NCAA Tournament Lives up to “March Madness”

Some claim this to be the best time of year for sports. March Madness is under way and MLB looming in the background. The NCAA Tournament is perhaps the most exciting time of year giving the fact that a virtual unknown NCAAB team or “mid-major” has a chance to win a national championship. The madness of March was evident on Saturday when Northern Iowa upset the #1 overall rank Kansas Jayhawks. This was perhaps the biggest upset in tournament history with a 9 seed taking out a #1. Many scouts and analysts predicted Kansas to win it all in Indianapolis; instead KU had millions ripping up their bracket Saturday.

The Sweet 16 tips off March 25-26th with 3 of the #1 seeds (Syracuse, Duke and Kentucky) still in the hunt. All three #1 seeds flexed their muscles Saturday with the closest margin of victory being Duke over Cal by 13 points. Kentucky beat Wake by 30 and Syracuse beat Gonzaga by 25, both games were expected to be closer than the outcome.

Heading into the Sweet 16 fans of college basketball have been treated to highly contested games. With no clear cut dominate team to win, like UNC in 2009, the field is wide open for the taking. Kentucky will face a hot handed Cornell team that is making their first Sweet 16 appearance as opposed to the 41st by Kentucky. Cornell is representing the Ivy League in the Sweet 16 for the first time since Penn did it 30 years ago. If Cornell can drain the 3 like they have been, Kentucky should have their hands full. In the end we like Kentucky to keep their hopes alive.

Duke will face Purdue in Houston on March 26th. Purdue started the season 14-0 and soared to a #3 ranking in both major polls. Purdue lost Robbie Hummel in late February which ended his season leaving Purdue without their best player. Duke on the other hand is really starting to click and present an overall team approach. Duke can shoot, rebound, pass and defend. We expect nothing less from a Coach K team. Duke will certainly be the biggest all around threat Purdue has faced this season. Duke presents an up tempo offense that rarely looses control and a tenacious defensive full court pressure approach that has proved very difficult to beat. This should be the best game out of the three #1 teams in the Sweet 16 but look for Duke to keep their intensity throughout the game and simply find a way to win.

Syracuse will face Butler on March 25th in Salt Lake City. Butler has become a perennial tournament contender who started out as a mid-major that was known to upset teams in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Butler is no longer a mid-major but has become a major force and perennial Top 25 ranking. Syracuse could be the most well rounded of the #1 teams left in the tournament. Their Big East regular season schedule has them battle tested for the post season. As good as Butler is they will be no match for Syracuse down the stretch. The Orange have too much firepower and length for Butler to handle. We like Syracuse in this matchup.

We expect a great tournament ending and for the most part these next couple weeks the cream will rise to the top.

Like to social bookmark? Add Below:

Tags: college basektball picks, College Basketball, March Madness, NCAA Tournament, NCAAB, NCAAB Tournament

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 3:23 pm and is filed under College Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

NCAA Tournament Lives up to “March Madness”

Leave a Reply