Sorry Lipscomb. Ol' Roy in the first round is a given. UMBC played two power-five schools this year Arizona and Maryland and lost those games by a combined 46 points. The Retrievers also have a crummy offense, ranking th in adjusted offensive efficiency. That's not beating one of the all-time great defenses. If Creighton is similar to one Big 12 team, it's Kansas. The Jayhawks beat the Wildcats all three times this season.
With a healthy Wade and Brown, this would be a coin flip. With those two possibly not at their best, Creighton advances. Davidson coach Bob McKillop's teams always run beautiful offense and execute at a high level. Defensively, his Wildcats try to keep the ball out of the paint and allow opponents to bomb away from three.
While the numbers show Kentucky is a solid three-point shooting team For the first time since Steph Curry was in school, Davidson will make it out of the first round. Buffalo has a stretch 4 in Jeremy Harris who will force Deandre Ayton to get out on the floor and guard on the perimeter. But Harris is 6'7", and his poor soul is likely the one who will have to deal with Ayton on the other end. Bulls fans, pray for your boy Harris. The Ramblers won at Florida this year, and now it's time to pick on the Sunshine State again.
Similar to its Missouri Valley brother Northern Iowa, Loyola slows the pace, shoots the heck out of the ball and plays solid defense, ranking 24th in adjusted defensive efficiency. This will probably be a trendy upset pick and for good reason. That recipe has worked in March for Northern Iowa. Why not Loyola? Rick Barnes has lost 11 times in the round of 64 in his career, so you could bet on some history here and say he loses again.
It's also probably worth noting the guy has been to 23 NCAA tournaments. One of the most underrated coaches of all time will advance to the second round. Nevada went against the Big 12 this year and will be up against a Texas team that is playing its best basketball. The Longhorns have found some outside scoring recently from Jacob Young. Mo Bamba, who had a late-season toe injury, will benefit from the long layoff. The length of San Diego State gave Nevada problems—the Aztecs beat them twice over seven days—and UT's length will be the difference in this one.
Hunter has another dynamic scorer in D'Marcus Simonds, but he isn't R. This could be a scary game for Villanova as Virginia Tech has performed best against elite teams this year.
This is also the spot where the Wildcats lost last year to Wisconsin. But Jay Wright is not letting that happen two years in a row. This could be the best game of the second round. Both of these teams are good enough to reach a Final Four. But where the Shockers struggle is on defense, particularly against penetrating guards. They also have a big man, Sagaba Konate, to deal with Shaq Morris.
Those three WVU stars will be the difference. The recipe to beat the Gators is to be disciplined defensively and not let their guards go off. Texas Tech is one of the best half-court defensive teams in the country. I was really close to picking Arkansas here, because Daniel Gafford has the size and strength to at least have a chance at checking Isaac Haas.
Purdue also has trouble against quicker penetrating guards, and Arkansas has the answer there too. But the Boilermakers had plenty of time to get rested after Big Ten tournament, and I think that layoff will do them wonders. This is a scary matchup for Kansas, especially if Udoka Azubuike is not back or is limited in any way. Angel Delgado will be a tough matchup for KU's backup bigs. The Jayhawks do have some hope, however, now that Silvio De Sousa looks to be a more dependable option.
Also, Seton Hall struggles with teams that spread it out and shoot a lot of threes like Kansas does. Against Villanova, Marquette and Creighton, the Pirates went The Aggies have the athletes to match up against Auburn, and Chris Jans spent a lot of years working under Gregg Marshall. His team is not going to be intimated by the stage or the opponent.
The Tigers are also reliant on the three ball, and the Aggies hold D-1 opponents to Meet this year's tourney darling. The Sun Devils rank th in defensive rebounding percentage and struggle against big front lines. Michigan State has one of the biggest and baddest front lines in the country, and the Spartans are fifth in offensive rebounding rate.
This is a terrible matchup for the Sun Devils. Rhode Island does a good job of running teams off the three-point line, but its interior defense is suspect. URI opponents make Usually a defense that runs teams off the three-point line would be a tough matchup for Duke, but not this year's team.
The Devils pound the rock inside, and Rhode Island is too small up front to deal with Bagley and Carter. Missouri has struggled with point guard play all season, and Xavier will test a floor leader by mixing defenses. If Michael Porter Jr. But it's not realistic to expect Porter to kill it yet, and Xavier is always a difficult team to prep for in just one day. The Buckeyes overachieved this season and are a fantastic story.
Why: Duke has to go through the toughest region, but it won't have to see either UNC or Virginia until the title game. Why: No teams have been as inconsistent as North Carolina and Arizona, but they both are surging. No teams in the country may have been as consistent as Villanova and MSU this season, though the Spartans stumbled twice to Michigan and once to Ohio State since losing to Duke. Facebook Twitter Email.
Show Caption. Should you have confidence in this pick? Well, I picked Virginia to win it all in , and they lost to No. Gonzaga has a decent look, but a matchup with Virginia could test their patience if it comes to that. Kansas also recalibrates, but it's not enough in the Elite Eight.
Florida State finally breaks through against Michigan in the Sweet 16, and a matchup with Texas goes the Seminoles' way. Leonard Hamilton finally gets to the Final Four. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy.
Hours after the brackets were released, college basketball pundits from the national media began predicting their champions and Final Four participants.
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