Men's March Madness predictions
March. The most chaotic times in sports. With bracket breaking teams, magical Cinderella runs, and unpredictable outcomes, March Madness lives up to its name. At times it even seems pointless to make predictions with this tournament. However, basketball fans around the world can’t help but fill out their brackets on Selection Sunday and make their predictions. Read mine below.
Final Four predictions: UConn,North Carolina,Houston,Tennessee. A pro tip given out by experts when filling out your brackets is to pick one or two lower seeds to make it to the final four. However, with how competitive and physical the top seeds are, this year might be different. Defending national champions and Big East conference champions, UConn are favored to win the tournament. Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer are two key players in leading the Huskies to victory. While UConn has a talented rooster and the skills to win it all they must play smart. Assuming Illinois can advance, the Huskies might have to face off against them towards the end of the tournament which will be a challenge for the Huskies. Next, North Carolina was favored to win the ACC tournament but fell short in the championship game against NC State and shocked the world. The Tar Heels still have the potential to go far in the tournament despite not winning their conference. Assuming UNC can win round one, they must go on to face the winner of the Mississippi state and Michigan state game. Both teams would be a challenge for the Tar Heels as they have a good defensive game. Third,Houston fell short to Iowa State in the Big 12 championship and the Cougars will face Longwood in the first round of the tournament. In order to prevent a huge upset and make a run in the tournament, they must continue to rebound the ball as they have been doing all season and continue their great defensive game. Finally, Tennessee has the potential to reach the championship game if they can avoid potential trap games and improve their defense and continue to dominate as a three point threat team. Tennessee must first get through St. Peters. At first glance, this may seem like an easy win for the Vols as St. Peters struggles on defense and is one of the worst shooting teams in the tournament. However, with their frontcourt presence this is a team that can go on another magical Cinderella run like they did just two seasons ago.
Potential Cinderella teams: Oregon and James Madison. It happens every year. A lower seed team that many people do not think twice about goes on a magical run in the tournament. While these teams rarely win, runs like this are why people love March so much. This year in the Pac 12 tournament, Oregon won the conference despite Arizona being the favorite. The Ducks are good on both sides of the ball but not amazing. However, they are more of an offensive team and if they can clean up on defense, they have a chance of going on a run. James Madison is a team that is going to be overlooked this season and many people do not expect them to win the first round of their tournament as they have to play fifth seed Wisconsin as a twelve seed. However,if you have been following the tournament for a while you know the saying: a 12 always beats a 5. JMU plays extremely aggressive on defense and a clean, old-school style of hoops. Watch out for JMU in the tournament.
