goods to go on a run.
Upset Picks
Utah State over Tennessee- Teams that go on runs in March are driven by great coaching, great guards and great defense and Utah State has all of those things. They also have experience on the roster that grabbed a tournament win last year, they will look to win two this year.
Hot Takes
Utah State does go on a run. They beat Tennessee in round 2 and make it to the sweet 16. Houston loses to Clemson in the sweet 16, meaning the elite 8 in this bracket will not include a one or a two seed. Kentucky in year one under Mark Pope get to the final four.
Final Four
Duke over Kentucky
St. John’s over Florida
Duke over St. John’s for the title.