Perhaps I should have gotten this up sooner, but this is not meant to be advice anyway, but rather some insight into how I ended up coming to some of the conclusions I did before they inevitably turn out to be wrong.
(If you haven’t yet joined our bracket challenge, here is the link.)
I don’t know about you, but I’m on a heck of a March losing streak.
Does that mean I’m due for a bracket that’s actually good? Maybe, but I doubt it.
Nonetheless, I learned a while ago it’s more fun if you don’t take it too seriously and take success as a pleasant surprise.
My Final Four is not too fancy, nor is my champion creative. That’s OK. I’d rather win than be different in this case (insert haha here)! Honestly, there is so much parity at the top it figures to be a wide open tournament. The most fun is seeing which upsets happen in the early rounds and then just watching for high-level basketball as it gets later into March.
I have Kansas defending its national championship over Arizona, a talented, big team that could overpower Alabama in the South region. Kansas will be due some revenge against Texas the West final, and I will say they get it even though Bill Self teams have burned me before! (But of course so have Texas teams…)
The East overall is kinda tricky because I’m not inclined to believe in Purdue, but Memphis is also streaky and Duke was a little underwhelming until recently. Did Duke get hot at the right time? I am leaning yes… but I’m also terrified they are going to flame out and cost me big. So I hedged and put Marquette over the Blue Devils in the regional final. Marquette is something of a wild card, too, but they have better advanced metrics and I like Shaka Smart in March. And yet Kansas State could be a really tough out for them, too…
In the Midwest, the injury to Houston’s Marcus Sasser clouds things a bit, but if he is a game-time decision today I am going to guess he will end up being OK in the long run and they made a run without him last year. Indiana is the one Big Ten team I kind of like because they have star power in big man Trayce Jackson-Davis and point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino.
Come play this @daytondailynews College Hoops Contest with me! https://t.co/lQmb7fw82b
— Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) March 16, 2023
Here are some other notes on picks:
- Pitt is my pick to be the First Four team to win another game this year. I was really impressed with the Panthers in person. They don’t quit, they already have a win under their belt and Iowa State is down one of its best players.
- I picked Memphis to upset Purdue because Memphis has veteran guards, Purdue is very young in the backcourt and Big Ten basketball stinks.
- Furman over Virginia. The Paladins ended a 42-year drought by making this tournament and get to face a Cavaliers team that plays very slow, reducing the number of possessions in a game and chances for a team with better talent to create separation before the clock runs out.
- Drake over Miami (Fla.): Drake is scary because of a lack of big-time opponents, but The U is a bad defensive team coming from a league that had a down year so why not take a flier on the Bulldogs?
- Aside from Indiana (and Purdue vs. a 16 seed), I violated my determination not to pick any Big Ten teams by going with Michigan State over USC because Tom Izzo’s best teams are the ones with fewer big names.
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