In the aftermath of Selection Sunday, the day when the NCAA Selection Committee revealed the bracket of the 68 teams that will compete in March Madness, the competition is heating up in NCAA basketball. Conference championships ran up right until Selection Sunday on March 17, and many teams secured an automatic bid into the tournament. Most websites and experts agree on the top competing teams: Gonzaga, Virginia, Duke, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, and UNC. Gonzaga, Duke, and Tennessee have remained in the top 5 throughout the season, despite injuries and substitutions. Michigan and Michigan State have had quite the seasons as well, remaining in the Top 10 for the whole year.
While clear favorites, there is still the possibility that neither Duke or UNC will even make it to the Final Four; that is, if burn-out comes into play, and Zion Williamson’s absence of a shoe sole has a relapse. The two teams are almost interchangeable at this point, and some of the equally seeded teams can just as easily take them out. These two teams’ stats are just as close as their contentious rivalry with one another. Both teams have incredible freshmen who have played the game like no one has ever seen before. Similarly, Michigan and Michigan State have had amazing seasons. Their closeness in ability was demonstrated in their past two games against each other, where Michigan State won by margins of only seven and twelve points. Overall, No. 2 seeds have good enough resumes to compete with the top-tier teams.
I predict that Gonzaga, Virginia, Kentucky, and Duke will go all the way, becoming the Final Four, and here is why. Gonzaga has been strong all season, with 30 wins and two losses. Each member of the starting five averages above 10 points per game, while their free throw percentage is 76.8% percent. They are an aggressive and intense team to come up against, so the whole tournament needs to watch out for them. They did just lose to Saint Mary’s by a fair margin, but spectators will just have to have faith in their already stellar record.
The Virginia Cavaliers are ranked first in their conference, with eight KenPom A game wins (KenPom is a highly-ranked live college basketball stats website). Their defense has conceded fewer than 60 points in each of their last six games, and their three-point accuracy is impeccable, scoring 18 baskets from beyond the arc in their game against Syracuse in early March.
Tennessee is also considered a top seed, but Kentucky had them beat with a 19-point win. KenPom ranks Kentucky two spots higher than Virginia. The Wildcats have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 57 times, winning the national championship eight times (most recently in 2012). They’ve made it to the Final Four 17 times, so they are very familiar with the name of the game. Overall, Kentucky has always been a powerhouse for basketball, and I think they have a chance at reaching the Final Four.
Lastly, Duke has had phenomenal performance on the court by the freshmen. Though young, they are mighty powerful, with Zion Williamson and RJ Barett leading the pack. Towering 6 feet and 7 inches high, Williamson was named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Rookie of the Year, and ACC Tournament MVP. He achieved his career high of 30 points against Wake Forest. Honestly, whoever is being coached by Coach K in this tournament has the odds forever in their favor. He has appeared fourteen times in March Madness as a No. 1 seed and had 94 career wins in the NCAA tournament. Nonetheless, March Madness is an occasion to pick a random contestant just for the fun of it, so do not shy away from selecting an upset or two. After all, no one except die-hard Ramblers expected Loyola to go as far as they did last March Madness.