Two stand out in wide open NCAA field
A lot of prognosticators are talking about what a wide open field this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament has, how there are so many different teams that could make a run through the brackets.
It’s true, this year may be a bit like 2023 when the unlikely trio of Miami, San Diego State and, yep, that Cinderella FAU team joined Connecticut in the Final Four.
In the end though, there will be a couple familiar teams battling for the title as the emergence of a new dynasty unfolds.
There is one area team involved but it’s not Pitt, it’s Duquesne, and what a great story the Dukes are, forcing their way into March Madness for the first time in 47 years with their Atlantic 10 tournament run. I think they’ll have a good showing and cover the 9.5 points but fall to BYU in the first round.
While it’s uplifting to see Duquesne in the tournament, it’s an outright shame what the committee did to the Panthers. Here’s a team that I felt had all the makings of a Sweet 16 squad, a team fun to watch that was playing well down the stretch.
It’s a tragedy they weren’t included in the field. Even highly respected ESPN analyst Jay Bilas scolded the committee for leaving Pitt out.
In my opinion, if you had inserted Pitt in place of Virginia in the bracket – the same Cavaliers that turned in one of the most embarrassing offensive performances in tournament history in their First Four loss Tuesday night – the Panthers would not only have beaten Colorado State but also would’ve taken out Texas and given Tennessee a run for their money.
The only ACC team that would’ve been more dangerous than Pitt in this field is North Carolina.
But, no Panthers. So let’s move on and take a look at each region.
EAST
This is the easiest of the four regions to predict, at least who’ll come out of it.
There is one, and only one, team that can take out top-seeded UConn here. That team is coach Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers. That game will be tougher than any game the Huskies played in last year’s tourney, but they will survive and then roll past Illinois in the East final to return to the Final Four.
SOUTH
Pittsburgh fans will get a chance to see Moon Township’s John Calipari lead his Kentucky Wildcats at PPG Paints Arena today when they take on Oakland, and they’ll also get to see what shapes up as a great battle between Texas Tech and North Carolina State, which the Wolfpack will win. That’s two of the four games that will be played at PPG Paints Arena. Keep reading to find out the other two.
This is a competitive region headed up by No. 1 seed Houston that also includes other legitimate threats such as Marquette, Florida and Duke.
Kentucky doesn’t defend well enough to win four straight so I’ve scratched them off.
My first inkling was to take Marquette, who I picked to win it all last year, especially with guard Tyler Kolek likely to return. But then I did some research on coach Shaka Smart and what I found out should scare you away from taking the Golden Eagles to make any kind of significant run.
Smart guided VCU to the Final Four out of a play-in game in 2011. The Rams went 5-1 in the tournament that year. Since then Smart-coached teams (VCU, Texas and Marquette) have gone 3-9 in the NCAA tournament with six first-round losses, three of those to Abilene Christian, Northern Iowa and Stephen F. Austin. The three victories have come over Wichita State, Akron and Vermont. He didn’t win a single NCAA tournament game in his time with the Longhorns.
I like Smart and think he’s a good coach but I want no part of him when it comes to March Madness.
I thought Florida was a team capable of reaching the Final Four but then 7-foot-1 center Micah Handlogten went down with an injury and that’s too big of a hole to fill inside.
In the end, I settled on Houston who will take out Texas A&M, a surprising James Madison which will upend Wisconsin and Duke (kind of cool having a tournament that includes two “Dukes” and a Duke in it), and then top that hot NC State squad.
WEST
The top seeds here are No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Arizona, both solid, talented teams but I like the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds better: Baylor and Alabama.
It’s true, the ACC was a bit down this year and I don’t think the Tar Heels, even with RJ Davis and Armando Bacot, are as tough as they’re perceived to be. I wasn’t that impressed with the Pac-12 either so I’m not sold on Arizona being a Final Four threat.
The Crimson Tide and Bears both have double-digit losses but are more battle tested and I think they’ll meet in the regional final. Neither was playing their best basketball down the stretch – Alabama lost four of its last six and Baylor is 4-4 in its last eight – but I think both will reset for the tournament and make a run.
I’ll go with the team that won the 2021 championship: Baylor.
MIDWEST
The top four seeds here are Purdue, Tennessee, Kansas and Creighton, and to be truthful, I like Creighton the best of that bunch, but have a different team altogether in mind for the Final Four. By the way, the Bluejays will be in action today at PPG Paints Arena taking on Akron in the first round.
The Boilermakers’ stunning first-round loss to No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson last year is still fresh in my mind and I realize when Virginia became the first to lose to a 16-seed a few years ago they came back and won it all the next season but I just don’t see Purdue as a great tournament team.
As for the Volunteers, Rick Barnes, like Shaka Smart, is a great guy and a good coach who I like but he’s very subpar in the tournament. I researched Barnes a bit as well. He did have a nice three-year run at Texas when he made two Elite Eights and his only Final Four appearance but overall his tournament record is 27-27. In his other 24 years involved in March Madness – including at Providence and Clemson – he’s only made it to three Elite Eights. He’s had some loaded teams at Tennessee yet has never gotten past the Sweet 16.
I just can’t pull the trigger on writing the Volunteers into that Final Four line with Barnes’ history.
Kansas? They won’t be playing at home and they’re a horrendous road team so I can’t go with them either.
You want a sleeper, I see it in this region in No. 6 South Carolina. No, I’m not confusing them with the undefeated women’s team. I’ve watched the Gamecocks play a few times this year and the eye test tells me this is a team capable of reaching the Final Four. You can watch them, too, if you venture to PPG Paints Arena today to see them take on Oregon.
FINAL FOUR
In the end it’s two Big 12 teams (Houston and Baylor), a Big East team (UConn) and an SEC team (South Carolina).
I’ll go with the defending champion Huskies over Baylor and the Cougars over the Gamecocks in the semifinals.
In the championship game, coach Dan Hurley will make a statement that Connecticut is the next dynasty, a team to be reckoned with for years to come, after defeating Houston, 73-65.
OTHER OPINIONS
无毛视频-Standard 无毛视频 Writer Jim Downey’s Final Four includes Connecticut, Baylor, Houston and Purdue, with the Boilermakers winning it all.
Here’s a sampling of some area high school basketball choices for the Final Four (winner in ALL CAPS):
Brandon Lawless (Jefferson-Morgan boys): UConn, North Carolina, Duke, CREIGHTON.
Mike Juliano (Waynesburg Central boys): NORTH CAROLINA, UConn, Marquette, Creighton.
Ian McCombs (Carmichaels boys): UCONN, Arizona, Houston, Purdue.
Shea Fleenor (Albert Gallatin boys): Iowa State, Arizona, KENTUCKY, Tennessee.
Gary Tarbuk (Geibel Catholic boys): UConn, North Carolina, HOUSTON, Creighton.
Jim Nesser (Yough boys): UCONN, Arizona, Purdue, Kentucky.
Joe Salvino (Monessen boys): UConn, Arizona, Purdue, HOUSTON.
Bob Kennedy (Bentworth boys): UConn, North Carolina, HOUSTON, Purdue.
Rob Kezmarsky (Uniontown boys): UConn, Baylor, HOUSTON, Kansas.
Stewart Davis (Laurel Highlands girls): UConn, North Carolina, MARQUETTE, Tennessee.
Melanie Greco (California girls): UCONN, North Carolina, Kentucky, Purdue.
Penny Kezmarsky (Uniontown girls): UConn, NORTH CAROLINA, Wisconsin, Tennessee.
Zach Keefer (Frazier boys): UCONN, Houston, Tennessee, Baylor.
Patty Columbia (Brownsville girls): NORTH CAROLINA, Iowa State, Purdue, Marquette.
Rob Ramsey (Brownsville boys): UConn, NORTH CAROLINA, Houston, McNeese State.
Donna Sallee (Bentworth girls): North Carolina, UConn, Purdue, KENTUCKY.
Cabe Powell (California boys): NORTH CAROLINA, Creighton, James Madison, UConn.
Jim Romanus (West Greene boys): Iowa State, ARIZONA, Kentucky, Purdue.
Sara Larkin (Geibel Catholic girls): UConn, Arizona, HOUSTON, Creighton.
John Smith (Laurel Highlands boys): UConn, North Carolina, Marquette, KANSAS.
John Bass (Frazier girls): UConn, Arizona, Duke, PURDUE.
And for those that follow the women’s tournament, here’s my Final Four for them: South Carolina over Notre Dame in the Albany 1 region, LSU over Iowa and the mighty Caitlin Clark in the Albany 2 region, USC over UConn in the Portland 3 region, and Texas over Stanford in the Portland 4 region. The winner, handily, will be South Carolina over LSU as the unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Gamecocks are on a major vendetta tour after being upset by Clark and the Hawkeyes in last year’s semifinals.