I’m not hearing much buzz amongst my friends about this year’s NCAA tournament, but I think it’s going to be a good one. I say that as someone who doesn’t follow college hoops in general but tunes in to watch for magical three weeks every spring. Truthfully, I don’t know much about any of the teams in the tournament, nor which players are the ones to watch.
But every year in preparation to enter a bracket pool or two, I piggy back on the research of others. I compile expert predictions, pore through statistics and analysis and make a few gut-level decisions. Most years, the aggregated predictions of experts reveal a consensus that very closely follows the seeds. This year’s predictions followed the seeds as well, but there were more than the usual number of very close calls.
As I write this, Butler and Old Dominion are battling to the last second. There have been something like 12 lead changes in this game, and neither team has led by more than four points at any point in the game. Based on my research, this is one of the games-to-watch in the first round.
The other games to watch in this year’s tournament are…
EAST
Round 1
Xavier vs. Marquette
Round 2
Xavier/Marquette vs. Syracuse
Washington vs. North Carolina
Round 3
Xavier/Marquette/Syracuse vs. Washington/North Carolina
WEST
Round 1
Temple vs. Penn State (good in-state rivalry)
Round 3
Duke vs. Texas (assuming both teams make it this far)
SOUTHWEST
Round 1
Vanderbilt vs. Richmond
Georgetown vs. VCU
Round 2
Vanderbilt/Richmond vs. Louisville
Round 3
Purdue vs. Notre Dame
SOUTHEAST
This bracket looks to have the most unpredictable early rounds, with Pitt and Florida emerging to battle for a Final Four berth.
Round 1
Butler vs. Old Dominion
Kansas St. vs. Utah St.
Wisconsin vs. Belmont
St. John’s vs. Gonzaga
Round 2
Kansas St./Utah St. vs. Wisconsin/Belmont
St. John’s/Gonzaga vs. BYU
Michigan St. vs. Florida