An Unprecedented Final Four

As the field of 68 teams has shrunk down to 4, we now await the Final Four which will kick off this weekend. For the first time since 2008 and only the second time ever, the final two rounds will be compromised of solely number one seeds.

The games will be between the Auburn Tigers and the Florida Gators, an all SEC matchup, and the Houston Cougars and the Duke Blue Devils. These four squads have been the most consistently dominant teams all season and will look to top off their magical seasons with a championship trophy. 

Duke eased their way to their matchup with Houston after defeating #2 seed Alabama by 20 points in the Elite 8. Featuring five of the top 50 NBA Draft prospects, Duke has looked absolutely unstoppable and is the favorite out of the four teams to take home the hardwood this season. 

They will definitely be in the conversation for one of the best teams ever if they can win their next two games. The Blue Devils are back in the Final Four for the first time since 2022 and are looking for their first national championship since 2015. 

Their opponent, the Houston Cougars, are similarly coming off a dominant victory against another #2 seed, the Tennessee Volunteers. The Cougars, unlike the other three teams, thrive defensively after limiting the Volunteers to just 50 points and just 15 in the first half alone. 

Lead by legendary head coach Kelvin Sampson, Houston is back in the Final Four for the first time since 2021. They will look to capture their first ever national championship after falling short in their seven previous Final Four runs. 

Going to the other matchup, the Auburn Tigers entered the tournament as the #1 overall seed and carried that title for most of the regular season as well. Lead by potential Player of the Year Johni Broome, the Tigers will look to do what they could not do in the regular season: beat the Florida Gators. 

After getting hurt late in the second half of the Tigers victory over Michigan State, Broome may not be 100 percent healthy for their matchup against the Gators. The Tigers are back in the Final Four for their first time since 2019 and only their second time ever, looking to win their first national championship. 

Finally, the Florida Gators come into their matchup against Auburn after a thrilling victory over Texas Tech in the Elite 8. After going down by a sizable margin with just around 2 minutes remaining, Walter Clayton Jr. put the team on his back and powered the Gators to the win. 

After dominating the SEC and winning the SEC Conference Championship, the Gators find themselves in yet another SEC matchup against the Auburn Tigers. This will be the Gators first time back in the Final Four since 2014 and they'll be looking to win their third national championship and their first since 2007.

With the four #1 seeds remaining, it's hard to predict who will end out on top come Monday night. My pick is the Duke Blue Devils as I think they will beat Houston in a tightly contested game, and win their rematch against Auburn from earlier in the season for the national title.  

 

Badgers Guide for March

 

The Badgers come into March after a very underwhelming end to the regular season. In addition to losing three of their last five games, Wisconsin was not able to qualify for the double bye in the Big Ten Tournament as well. 

Wisconsin goes into the Big Ten Tournament as the no. 5 seed and will take on the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota on Thursday. Currently the Badgers are predicted to be a no. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, but a couple of victories in the Big Ten Tournament can easily jolt them to a no. 3 seed. 

All season the Badgers have been lead by John Tonje and John Blackwell. Tonje was recently named to the All Big Ten 1st team and Blackwell received an honorable mention as well. From last year, Blackwell has taken a huge leap and next season it will certainly be his team if he decides to not enter the transfer portal. 

The most recent debacle for the Badgers was their loss to Penn State. It was simple, all they had to do was win and they would clinch a double bye. Penn State, a team playing in their last game because they were unable to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament itself. 

A loss like that is certainly catastrophic to the Badgers in multiple ways, but in other ways it can be received as a much needed wake up call. For most of the season, the offense has been lights out but not as of late. This Badger team is not like old Badger teams with their ability to out shoot other teams. 

In the previous three games, Max Klesmit has been out with a lower body injury and in those three games the Badgers are 1-2. Despite his struggles offensively this season, I do believe Klesmit provides the Badgers with a huge boost. 

Being both a starter and a leader, Klesmit has impacted the Badgers in other ways despite his poor shooting. Klesmit's defense, on the other hand, has been a positive for Wisconsin. With Klesmit back in the lineup on Thursday, the Badgers will look a lot different and hopefully a lot better as well. 

In recent years, the Badgers have been unable to get it done in March. Their last Sweet 16 appearance was all the way back in 2017 despite being a high seed in previous years. This year they have to get over the hump. They have the DNA, they have the talent, what they need is the confidence to get there. 

The Best Time of the Year!

 

The best time of the year is upon us as the madness is beginning as we enter mid-March with all of the power 5 conference tournaments about to get underway. The craziness will continue until the end of March and I am all here for it. 

It is going to be another year where the number next to each team's name DOES NOT matter. The regular season and the NCAA tournament are two completely different seasons from one another. Once your team makes the tournament, they start off fresh and have the same record as everyone else, 0-0. 

We saw it last year with the record amount of upsets taking place and I believe that trend will continue into 2024. In 2023 we had a 4 seed, two 5 seeds, and a 9 seed in the Final Four. Now it might not get as crazy as that, but expect there to be some chaos because there is always chaos in March. 

I believe it is going to come down to the team that is able to knock down the three pointer at a high percentage and play above average defense as well. Being able to combine these factors is what it is going to take to survive in this tournament and if you can do one but not the other then your stay in March will be short lived. 

We saw a #16 seed upset a #1 seed and a #15 get all the way to the Sweet Sixteen last year along with many other surprises. If this tournament is anything like last year's, buckle up because the madness is about to ensue. 

The Big Ten is Expanding

 

The average person would think that since there is the number ten in the Big Ten, there are ten teams in the conference. However, that person would be wrong because coming in 2024, the Big Ten will expand to 18 different schools in its conference. 

Up until 2014, the Big Ten, still not living up to its name, had 12 schools in the conference until Maryland and Rutgers joined the Big Ten expanding the conference to 14 schools. Before the expansion, the conference was dominantly filled with teams from the midwest with the exception of Penn State. 

Fast forward almost a decade and the Big Ten is on the verge of another major expansion, this time adding four schools from the Pac-12 conference. These four schools are as follows: Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and USC. Now a conference which was a decade ago purely made up of schools from the midwest has expanded to schools from both the east and west coast of the United States. 

Conferences and divisions in all college and professional sports have historically followed the tradition of putting teams together that are from a certain region of the country. For example, the Southeastern Conference, also known as the SEC, only contains teams from the southeast part of the United States. 

The Big Ten is setting a new precedent that this tradition does not apply anymore. They are primarily doing it for more lucrative and new TV contracts and other forms of revenue that will benefit the conference as a whole. The new schools being added the conference were arguably the faces of the Pac-12 and will bring that all over to the Big Ten. 

I dislike the expansion as a whole for the Big Ten. Sure, it will bring in more money to the conference and benefit them in other ways, but having schools in the same conference from different sides of the country, and others that are not across the country but still far away from one another ruins the whole dynamic of a conference. 

There's going to be a time where one of the new west coast teams has to take over a five hour flight across the country, or one of the east coast teams has to do the opposite, stay there for a night or two, play the game, and then make the journey back across the country. The definition of a true conference really just will not apply anymore come in 2024 for the Big Ten. 

The Most Unique Final Four Ever

 

            In what might have been the craziest NCAA men's basketball tournament we have ever seen, the final four gets even crazier. Out of twenty million brackets created throughout the world, only 37 of them correctly predicted the four teams that would be in the final four.

            This was the first time since the 1970s where no number 1 seeds made the elite eight and obviously none will be participating in the final 3 games. To create even more chaos, the highest seed in the final four is the Connecticut Huskies coming in at a number 4 seed.

            Anything is possible and the tournament has certainly proved that this year, but right now the favorite to take home the trophy is the boys from Connecticut. They have absolutely dominated every team they have had in their path leading up to this and do not look like they are slowing down anytime soon.

            Along with being the favorite, UConn was the most likely out of the four teams to make it to this point. The other teams that are in the final four are San Diego State, Miami, and Florida Atlantic. The crazy thing about these three teams is that they were all nearly eliminated in the first round. 

            From last year having four blue bloods to this year having zero blue bloods is pretty surprising. The blue bloods have ran college basketball for a long time and these teams are just showing the rest of college basketball that the blue bloods can be overcome. 

            The first game on Saturday will be between FAU and San Diego State. If I were to have told you that either one of FAU or SDSU would be participating in the championship game at the start of March, you would have called me crazy. FAU has proved every doubter wrong and basically every game they've won this tournament has been an upset. 

            To me, FAU is so hot right now and have a better team than SDSU so I see them getting to the championship game. It is so difficult to predict games during this tournament because most of the time, I've been wrong. The people that are paid to talk about and study college basketball have been dead wrong, it's simply a guessing game at this point. 

            The next game is the Miami Hurricanes taking on the Connecticut Huskies. These are two teams which have been steamrolling as of late and have star power that is very hard to contain. Miami's two stars, Nijel Pack and Isiah Wong will match up against Andre Jackson and Adama Sanogo for the Huskies.

            This should be a great game and for the Hurricanes it is going to be very difficult to stop this Huskies team because of the roll that they are currently on right now. I'm definitely looking forward to see who wins this game because in my opinion, whoever wins this game will take the championship in the next game. 

            Saturday can't come any sooner as FAU takes on SDSU and Miami takes on UConn. In one of the most unique final fours displaying four schools which are uncharacteristically good at basketball this year, could the tournament get even wilder this weekend? We will find out but one thing is for sure, anything can happen in March. 

March is Here!

 

            The best month of the year is finally here! Soon we will be able to compete with our friends by filling out brackets to predict who will take home the NCAA tournament. March truly is the best month of the year.

            Not only is the biggest college tournament going on, but MLB spring training is also underway and Opening Day kicks off at the end of the month as well. The NHL and NBA are both coming down to the end of their seasons where teams could either make or break into the playoffs. 

            But the best thing about March is March Madness. Whether you follow college basketball or not, everyone is into the NCAA tournament. There is just a certain vibe surrounding this tournament that makes it better than every other playoff. 

            For me, it is the non-stop action that is what makes the tournament so great especially in the first couple of days of the tournament. Although it is just the start of the tournament, in my opinion the first and second rounds are the best rounds of the NCAA tournament because of all the action.

            Also, it's March and anything can happen and I mean ANYTHING. Upsets happen left and right and when that #13 seed upsets the #4 seed and ruins everyone's bracket, March just gets even better. This is what makes the tournament so great.

            Any given day a higher-ranked team could have an off-day and all of a sudden that lower seed ends their season and pulls off the upset. Throw the regular seasons in the garbage, when the tournament starts, everyone has a record of 0-0 and it is a totally different season compared to the one they just had. 

            There is nothing not to like about march madness, unless your team loses or your bracket gets busted. At the end of the day, you are never going to have a perfect bracket and you just have to enjoy March Madness while you can. There is no other playoff or tournament that has this much hype surrounding it. February is over and March is here!