With the Winter Olympics and the NFL season in the rearview mirror, the next premiere sporting event to look forward to is the NCAA tournament.
For one month, college basketball takes center stage in the sports world. Everybody fills out brackets hoping to take home their office pool, or better yet being crowned champion. This is a special time for sports because March Madness involves the fans more than any other sporting event. Now let’s take a look at the teams most likely to be a number one seed.
My first one seed of the tournament is the Wichita State Shockers. Having just completed the first undefeated regular season since Saint Joseph’s did it in 2003-2004, the Shockers will walk in the tourney as the number one overall seed. Some experts are not sold on WSU because their lack of competition.
Yet they have four of their top leading scorers from last year returning, and they were only two wins away from being crowned champs just one year ago. Their excellent guard play and well-coached team has a serious chance to complete the incomparable undefeated season.
My next one seed is the Duke Blue Devils. This may surprise some because Duke plays in the ACC, which includes a Syracuse Orange team that is another potential one seed. I give Duke the advantage simply because they will have the most experience entering this year’s tourney. They have played by far the most Top 10 teams in the country and split the season series with Syracuse. If Duke wins the ACC tournament, which I believe they will, they will have a one seed.
The Florida Gators are currently the nation’s number one ranked team. If the Gators go on and run the table in the SEC they will easily have a one seed.
They have an impressive resumé that includes non-conference wins over Wisconsin, Florida State, Connecticut, Kansas and Memphis. The scary part is that they won the majority of their non-conference games with half of their roster.
Due to numerous suspensions, they did not have their entire team until recently. The Gators are the country’s hottest team, and that is why they are my favorite to win it all.
My final number one team is the Kansas Jayhawks. The Jayhawks count victories over Duke, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas on their resumé and have dominated the Big 12 race.
This year marks the 10th consecutive season that Kansas won at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title, which is quite frankly incredible. Andrew Wiggins and company have the difficult part of their schedule behind them. That is why I believe they will run the table, ensuring them of the last number one seed.
This year, like every year, good teams will be left out of the tournament. The two teams to keep an eye on are two Big East teams. Providence and St. John’s are the last two teams “on the bubble” right now. They both are 18- 10 with only three games remaining. I believe the team that finishes further in the Big East tournament will get the last spot in the national tourney.
Rarely do we see two teams in the same conference fighting for one of the last sports. The NCAA tournament accepts 65 teams. Oddly enough, ESPN has Providence at 65 and St. John’s at 66 on the Rating Percentage Index ranking. These teams also split the season’s series, so seeing a grudge match in the Big East tournament is exactly what a true college basketball fan would like to see.
In the upcoming couple of weeks, one loss can ruin a team’s season. This is the most important time for a team if it wants to make a serious run for the national championship. If you do not establish your best play in the conference tournament, you have no chance at winning the big one. It is always the hottest team entering the tournament that makes it victorious.
James Belluscio can be reached at james.belluscio@spartans.ut.edu.