Loose Talk: The Editors’ Take

We are all survivors. Despite the busted brackets, lost money and spilled tears, we all survived the madness of March. Hopefully we all did, anyway. Even if you were one of the people who thought “Hey, maybe Hampton will beat Kentucky in the first round,” and were sorely disappointed, luckily, it will all be okay.

While there were a few huge upsets, the majority of the bracket played out with favorites winning (save for the East region). This year’s bracket pales in comparison to last year’s outrageous set of first and second round upsets. Other than two three seeds, Iowa State and Baylor, going down early on day one, sending the nation into chaos, there were hardly any other first round upsets. Only 11 seeds Dayton and UCLA (who escaped with a controversial call in the closing seconds of the game) made it through to the round of 32. 10 seed Ohio State also advanced, but a 10 seed upsetting a seven seed is hardly noteworthy.

However, the nature of the tournament is that it is completely random. The first round had a number of games decided by five points or fewer, eleven such games to be exact. That is eleven games that could have easily have produced the opposite outcome than they did. A number of brackets were actually busted because of the upsets that did not occur, but still almost occurred. This was the third time in the last 27 years that all of the five seeds won their Round of 64 games. Also, all of the eight seeds won their respective games. With the 8-9 game being a total crapshoot, that is an odd occurrence.

ESPN put the randomness of the tournament into perspective when it reported that the owner of the one bracket that remained perfect through part of the second round, Malachi (name kept anonymous), made his picks 15 minutes before brackets locked. Malachi picked more games correctly than the 11.57 others who filled out a bracket, many of whom researched each of their picks extensively. Malachi said he did not watch a single college basketball game all year.

Now, to analyze the tournament itself, with only the Final Four ahead of us, here are several takeaways from the first four rounds of the tournament:

1: You would be hard-pressed to make the case that Kentucky will not win the National Championship this year. Despite how strong the three other remaining teams are, this Kentucky squad is something special.

2: You can never bet against a Tom Izzo coached team in the NCAA tournament. Seemingly year-in-year-out he leads his team to the national semifinal, no matter how outmatched they might be. This is the seventh time Michigan State has made the Final Four under Izzo.

3: It’s not just Izzo solidifying himself among the coaching elite. Mike Krzyzewski is also creating a huge gap between himself and the second most-winningest coach in NCAA Division 1 history.

4: While the Final Four usually features a lot of talent, this may be one of the most stacked lineups of all time. Kentucky alone features five potential first round picks alone, 2 or 3 of which are potential top 10 picks in Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Caulley-Stein and Devin Booker. Wisconsin features the incredible duo of Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, both first round bound. And Duke features the sensational Jahlil Okafor whom many consider the consensus number one overall pick.

We have some interesting matchups in these semifinal games, featuring contrasting styles and also similar ones. Kentucky depends on rolling out entire lines of superior athletes, while Wisconsin continues its dominance through efficient, fundamental offensive basketball. Duke and Michigan State function similarly, working from the outside in, but both with fantastic guards in Travis Trice for Michigan State and Tyus Jones for Duke. If the Michigan State big men, namely Matt Costello, can contain Okafor like they contained Montrezl Harrell for the most part in their Elite Eight win over Louisville, they give themselves a good shot, but that is a big if.

Without a doubt, we are bound for another memorable Final Four. Whether or not Kentucky completes their historic season with a championship, we will have witnessed one of the greatest teams ever assembled. The Final Four is stacked with the usual contenders; a fact that ensures great coaching battles, loads of talent and plenty of highlight reel plays.

So sit back and enjoy the Duke-Michigan St. matchup this Saturday, Apr. 4, at 6:10 p.m and Kentucky-Wisconsin at 8:40 p.m.