Once again, it is time for the most electric event in all of college basketball — March Madness. This season, there have been some upsets and surprise standouts already; however, some teams that stand out above the rest that have a shot at making a run in the tournament are University of Connecticut (UConn), Purdue, Houston, Arizona, Alabama, Creighton, University of North Carolina (UNC), Duke, Kentucky and Kansas.
UConn and Purdue are currently two of the highest-ranked teams in college basketball and have shown great play all season. Last year, UConn won it all, but even as good as they have played so far, I don’t think they can win back-to-back. There is fierce competition around the country. Where Purdue is concerned, they have big man Zack Edey who has been phenomenal all season, but has also struggled at times, so this doesn’t seem quite promising.
Historically only seven teams have ever won back-to-back NCAA titles, and UConn will look to become the eighth team to do so. Now it’s definitely a possibility as UConn has consistently looked like the best team in the country this season. They rank top five in the country for assist/turnover ratio and have a top ten scoring offense. They also blew out No. 4 ranked Marquette by 28 points earlier this season. Their dominance continues to show this season and if they can maintain their current play. They will surely make a deep run in the tournament this year.
The usual favorites like Kansas, UNC, Duke and Kentucky are also some names to follow, but most of them have struggled against tougher opponents and have had rough patches throughout the season. If I were to pick one of the four to make a deep run, it would be UNC, as guard RJ Davis has been excellent all season. Of course, there are the lesser hyped-up schools like Houston, Creighton and Arizona. Houston has a really good shot this year as their defense has been incredible and they take control of games from the start. These are some of the teams who are almost guaranteed a spot in this tournament; however, there are a lot of unknown teams that will participate as the tournament roster will be announced on March 17.
There are a total of 68 teams that will compete in the tournament, and only a select few are practically guaranteed spots. Starting out with the ‘First Four’ as lower ranked and seeded teams battle it out for a spot in the main tournament. The ‘First Four’ usually consists of the champions of the smallest conferences in the NCAA.
Low seeded teams are always some to look for as ‘Cinderella’ stories, as well as upset contenders. There have been plenty of ‘Cinderella’ stories throughout history, but some notable ones that come to mind are FDU’s run last year, 15-seeded St. Peter’s remarkable run to the Elite Eight a couple years ago and 11-seeded Loyola Chicago’s insane run to the Final Four in 2018. But those are just some recent ‘Cinderella’ stories and there will certainly be more to come.
The tournament is not called March Madness for nothing — something crazy happens every year. For instance, last year, bottom-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson University knocked out No. 1-seeded Purdue in the first round and 15th-seeded Princeton knocked out No. 2-seeded Arizona. That’s the sort of stuff that makes fans love March Madness – the chance that an unknown team can make a deep run and the constant chance for upsets.
March Madness is and will always be the epitome of college basketball. The excitement and intensity of the play are unlike anything else in college basketball. The atmosphere is exhilarating and amplifies the play of teams and the intensity of fans. There is no better feeling in college basketball than lifting that trophy and winning it all. The tournament is packed with underdog stories of trials and tribulations and historic rivalries. This culminates to one moment in time where a victor is crowned and a lifetime of memories are made.
There’s simply nothing quite like March Madness.
