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| Tony Bennett, the best coach to NOT get to the Final 4, and he's sick of it!!! |
#1 VIRGINIA CAVALIERS
They are the overall #1 seed in the Madness
after being unranked in the pre-season Top 25. Tony Bennett can flat out coach
and unfortunately has the tag as one of the best coaches to NOT get to the
Final 4 yet. Can this year be the year? Well the Cavaliers defense is bar none
the best in the country. They do so with the vaunted packline D that limits the
number of possessions. Virginia is extremely efficient on both sides of the
ball, but the main limitation is that low amount of possessions that limits
opposing teams to scores also gives Virginia a lower margin for error for them
to score. They deserve to be the outright #1 seed in this years tourney.
They’ve been the only consistent team in Div 1 all season. Soph. Guard, Kyle
Guy is the main scorer, he can jack treys, but Sr. Wing Donta Hall is the
do-it-all best player on Virginia and the straw that stirs the Cavs drink.
#2 CINCINNATI BEARCATS
Coach Mick Cronin has built a sleeper power
house at the ‘Nati. They are super deep with 6th man Cane Broome
being an All-Name Player as well as solid scoring guard. The forwards of Sr.
Gary Clark, Jr. Jacob Evans and Sr. Kyle Washington are arguably the best frontcourt
in the nation. Their D is suffocating and they really take advantage of
transition with great passing indicative of their high assist totals compared
to their opponents. The Bearcats are the sexy pick to go deep as well as win
the whole thing this year. They are coming into the Madness as one of the
hottest teams in the nation dominating a surprisingly good but top heavy
American Athletic Conference. Yet their non-conference schedule was bare with
losses to Xavier and Florida.
#3 TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS
A surprising team this year in the
surprising SEC as the Volunteers were chosen to be 11th to 13th
place in the 14 team conference, finishing tied for 1st in the
regular season and losing in the SEC tournament final vs. Kentucky. Tennessee
has solid talent but like Kentucky and the other top SEC teams, their games are
full of scoring streaks and scoring droughts. Credit to Rick Barnes to
rebuilding this program, which is led by do it all Soph. F Grant Williams. He’s
everywhere on the court!
#4 ARIZONA WILDCATS
They get this year’s J. Edgar Hoover Award
for top team within the much ballyhooed FBI investigation. Sean Miller may be
out by next year and this roster will all declare for the draft to avoid any consequences
of the investigation, so you best believe Arizona will be going full “Eff You”
mode and ball out sticking it to the NCAA by going deep into the Madness. The
scoop on Arizona is that DeAndre Ayton is a man-child! He is the bonafide top
choice to be the #1 pick overall in this springs NBA Draft. He has the body of
a 7-1 greek god and can rebound over Godzilla and Charles Barkley, but he is
raw and I doubt he can take over a game like his potential dictates due to the
very weak and inconsistent back court with average PG in Sr. Parker
Jackson-Cartwright and super talented but up and down Jr. SG, Allonzo Trier. Ayton
gets most of his touches from missed shots rather than passing from the
backcourt. 6-5 Soph Rawle Alkins will be giving us thunderous dunks, stay tuned
for that in your Madness Weather Reports!
#5 KENTUCKY WILDCATS
Another McDonald All-American froshie class
for All Snake-Oil Salesman Coach Calipari. But they’re young. They play average
defense at best. They can’t shoot consistently. But they are still McD
All-American talented. The scoop on Kentucky is this, during their SEC
Conference Tourney win vs. Tennessee, Kentucky was up by 17 over Tennessee with
4:31 left in the 1st half, and only 3 minutes into the 2nd
half they were down by 3 after giving up a 25-5 run to Tennessee. Kentucky
still won the game. The 2017-18 Kentucky Wildcats ladies and gentlemen!
#6. MIAMI HURRICANES
They were chosen to be in a Top 1 or 2 team
in the ACC and floundered. They are without NBA-prospect in Bruce Brown who has
missed last 11 games due to a broken foot. He won’t play in the 1st
round but will dress. Even before his injury the Canes had a disappointing
schedule. Last year’s leading scorer for Miami, Sr. Ja’Quan Newton has been a
shadow of his former self with half the production across the board that he had
last year. Can the Canes rebound in the Madness? Signs point to no. (Which
means they likely make it to the Sweet 16! That’s the Madness folks!!!)
#7 NEVADA WOLFPACK
These guys have been a dark horse pick all
season, however they hit quite the snag when they lost their PG in Jr. Lindsey
Drew to a torn Achilles. That hurts a lot as the solid frontcourt with the
Martin twins need the proper ball distribution that Drew gave them. Nevada
packed their non-conference sked with great wins on the road, but hasn’t really
faced tough competition in the average Mountain West Conference.
#8 CREIGHTON BLUE JAYS
This is a great match up in that Creighton
plays #9 Kansas State, which is the former school of 20.3 ppg leading scorer
Marcus Foster. Revenge game fo’ sho’!!!! Creighton is a typical 8/9 seeded team
that has grinded all year in the upper enchelon of the the top Big East
conference. The won and lost games they were supposed to, but they had a recent
OT win vs. Villanova that locked their at-large bid.
#9 KANSAS STATE WILDCATS
Coach Bruce Weber was on the coaching hot
seat last year but has now had a second straight solid season that has taken
him off the hot seat. K-State also grinded in the top ranked Big 12 conference.
Soph. Wing Xavier Snead is silky smooth and athletic. Watch out for him!
#10 TEXAS LONGHORNS
Some say they shouldn’t have gotten in, but
I can see them getting the at-large bid, as was mentioned with K-State in that
the Big 12 conference was by far the best conference in the nation with even
last place Iowa State having a solid resume for an at-large bid. Texas lost G
Andrew Jones to a leukemia diagnosis so best of luck to him and a huge loss for
the Longhorns. Texas offers nutty match up for Nevada whim but his loss in the
backcourt stings. With the return of super froshie Mo Bamba and his 7-7 wingspan
from a minor injury, he will be giving the Navada front court fits! Oh and
don’t forget the Shaka factor for Texas! Like Jim Day, Shaka’s gotta plan!!!
Shaka’s gotta plan!!!
#11 LOYOLA-CHICAGO RAMBLERS
I don’t know any players on this team, but
their nationally ranked defense is for real. In the MVC Tourney Final, their
defense was absolutely suffocating!!! Plastic bag over the face suffocating!!!
They are a very high trendy double digit upset pick over the disappointing
Miami Hurricanes.
#12 DAVIDSON WILDCATS
Davidson returns many players from last
year, which gives an immediate advantage over the super young, but super
talented Kentucky Wildcats. Davidson has a solid frontcourt and Head Coach, Bob
McKillop has been at Davidson for close to 30 years. He has some Steph Curry
mojo in him. They are indeed a sexy 12th seed upset pick, but Insanity Report
Degenerate Coordinator, D$ and I are hoping Kentucky holds serve….by 6 points
at least.
#13 BUFFALO BULLS
Don’t sleep on these MAC Champions. They have
some players remaining from the Madness run they made with Bobby Hurley 3 years
ago. They are said to be a very up-tempo team that can give Arizona fits. This
will be an entertaining game! Look out for Jr. PG CJ Massinburg, he’ll give
Arizona’s Jackson Parker-Cartwright hand
full on both sides of the ball.
#14 WRIGHT STATE RAIDERS
The Horizon League champs are chalk full of
transfers filling in for big contributing players that transferred to other
bigger programs. I have no clue on these guys other than the Horizon League is
a conference that has been ran sacked from other bigger conference taking their
teams and what’s left is a Wright State league champion chalk full of
transfers.
#15 GEORGIA STATE PANTHERS
Many people remember head coach Ron Hunter
being swept off his walking boot scooter when his son RJ Hunter hit a great
game winning shot vs. Baylor 3 years ago. RJ Hunter was an absolute stud. He’s
not on this years Panthers squad. They’re in tough vs. The ‘Nati!
#16 UMBC RETRIEVERS
Credit to Head Coach Ryan Odom turning
things around for UMBC making them a conference champion but UMBC is the lowest
ranked team in the tournament on Kenpom.com by far….like by 23 spots under the
next lowest team at #190. Hey Retrievers, go fetch this poop kicking you will
get from Virginia!!!
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