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[caption id="attachment_4475" align="alignleft" width="817"] Bracket is from espn.com. Filled out by Jared Riley and Spencer Husen.[/caption]

What is the biggest story this year in college basketball?  Is it Wichita State’s historic 34-0 season?  Doug McDermott eclipsing 3,000 career points to become the fifth-highest scoring college player of all-time?  There is no clear answer.  But, it is almost concurrent that there is no dominant team this year in college basketball.  Florida took the number one overall seed, followed by Arizona, Wichita State, and the ACC Champs, Virginia.  There was only one notable exclusion from the tourney, an SMU team that went 25-9 and was ranked in the top 25 in the AP Poll at the end of the season.  As for all of the inclusions in this year’s big dance, we will take you through each matchup, game by game, to help you make your picks.  Happy picking!

 

South Region:

The South Region contains arguably the most undoubted pick for the Final Four, Florida. The Gators seem poised for a run at the national championship, despite having both Kansas and Syracuse in their region. If the Jayhawks can make it to the Elite 8 to face Florida, they could pose a strong threat, however the Embiid-less Kansas squad faces a hard road without their star freshman center until the Sweet 16. The Orange also have a fighting chance, but have been on a downward spiral of late, losing 5 of their last 7 games. If you're looking for upsets, bet on 12 seed SF Austin to upend 5 seed VCU. Also look for an Elite 8 run from 7 seed New Mexico.

(Winner in ALL CAPS)

Round of 64:

#1 FLORIDA vs. #16 Albany

#8 Colorado vs. #9 PITTSBURGH

#5 Virginia Commonwealth vs. #12 SF AUSTIN

#4 UCLA vs. #13 Tulsa

#6 OHIO STATE vs. #11 Dayton

#3 SYRACUSE vs. #14 Western Michigan

#7 NEW MEXICO vs #10 Stanford

#2 KANSAS vs. #15 Eastern Kentucky

Round of 32:

#1 FLORIDA vs. #9 Pittsburgh

#4 UCLA vs. #12 SF Austin

#3 Syracuse vs. #6 OHIO STATE

#2 Kansas vs. #7 NEW MEXICO

Sweet 16:

#1 FLORIDA vs. #4 University of California - Los Angeles

#6 Ohio State vs. #7 NEW MEXICO

Elite 8:

#1 FLORIDA vs. #7 New Mexico

 

East Region:

Much like the South region, many people have agreed on the winner of the East. Except it’s not the number 1 seeded ACC Champion Virginia, but 4 seed Michigan State. The Spartans enter the NCAA tournament playing some of their best basketball of the season, while being at full strength for the first time since early December. The region also includes two good teams in Iowa State and North Carolina, plus Cincinnati and Connecticut. The winner of the Cyclones and Tar Heels round of 32 match-up seem suited for an Elite 8 run and match-up, due to the inconsistency and inexperience of the 2 seed Villanova. As for upsets, watch for normal bracket buster 12 seed Harvard to defeat 5 seed Cincinnati, and 7 seed Connecticut to fall to 10 seed St. Joe’s. Look for the 4 seeded Spartans and 6 seed North Carolina to meet in the Elite 8.

(Winner in ALL CAPS)

Round of 64:

#1 VIRGINIA vs. #16 Coastal Carolina

#8 MEMPHIS vs. #9 George Washington

#5 Cincinnati vs. #12 HARVARD

#4 MICHIGAN STATE vs. #13 Delaware

#6 NORTH CAROLINA vs. #11 Providence

#3 IOWA STATE vs. #14 North Carolina Central

#7 Connecticut vs #10 ST. JOSEPH’S

#2 VILLANOVA vs. #15 Milwaukee

Round of 32:

#1 VIRGINIA vs. #8 Memphis

#4 MICHIGAN STATE vs. #12 Harvard

#3 Iowa State vs. #6 NORTH CAROLINA

#2 VILLANOVA vs. #10 St. Joseph’s

Sweet 16:

#1 Virginia vs. #4 MICHIGAN STATE

#2 Villanova vs. #6 NORTH CAROLINA

Elite 8:

#4 MICHIGAN STATE vs. #4 North Carolina

 

West Region:

Perhaps the least talked-about bracket of the four regions, the west is headlined by Wooden Award frontrunner Doug McDermott, who was led third-seeded Creighton to a 26-7 record, but have lost three of their last six games.  Can they knock off the second-seeded Badgers of Wisconsin?  This is to be decided.

(Winner in ALL CAPS)

Round of 64:

#1 ARIZONA vs. #16 Weber State

#8 Gonzaga vs. #9 OKLAHOMA STATE

#5 OKLAHOMA vs. #12 North Dakota State

#4 SAN DIEGO STATE vs. #13 New Mexico State

#6 BAYLOR vs. #11 Wisconsin

#3 CREIGHTON vs. #14 Louisiana-Lafayette

#7 OREGON vs #10 Brigham Young University

#2 WISCONSIN vs. #15 American

Round of 32:

#1 ARIZONA vs. #9 Oklahoma State

#4 SAN DIEGO STATE vs. #5 Oklahoma

#3 Creighton vs. #6 BAYLOR

#2 WISCONSIN vs. #7 Oregon

Sweet 16:

#1 ARIZONA vs. #4 San Diego State

#2 WISCONSIN vs. #6 Baylor

Elite 8:

#1 Arizona vs. #2 WISCONSIN

 

Midwest Region:

Last, but certainly not least, there is the Midwest.  Although the Shockers of Wichita State has won all 34 of their regular season and conference tournament games, the NCAA Tournament will be full of whole new ball games, literally.  The Midwest is also, debatably, the toughest region, due to the prior dominance of each of the top seeds, Wichita State, Michigan, Duke, and Louisville, in that order.  There are three quick potential matchups to look out for, two of them being on upset alert.  These games are potential matchups between Wichita State and Kentucky, Michigan and Duke, and a second-round game between play-in winner NC State and St. Louis.  Who will prevail?  These are our picks for the Midwest (sorry Wichita State).

 

Round of 64:

#1 WICHITA STATE vs. #16 Cal Poly

#8 KENTUCKY vs. #9 Kansas State

#5 St. Louis vs. #12 NC STATE

#4 LOUISVILLE vs. #13 Manhattan

#6 UMASS vs. #11 Tennessee

#3 DUKE vs. #14 Mercer

#7 TEXAS vs. #10 Arizona State

#2 MICHIGAN vs. #15 Wofford

Round of 32:

#1 Wichita State vs. #8 KENTUCKY

#4 LOUISVILLE vs. #12 NC State

#3 DUKE vs. #6 University of Massachusetts

#2 MICHIGAN vs. #7 Texas

Sweet 16:

#4 LOUISVILLE vs. #8 Kentucky

#2 Michigan vs. #3 DUKE

Elite 8:

#3 Duke vs. #4 LOUISVILLE

 

FINAL FOUR:

West vs. Midwest:

#2 Wisconsin vs. #4 LOUISVILLE

South vs. East:

#1 FLORIDA vs. #4 Michigan State

 

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP:

#1 FLORIDA vs. #4 Louisville

 

Eastern Conference:
It’s official, there are only 3 teams remaining in the Eastern Conference, 1 of which are already in the Conference Finals.  The defending-champion, Miami Heat, knocked-off the #5 seed Chicago Bulls Wednesday night by a score of 94-91.  Despite the Bulls being up by 7 at the start of the final period, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra knew how to get the job done, and said, “We know what we’re doing wrong, now let’s just see if we can go out there and fix it.”  Tthey did, coming out with the win by 3. Four time MVP LeBron James led the Heat to the win, leading their team in points, rebounds, and assists, as well as coming up just a couple rebounds and assists short of his ninth career playoff triple-double.

The Heat will most likely take on the #3 seed Indianapolis Pacers in the Conference Finals, as they are leading the Knicks 3-1 in the Conference Semifinals.  Game 5 of this matchup will be Thursday night at 8pm at Madison Square Garden.  Perhaps Spike Lee’s appearance will motivate them to put together a quick 3-game win streak to put them in the Conference Finals.  TNT NBA analyst (and former Pacer) Reggie Miller says that if the Knicks can find their offense and rebound well, they’ll be right back in the series, and perhaps force a game 6, and maybe even a game 7 at the Garden.  Knicks guard J.R. Smith and super star forward Carmelo Anthony combined to shoot 16-45 in Game 4, leaving a lot of room for improvement, hopefully some improvement that can be put together very soon, before their season comes to a close.  The Knicks were also out rebounded in games 1, 3, and 4, as that has also been an important factor on their losses.  Extra shots in a possession are vital, especially in win-or-go-home playoff games, so yet again, let’s hope the Knicks can crash the boards in game 5 to try to keep their season alive.

Western Conference:
Much like the Eastern Conference, the West has only three teams left, due to the fact that the Memphis Grizzlies did what many people believed only the Miami Heat could do at the beginning of the playoffs; beat the Oklahoma City Thunder. This opinion changed after the Thunder lost star point guard Russell Westbrook, who injured his knee only two games into the postseason. After losing game one against the Thunder, the Grizzlies responded by winning four straight and knocking out an undermanned Oklahoma City team, who was lead by the second place finisher in MVP voting, Kevin Durant.

Durant, who averaged 28.1 points in the regular season, said, “"I gave it all I had for my team. I left it all out there on the floor, I missed 16 shots, but I kept fighting, I kept being aggressive. That's all I can ask for."

The Grizzlies were lead by big man Zach Randolph, who was a major factor in sending Memphis to their first conference final. Randolph, talking about the achievement said "This is the first time, so it definitely means a lot. I'm happy, but we've still got work to do, I want to win a ring."

The Grizzlies next opponent isn't as easily predictable as the Heat’s, due to the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors being in a close series. The Spurs currently lead the series 3 games to 2, but game 6 will be played in Oracle Arena where the Warriors have been great this season. The Warriors are lead by young duo Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson who are often referred to as the "Super Splash Brothers" for their ability to make any shot they take. The pair was on fire in the first two games but have since slowed down due in large part to the defense by Spurs guard Danny Green. Since then, the slack has been picked up by rookie Harrison Barnes who has had 4 games of 20 points or more during the postseason which is astounding considering he is only 20 years old. The Spurs are led by their star veteran trio of Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili. Parker, who battled injuries throughout the season, has been on fire and has hit many big shots late in games. Duncan, who is 17 years older than the Warriors Barnes, has helped a small San Antonio team from being dominated on the glass and has also been scoring around 20 points a game in this series. Ginobili hit the biggest shot of the postseason so far, when he made a three pointer with 2 seconds left in game one of the series, when the Spurs were done one in overtime. The Spurs have also gotten great offense from Green and forward Kawhi Leonard. No matter which team wins the series, it should be a great conference final.