Midwest Region: 1. Purdue vs. 2. Tennessee Brian and I were exchanging texts on Friday night where I said I think we’re simply steamrolling to a Purdue-UConn final. Tennessee’s 18-0 run against Creighton gave me pause and then they almost blew it. The Pick: Purdue 74 Tennessee 69 South Region: 4. Duke vs. 11. NC State We’ve now arrived at the stage where NC State is no longer cute but annoying. I get it, the world hates Duke, but do we want Purdue-NC State? I think not. The Pick: Duke 78 NC State 73 ..read more

East: 1. UConn vs. 3. Illinois UConn played their C game for a half against SDSU and then won by 30. Illinois jumped Iowa State and held on, but never really felt threatened, answering each Iowa State bucket that made it a one possession game. Impressive stuff in its own right. Ultimately, I simply think UConn is better. Illinois can certainly shoot themselves to an upset but I have my doubts they get enough stops to fend off UConn like they did the Clones. The Pick: UConn 82 Illinois 77 West: 4. Alabama vs. 6. Clemson Of all the permeations you could get from the top-8 teams of this region, t ..read more

1. Purdue vs. 5. Gonzaga  Another Sweet 16 for the Zags. Say what you will about them, but that is impressive in this day and age to continually be in the Sweet 16. Great teams get upset on opening weekend all the time. Great programs have down years all the time. Should probably appreciate the Zags. As for the game, I want to find a reason to pick the Zags. Purdue can be dicey with the ball but Gonzaga typically doesn’t turn opponents over. The Zags don’t put teams on the line but Purdue is a different creature from anything any team has seen in that regard. To win this game, the Zags ne ..read more

2. Marquette vs. 11. NC State Supposedly, they played for a title in 1974. Al McGuire got ejected before half. Imagine that today.  NC State rides a 7-game winning streak into this matchup and are an interesting team. Not great in anything other than not turning it over and not bad in anything. They’re an average team who has gotten hot or lucky, depending on how you look at it, at the right time. Marquette is a poor rebounding team but NC State is average on the glass. Marquette thrives on turnovers but NC State doesn’t turn it over. Can Marquette increase NC State turnovers?  The d ..read more

1. UConn vs. 5. San Diego State UConn has won 8 straight tournament games by double digits. San Diego State doesn’t have enough offensive firepower to beat them. UConn’s spurtability will let them pull away and win comfortably. The Pick: UConn 70 San Diego State 60 2. Iowa State vs. 3. Illinois Contrasting teams meetup in this fascinating game. Iowa State is 49th and 1st in effective offensive and defensive efficiency. The Illini are 1st and 92nd in those categories. Looking at the 4 Factors, Illinois is actually solid across the board defensively except turning teams over. They’re 360th of 3 ..read more

2. Arizona vs. 6. Clemson: In what is a bit of a surprise matchup, Clemson meets Arizona in the early tip Thursday. The Wildcats like to play fast, Clemson likes to slow it down. A matchup of clashing styles. If we look at Arizona’s 4 Factors, we don’t find anything they do bad. Clemson on the other hand is a bad offensive rebounding team and one of the worst at turning teams over. Zona is 7th in the nation in defensive rebounding %. I’d like to find a reason to pick Clemson in an upset but I think this is a game Zona handles with relative ease. The Pick: Arizona 82 Clemson 69 4. Alabama vs ..read more

Let’s rank out the Sweet 16 by KenPom. It’s a remarkably chalky Sweet 16. In theory, we should get better games, but we shall see. 1. UConn, 1st KP (1-seed East) 2. Houston, 2nd KP (1-seed South) 3. Purdue, 3rd KP (1-seed MW) 4. Arizona, 5th KP (2-seed West) 5. Duke, 6th KP (4-seed South) 6. Iowa State, 7th KP (2-seed East) 7. Tennessee, 8th KP (2-seed MW) 8. UNC, 9th KP (1-seed West) 9. Illinois, 10th KP (3-seed East) 10. Creighton, 11th KP (3-seed MW) 11. Gonzaga, 12th KP (5-seed MW) 12. Marquette, 13th KP (2-seed South) 13. Alabama, 14th KP (4-seed West) 14. San Diego State, 17th KP (5-see ..read more

1. Purdue (3) 2. Tennessee (7) 3. Creighton (11) 4. Gonzaga (15) 5. Kansas (22) 6. Texas (27) 7. TCU (33) 8. Colorado State (38) 9. Utah State (48) 10. South Carolina 49 11. Oregon (55) 12. McNeese State (60) 13. Virginia (69) Notes - Potential chaos region. 4&5 are on high alert. Zags are a year away. If they can keep the roster together, they’ll be in the mix to enter 2024-25 as the number 1 team. Kansas was a bit of a mess roster-wise before the injuries. 4-5 losing benefits Purdue who should beat either the 8 or 9. - Virginia is a disgrace which means a sweet-16 probably. I’d have t ..read more

1. Houston (2) 2. Duke (8) 3. Marquette (12) 4. Wisconsin (17) 5. Kentucky (19) 6. Texas Tech (24) 7. Colorado (26) 8. Nebraska (28) 9. Florida (29) 10. Boise State (39) 11. Texas A&M (44) 12. NC State (58) 13. JMU (59) Notes: - Probably the most balanced region? 9 top 30 teams probably makes up for the sort of weak top 4. Bid thief appears here and just reiterates what a disaster tourney week was for the actually heath of this bracket. - Colorado in the play-in game is a borderline crime but they did hire Prime Time and they have to pay for that across all sports. At Marquette’s expens ..read more

1. Arizona (6) 2. UNC (9) 3. Alabama (13) 4. Baylor (14) 5. Michigan State (18) 6. St. Mary’s (20) 7. New Mexico (23) 8. Mississippi State (30) 9. Dayton (32) 10. Clemson (34) 11. Nevada (36) 12. Grand Canyon (53) Notes: - The top is somewhat weak here. Bama and Baylor are great offensive teams but aren’t much on defense. That said, Bama has a favorable draw. - Leaning towards New Mexico into the Sweet 16 as a bid thief. Really like them against Clemson and I’m just not sold on Baylor. Baylor has NBA players but something hasn’t felt right about them all year. Big wild card in this region ..read more