MIDWEST REGION BREAKDOWN

#1 KANSAS JAYHAWKS

Many experts are saying KU is more like a 3 seed than 1, which is just bonkers. When a team wins the regular season title and conference tourney title of the toughest conference in the nation deserves a 1 seed! Can I get a Rock Chalk!?!?! KU has Devonte Graham at guard. Svi’s gonna have to be a consistent scorer. And the Bigs gotta stay healthy and outta foul trouble. Mitch Lightfoot has grabbed the attention of the Insanity Report Staff.

#2 DUKE BLUE DEVILS

By far the most talented team in the nation. Period. But high highschool rankings does no good in the madness. Duke had down right atrocious defense early in the season with their bigs having absolute tunnel vision on the helpside to go with slow reaction time on the helpside defending the dribble penetration. The guards couldn’t contain dribble penetration, which forced Coach K to run zone the entire game now. This bolted Duke up to #7 ranked in the nation defensively. Kudos for this quick turnaround, but despite this tactical adjustment, the defensive weakness of each player will likely get exposed. Marvin Bagley is just so dominant on offense that he can cover many Duke defensive deficiencies.

#3 MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS

Izzo man!!! Sparty has boat loads of depth in the front court. Miles Bridges has to step up even more as a primary scorer hitting the opportune open jumper that won’t come too often. The x-factor is with PG Cassius Winston. He was a liability on the court with bad decisions that didn’t lead to personal turnover stats for himself, but many non scoring possessions. He’s improved drastically and leave it to Izzo to hide a weakness while highlighting a strength in Winston’s length on D getting many deflections and steals for transition opportunities. If Cassius has good decision-making then Sparty goes deep into the Madness

#4 AUBURN TIGERS

Bruce Pearl has down right over achieved with loss of players from the FBI investigation and the whole shadow from it all. Have they peaked? Pearl is not historically a 2^nd weekend coach in the Madness.

#5 CLEMSON TIGERS

Limping in with too many injuries

#6 TCU HORNED FROGS

Jamie Dixon has turned this program around, but they too have injuries with huge loss of Jaylen Fisher back in January. He’s not a game changer but they lacked depth with Fisher.

#7 RHODE ISLAND RAMS

D$ says A10 is trash. I tend to agree

#8 SETON HALL PIRATES

Senior laden team that many say don’t sleep on Angel Delgado as one of the top rebounders in the nation and a bonafide NBA draft pick. This has been said for past 3 seasons now and what does Seton Hall have to show for it? Another first weekend exit most likely

#9 NC STATE WOLFPACK

Amazing turnaround by Kevin Keatts in his first season at the helm. There’s some glaring weakness on the metrics but NC State are gamers! 7-0 Center Omer Yurtseven will burst on the scene. He’s a 50% 3 point shooter than can bang in the paint. Omer, remember that name!

#10  OKLAHOMA SOONERS

Shouldn’t be in the tourney. Period. There’s no justification for this other than the ratings to be had for watching Trae Young. That’s the only reason for the at-large berth, and it makes complete financial sense, just not basketball sense.

#11 SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN

Terry McKaig is licking his chops for the ‘Cuse! They have their regular 2-3 zone that gives teams fits. ACC teams have caught up to it, but will TCU?

#12 NEW MEXICO STATE AGGIES

Chris Jans has improved the Aggies since the departure of Chris Beard to Texas Tech and that was some huge shoes to fill. This is a great pick for the 12-5 upset

#13 CHARLESTON

Got nothing.

#14 BUCKNELL

Some experts are saying they are a live dog, but against Izzo and Sparty? Nah, Izzo won’t let another upset like Middle Tennessee State happen again. Bucknell, buck off says Carlton!

#15 IONA

A MAAC regular in the tourney. They have an up tempo offense that could give Duke fits. But an outright win? Nah.

#16 PENN QUAKERS

This is an odd seeding for an Ivy League Champion that usually has solid rebounding in the front court and high basketball IQ guards which Penn has. They could be the first 16 seed to win a game, but Bill Self won’t let that happen.