It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, I’m not talking about December, when jolly old St. Nicholas shimmies down chimneys to bring joy to the world by exchanging shiny new gifts for homemade cookies. I’m talking about jolly old Dick Vitale popping onto your television screen to bring joy to sports fans by bringing us Cinderella stories, PTPers and plenty of “awesome baby” moments. Yes, March Madness is here.
Rather than breaking down the entire bracket, talking BPIs, strength of schedules or #5 vs #12 matchups, let’s cut straight to the chase. Who’s going to the Final Four?
EAST: DUKE BLUE DEVILS
St. Louis native Jayson Tatum is the real deal. A foot injury kept him out at the beginning of the season, but the smooth and versatile forward has proven that he can lead the Blue Devils to a championship by powering Duke to the ACC tournament championship by beating #10 Louisville, #6 North Carolina and #22 Notre Dame in consecutive games.
Harry Giles is rounding into form. While he may not be dominating on the stat sheet, the man who was considered the #1 recruit in high school is getting more confident in his injured knee and will be a key player in Duke’s run to the Final Four. Grayson Allen gives the Blue Devils grit and grime needed to make a title run. Luke Kennard used Duke’s injury misfortunes to emerge as the team’s leading scorer (20.1 ppg) and most reliable performer.
Duke was everybody’s preseason favorite for a reason. On paper, Duke is still the most talented team in the tourney and on the court they’re working hard to prove it. That’s a combination for success.
WEST: GONZAGA BULLDOGS
Many people are picking Arizona to emerge out of the West. Apparently those people didn’t see Gonzaga handle the Wildcats back in December. The final tally only showed an 8-point victory, but the difference was double digits for most of the second half. The Bulldogs went ice cold from the free throw line down the stretch, making a beatdown look respectable in the box score.
Gonzaga (32-1) almost ran the table this season, with its only slip up coming against BYU in the regular-season finale. There’s legitimate concern that the Bulldogs only beat three ranked teams (St. Mary’s, Arizona and Iowa State) due to the fairly soft schedule that comes with being in the WCC. However, the team boasts the #7 defense in the NCAA, giving up just 61.2 points per game. Meanwhile, the offense is one of the most efficient in college basketball, shooting nearly 52% from the field.
Gonzaga doesn’t have the big-name, high-profile NBA recruits of some of the larger schools. Coach Mark Few finally has his team ready for a Final Four run though. The team has size, skill, heart and great coaching.
MIDWEST: IOWA STATE CYCLONES
The Kansas Jayhawks are the overwhelming favorite to emerge out of the Midwest region. Call it hate or nativity, but I can’t shake the feeling that the Jayhawks will get tripped up by either Tom Izzo and Michigan State or the team’s Big 12 buddies from Iowa State.
With the Jayhawks out of the picture, I would pick the Oregon Ducks to escape the Midwest. However, the team lost its leading shot blocker in Chris Boucher to a torn ACL during the Pac 12 tourney. Louisville, Michigan, Creighton and Purdue are all threats if Kansas is gone, but I’ll give the nod to the hot-shooting Cyclones.
Iowa State knocked down 329 three-pointers this season and shot over 40% from downtown as a team. Among NCAA Tournament teams, Iowa State ranked 2nd to Iona in three-pointers made. Five Cyclone players made at least 40 three-pointers during the season with Nazareth Mitrou-Long (94) and Matt Thomas (84) leading the way.
Every season, one hot shooting team is propelled much further than any expected on the shoulders of the long ball. This year, that team will be Iowa State.
SOUTH: KENTUCKY WILDCATS
The South regional is a nasty draw. North Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA and Butler are all formidable teams with a reasonable chance of emerging. Throw in the criminally under-seeded #10 Wichita State (30-4), armed with a 12-game winning streak, and picking the South gets even scarier.
If there’s one guy that knows how to navigate through treacherous waters, it’s John Calipari. In 2011 and 2014, the Wildcats drew equally imposing brackets and managed to make it to the Final Four.
The Wildcats have two potential surefire lottery picks in Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox. Of its five losses, only one came to an unranked team (Tennessee). Coach Cal has made it to at least the Elite Eight in nine of the past 10 seasons, so you can already pencil the Wildcats into a fairly deep run. Last season was the exception, but I expect Calipari and the Wildcats to bounce back like Big Sean and get to the Final Four.
GGG vs Danny Jacobs
Boxing is on a nice roll with solid matchups lately with WBC and IBF middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin squaring off with WBA champion Danny Jacobs on Saturday night on HBO PPV.
This bout will likely be the slugfest that Keith Thurman vs Danny Garcia was billed as, but didn’t quite live up to. Both Golovkin (36-0-0, 33 KO) and Jacobs (32-1-0, 29 KO) are capable boxers, but both go for the knockout at every given opportunity.
This fight is unlikely to go to the scorecards. Considering that Jacobs has been knocked out and GGG is considered one of the most-lethal punchers in the fight game, I’m rolling with Golokin to win via 9th round KO.
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