2017 WEST REGION BREAKDOWN

Most talented player in the nation, Lauri Markkanen (credit fansided.com)

Holy Bejeebus! I can’t freaking sleep here folks! It’s just too damned exciting. The time before tip of March Madness is as slow as Dave Adolph running down court on a “fast break”!

So here’s a quick breakdown of your friendly neighborhood March Madness Regions.

Obvi lets start with everybody’s favorite team, the Gonzaga Bulldogs and their West Region!!!

WEST REGION

1. GONZAGA BULLDOGS

The connection on the floor between 1^st Team All-Adolph G Nigel Williams-BOSS and Przemak Karnowski is very Stockton-Malone line! Strengths of Gonzaga are their depth and versatility as they can play a high tempo or slow-it-down slow tempo game. In either pace, they are very patient and make great reads and show how well they are coached by Mark Few. Great x-factor players in freshman F Killian Tillie who is very efficiently productive in garbage time minutes and fellow freshmen F/C Zach Collins who is tall, skinny but very strong in holding position in the blocks while quick in the open court with a solid 15 footer jumper reminiscent of a young Letah Addison!

A little rant on behalf of Insanity Report Gonzaga and West Coast Conference Correspondent, Marc Paulsen here, is that although Gonzaga is the Insanity Pool odds on favorite to win the whole tourney, they consistently get no love from media and pollsters as one loss during the season drops them further down polls then a loss does for a traditional Power 5 Conference team. Only way to shut those Smallist’s up is as Jake Taylor in Major League says, “Win the whole f***ing thing!” OK deal!

16. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS

Gonna go on a limb here and say that this will not be a year that a 16-seed finally beats a 1-seed. But watch out for Jackrabbit F Mike Daum and his 25.3 points per game, which is good enough for 2^nd in the nation. Gonzaga’s depth at forward with Karnowski,, Collins and Tillie will shut down Daum. But interested to see this kat play.

8. NORTHWESTERN WILDCATS

The Cindarella darling of the young Madness. They are making their first NCAA tournament in the team’s history. Before this year, the Wildcats were the only Power 5 conference team to have never played in the Madness! They had some great late season wins to solidify their at-large berth highlighted by their late season win at the tough barn that is the Kohl Center housing the Wisconsin Badgers. However, Wisky walloped Northwestern by 28 points in the Big Ten Tourney semi-final a week later, so the question is have Northwestern turned into pumpkins already?

9. VANDERBILT COMMODORES

First year coach, Bryce Drew leads Vandy as he came from coaching Valpo, his alma mater upon which he has a classic buzzer beater in Madness lore back in 1998. Vandy will be playing far from home in the Salt Lake City site. They have snuck up on everybody as they play in the weak SEC but have some big wins vs. some Top 25 teams this year, including a great out of conference win vs. Iowa State. Vandy have good bigs in 7-footer Luke Kornet and Jeff Roberson with good guard play with high shooting percentages.

Junior PG Riley Lachance has rebounded from a tough sophomore season last year as he had a great freshman season rockin treys like a young and current Jordan Yu. It’s safe to say that Lachance was a bust last year, but has rebounded greatly under Coach Drew’s first year at Vandy to be back shooting 49% from 3 as well as almost doubling his assist total from last year as well. Not a bad first year under Coach Drew. This is a great great 8 vs. 9 match up with Northwestern, as the Wildcats have a great point guard in Jr. Bryant McIntosh as well.

5. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH

Freaking Head Coach, Mike Brey gets little recognition from building the Irish with solid 4-year players and constantly reloading talent after losing key players to graduation every year. This year was no different after losing studs like Demetrious Jackson and Zach Auguste. Last year the Irish were more guard oriented, as Jackson was the main weapon at PG, but this year the Irish are more forward oriented led by Jr. F Bonzie Colson and his 17 ppg and 10 rebounds per game. Sr. F VJ Beachum contributes 15 pgg as guard Steve Vasturia and Matt Ferrell split the passing duties with their 3.5 and 5.5 assists per game respectively. The Irish find a way with their efficiency that may not be glamorous to the lay fan but is so fun to watch their patient and opportunistic execution.

12. PRINCETON TIGERS

Not much is known about the Tigers, however they won the regular season title in the Ivy League this year as well as the first ever Ivy League post-season tourney. One thing that sticks out as kenpom.com’s All-Ivy League team has 4 Princeton players on it. Huh! Princeton plays a typical smart-high IQ, hard-nosed game as most Ivy League champs. Also, Ivy League have many first round wins over the past few seasons, so a yearly 12-seed upset is not outta the question, but they are in real tough vs. the Irish.

4. WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS

Press Virginia! Coach Bob “Huggy Bear” Huggins leads the Mountaineers into the tourney with many great wins but some tough losses vs. lower teams and a tough loss at KU this year where they coughed up a 12 point lead with 2 minutes left. They live by the sword of their suffocating full court press but will also die by it if their opponent can break it. Forwards Esa Ahmad, Nathan Adrian and Elijah Macon struggled a lot early in the season filling in some big shoes of departed pro and graduating players, but they have improved at a steep rate and continue to do so with athletic hoops and clutch boards vs. bigger opposing forwards. Jr. PG Jevon Carter quarterbacks the full court press and looks like he’s 45 years old.

13. BUCKNELL BISON

Know nothing of these guys although saw the last 10 minutes of their Patriot League title game last week. Seemed to me they play mainly a half court set, so I’m anticipating Press Virginia to feast on some Bison turnovers.

6. MARYLAND TERRAPINS

Don’t sleep on this team. Shrouded by many criticisms of Head Coach Mark Turgeon, the Terrapins return one main player in Jr. PG Melo Trimble from last years disappointing season that was loaded with talent. Add in a solid mixture of gelling freshmen and these Terps are a great sleeper pick.

Melo has been relatively disappointing as he was slated as a sure fired one-and-doner as a freshman and is still playing at Maryland as a junir. But Maryland has a nutty record with something like a 20-8 record in games decided by 6 points or less. These tight games have Melo with the ball late in every of those games, so he has proven his clutchness. Expect Melo to grind out some late game clutchness this tourney, but they are hobbled with the late season injury to solid freshman forward Michal Cekovsky.

11. XAVIER MUSKATEERS

Xavier was pre-season top 10 team that snuck into the Madness as one of the last teams to get in with some late season wins despite losing star guard Edmond Sumner to a torn ACL in late January. Fellow star, Trevon Bluitt has stepped his game up since the injury. He was already a solid contributor as a thick wing player with some grit. Xavier’s late season push to go with Maryland’s slight late season slump makes for a great 6 vs. 11 match up. I’m leaning Maryland due to Melo’s clutchness, but lets not forget Commissioner Adolph’s yearly bottom dwelling performance in the Insanity Pool. L

3. FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES

Super solid lineup with great returning talent with a super froshie in 6-10 forward Jonathan Isaac. They’ve proven their metal with a split vs. Duke and Notre Dame and a win in their only game vs. Louisville. But they did have a bad loss at lowly Georgia Tech where they absolutely did not show up. They completely shut down in the 2^nd half. So this is definitely a tale of two teams that can show up for the Madness.

14. FLORIDA GULF COAST EAGLES

This team is the sexy pick to upset due to their Sweet 16 run a couple years back as a 15 seed. But there are no remaining players from that Sweet 16 team, so this is a completely different team and Head Coach Andy Enfield moved onto USC after that Sweet 16 season as well. I know nothing of these guys, but they have not played the many games vs. Top 25 teams as Florida State has, but cool interstate game here vs. FSU.

7. ST. MARY’S GAELS

We have watch many of the Gaels’ games this year as they were in the Top 25 all year along with Gonzaga being in the top 3 in the nation all year. This is a great rebound from last year, as St. Mary’s were the best team that didn’t get an at-large berth in last year’s madness. They return every player from last year’s team and come into the Madness with this solid lineup led by F Jock Landale. He can bang in the paint and has Kevin McHale like moves in the post. 

10. VCU RAMS

You don’t want to go to waaaaaarrrrr with the Raaaaaams! Don’t start no stuff, they’ll be no stuff!! The best Pep Band in the nation and great live Madness memories with the Insanity Report Staff in Portland! Like Shaka Smart of yester year, VCU Head Coach, Will Wade is in many rumors  to take many head coach openings in Power 5 conferences. Since he’s replaced Shaka, he’s had great recruiting classes with higher rated players than Shaka ever got. They have great seniors led by PG JeQuan Lewis.

2. ARIZONA WILDCATS

Head Coach, Sean Miller is regarded as the best coach not to have made the Final 4…..along with Mark Few. This possible Elite 8 match up with Gonzaga is one we all hope to see. Miller’s done a great job this year with pre-season injuries losing players for the year and the suspension of super sophomore Alonzo Trier due to PED’s. Holy moly, the Arizona games that Bill Walton was the color commentating were absolutely hilarious. He was relentless as every time Trier got the ball, Walton would say, “hey take 3 of these”. Oh Bill! But I repeat from the previous Insanity Report that freshman 7-footer Lauri Markkanen is the most talented player in the nation. Bar none! He may not be the most valuable or productive player like a Frank Mason, Josh Hart or Caleb Swanigan, but he’s the most talented!

15. NORTH DAKOTA

No clue and don’t care. Arizona will roll these tomato cans!

Some Selection Sunday Reading before the Bracket is Set

MADNESS IS COMING!

Here’s a shot gun breakdown of the major players in the major conferences this year. Enjoy this read the final conference tourney games are played today leading to the Selection show this afternoon!

WEST COAST CONFERENCE

The WCC is a mid-major by definition but has more tourney depth than the SEC!

GONZAGA BULLDOGS

All the ingredients to make it to Mark Few’s first Final Four led by All Adolph First Teamer PG Nigel Williams-BOSS! He’s super strong driving to the hoop and quarterbacks the top team in the nation. Big man Przemak Karnowski is close to 300-lb brute with soft hands and great passing. Super Transfers, Johnathan Williams and Jordan Mathews offer athletic wing play and streaky 3-pt shooting respectively. Freshman big Zach Collins offers a complimentary mobile big man to Karnowski’s size in the post.

ST. MARY’S GAELS

A Top 25 team all season. Who says the WCC is weak??... with a number 1 seed in Zags and a top 25 team in the Gaels led by consistent big man Jock Landale, makes the WCC a deep conference. Tread carefully if you have any WCC smack and you’re in a 100-foot perimeter of Insanity Report WCC Correspondent, Marc “The Bestus” Paulsen. Watch your back Lee-Wai and T-Smack…keep the cotton candy at the carnival eh!

BIG EAST

VILLANOVA WILDCATS

Free entry to the Pete Vieweg Money Pool to first Insanity Pool Inmate to name the three teams named Wildcats. Nova has All-Adolph First Teamer Josh Hart, who was clutch all season including his last second tip in in the Big East tourney. I’m really surprised that a defending champion returning as much talent as they did from last year’s Championship team is not as heralded as a title threat as much as Nova should be. DO. NOT. SLEEP. ON. NOVA. PERIOD!!!!

PAC-12

This is a top heavy conference with the below 3 team and nobody else!

ARIZONA WILDCATS

Zona has been ravaged by injuries and suspensions to take a share of the regular season Pac-12 title as well as the Pac-12 conference tourney title. The return of super sophomore Alonzo Trier has sparked the Wildcats who have been led by super duper froshie, 6-11 forward Lauri Markkanen. He can take over games with his length and treys. Remember that name.  Markkanen has more than just a loud barkkanen!

OREGON DUCKS

The Ducks took on a slow start due to the early season foot injury to leader Dillon Brooks only to be devastated with Sr. forwards Chris Boucher’s torn ACL right before the Pac-12 final vs. Arizona tonight. Ouchy! The Ducks have the main ingredients returning from last year’s Elite 8 run. Brooks can lead the way, but the transition from the loss of Boucher must be quick or else Oregon will have an early exit. Side note, Oregon’s seeding could be affected with this recent injury.

UCLA BRUINS

Despite the millennial self-promotion of his father and younger brother, freshman Lonzo Ball is super legit as an amazing passer, yet has a very inconsistent jumper. Bruins also have the most athletic front court in the nation with fellow one-and-doner TJ Leaf and Jr. Thomas Welsh. UCLA is super interesting with their borderline generational offense and lowly ranked defense.

BIG 12

KU getting their 13^th straight regular season Big 12 title is an amazing modern era accomplishment as this year’s Big 12 is the top rated conference in many metric systems yet again.

KANSAS JAYHAWKS

Two all world players with Freshman Josh Jackson and Outhet Player of Year, Sr. PG Frank Mason. There is an incredible lack of depth for KU highlighted by KU’s Big 12 tourney first round exit with Josh Jackson out with a suspension. Expect Head Coach Bill Self to unleash his wizardry that have kept KU as a top 3 team in the nation, despite the lack of depth and a slew of off court troubles for KU all season.

IOWA STATE CYCLONES

The All-Sleeper pick of the Madness! They aren’t sneaking on anybody however, as they won the Big 12 tourney tonight. There is lots of talent for the Cyclones and do not, I repeat do not sleep on Sr. Wing Deonte Burton who is a mobile 6-4, 250 lb athletic big man. He will be a match up problem for every team in the Madness. One that can be a deep run.

WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS

Press Virginia! They’ll always be dangerous with their amazing full court press. They have also improved their front court play. However, they have had an inexplicable loss every 5-6 games all season, which leads the Insanity Report Staff to think another inexplicable loss is in the Mountaineers’ Madness run this year.

BAYLOR BEARS

They have flat out peaked from their undefeated non-conference record in December and early January run as the top team in the nation. They have had bad losses highlighted by their first round loss in the Big 12 tourney to average K-State.

OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS

First year coach, Brad Underwood has brought in his magic from his time at Stephen F. Austin. Oklahoma State has a batty offensive attack lead by backcourt by Super Sophomore Juwan Evans and Sr. Phil Forte.

TCU HORNED FROGS

Another amazing first year coaching job by Jamie Dixon who came from a 13-year run at Pittsburgh to return to his alma mater. Freshman PG Jaylen Fisher has been solid and consistent all season.

BIG TEN

This conference has zero elite team but huge depth with 7 teams likely to get tourney bids.

WISCONSIN BADGERS

Lead by Sr.’s F Nigel Hayes and SG Bronson Koenig. Wisky has their patented 4 or 5 out offense that has been very perplexing at various times during the season when they had minimal cutting away from the ball making them very easy to defend. This has highlighted some erraticness from Wisky, but their M.O is they usually find a way to win, so you can never sleep on the Badgers

PURDUE BOILERMAKERS

Sophomore big man, Caleb Swanigan has had as many 20 pt/10 rebound games as Grayson Allen has tripped a guy! Heyyyy yooooo!!!! Swanigan was a sleeper pick as Outhet Player of the Year with his many 20 and 10 games. Fellow 7-footer Isaac Haas gives a nasty front court that is limited with a questionable back court.

MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS

January February IZZO!!!! March is Coach Izzo’s month, but his hands are full with a freshmen laden team that had both veteran forwards lost for the season even before it even started. The typical Izzo physical rebounding has been lacking with the injuries to the bigs, but the freshmen line up continues to develop led by super athletic wing Mile Bridges and upstart big man Nick Ward.

NORTHWESTERN WILDCATS

A Cinderella team for sure as they have earned their very first NCAA Tourney berth in school history! They were the only team in a Power 5 conference never to play in the NCAA tourney. They have had some key wins in the past 2 weeks late in the Big Ten regular season only to get shellacked by 28 points by Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tourney semi-final today. Ouchy! They have a week to get their legs back!

MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS

Minny lost 4 regular minute guys from a 8-23 team last year with minimal upgrades in the off season…..by all accounts except that of Minnesota. A solid and quick backcourt with solid freshmen bigs have led Minnesota to earn an at-large berth from their regular season record alone, but was solidified with a semi final berth in the Big Ten tourney.

MICHIGAN WOLVERINES

A surprisingly deep back court and front court led by Head Coach John Beilein who Insanity Report Coaching Correspondent, J-Dawg has labeled as elite, as Beilein has garnered yet another great defensive game plan for this deep squad.

MARYLAND TERRAPINS

Jr. PG Melo Trimble has led a ragtag bunch of Terrapins to a surprising run similar to Minnesota’s run. Maryland lost a solid forward to injury in Jr. Michal Cekovsky, but if the game is tight then Maryland will always have a shot as Melo will have the ball late in the game with a chance to hit that late shot.

SEC

Only one team. Period.

KENTUCKY WILDCATS

Another packed freshmen class chalk full of McDonald All-Americans led by SG Malik Monk who is the poster child of Kentucky’s inconsistency as he can drop over 40 points one game followed by a 7 point game the next. PG DeAaron Fox is hobbled by a recent ankle sprain that has slowed him down but he should be close to 100%. Big man froshie Bam Adebayo has not been a bust by any means, but as a highly heralded recruit, he has been a B+ talent which doesn’t help as his inconsistency adds to the many questions for Kentucky.

FLORIDA GATORS

Nawww, we can add Florida to this shot gun Insanity Report. The Gators are very solid defensively, but they’re led by 2^nd year coach, Mike White. He came from Louisiana Tech where he averaged 30 wins in his last 3 seasons with La Tech to earn the job offer from Florida. However, in those 3 seasons they were always upset in the Conf–USA tourney losing a berth to the NCAA tourney. Add in the Gators NIT berth last year, and Mike White has yet to coach an NCAA tourney game. Just saying.

ACC

This may be one of the greatest conferences in the history of the NCAA as they should have 10 berths out of the 15-team conference. What makes them great is that even the bottom 3 teams had big wins vs. top ACC teams this year. There was never an easy game all season in the ACC

NORTH  CAROLINA TAR HEELS

They have all the ingredients needed for a title run. They have a great PG in Jr. Joel Berry, 2 great x-factor players in Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson with the deepest front court in the nation. Not many teams beat the Tar Heels as much as they can beat themselves with defensive lapses and cold shooting streaks which was evident in their ACC tourney loss to Duke.

DUKE BLUE DEVILS

A mixture of great returning players led by All-American Grayson Allen, amazing leader Amile Jefferson, great scorer Luke Kennard and solid defender Matty Jones. Then add in the #1 rated freshmen class chalk full of NBA Top 5 draft picks in Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, Frank Jackson and Marques Bolden and this is bar none the best talent in the nation. However, Duke was a #5 seed in the ACC tourney. Despite a great record Duke struggled to find their identity all season due to injuries, tripping incidents and Coach K’s back. If they find their identity then they can walk through the Madness for a title run. They just won the ACC tourney tonight. Identity found?

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH

Coach Mike Brey keeps getting into the second weekend of the Madness with reloaded vets. Watch out for forward, Bonzie Colson. Keep track of that name,

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS

Coming back to the tourney after a one-year self-penalized tourney ban. They have yet another nameless bunch of players who play typical great Rick Pitino defense.

FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES

Deep talent led by McD All-American sophomore Dwayne Bacon and PG Xavier Rathan-Mayes. The Noles have great wins, but just a feel that doesn’t garner a deep tourney run.

MIAMI HURRICANES

Jim Larranaga can flat out coach. Not much speed in the back court or size in the front court, yet another solid ACC year for the Canes

VIRGINIA CAVALIERS

I’m gonna call bust year for Virginia. Tony Bennett runs a great culture and very disciplined defensive team. Yet they can’t score this year and they may finally be getting exposed as an over rated team who has great defensive metrics yet bad losses late in the year.

SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN

An underwhelming 18-14 record which was riddled with solid wins vs many top 25 teams in those 18 wins. These wins should get an at-large berth for Cuse, but those 14 losses include some bad losses to bum teams. A second straight Final 4 run is very very unlikely for Jim Boeheim, but we just need Cuse to get an at-large berth or else Insanity Report Baseball Correspondent, Terry McKaig will be taking a knee and boycotting the Inanity Pool. Come on Selection Committee, make the right move. The Insanity Pool needs McKaig!

The Madness Ends Tonight

It honestly feels like yesterday that we were sitting in the Asylum watching the first round of the Madness and here we are ready to crown a Madness Champion between #1 North Carolina and #2 Villanova.

First, big ups to a great career Buddy Hield! He was held under 10 points for the 2^nd time this season, which was the most inopportune time to play flat and Villanova absolutely dominated the Sooners. As with Syracuse beating Virginia, this Oklahoma loss was by no means a choke game, as it would take away from the dominance that was the Villanova Wildcats!

Man alive Villanova can play defense! They are executing a phenomenal game plan by Head Coach, Jay Wright!

As for UNC, they just plain ol’ out bigged Syracuse! The Cuse was most definitely playing with house money, as they could not surcome another 2^nd half deficit as Carolina was able to answer the Syracuse press with quick cuts in the gaps and accurate passes in those gaps. The UNC forwards were able to gut the middle of the fabled Syracuse 2-3 zone and Jim Boeheim was able to walk off the court as a proud coach of an Orangeman team that most definitely belonged in the Madness.

Also, both Syracuse and UNC have had NCAA sanctions and most likely have NCAA sanctions on them respectively. Please do not let this cloud the Madness that will hopefully ensue, as the basketball played on the court should outshine the off-court shenanigans that is NCAA College Basketball.

The on goings of NCAA Basketball should by no means be shoved under the rug, but that is NCAA Basketball and this is The Madness so back to the game!

North Carolina has their forwards led by Brice Johnson, Isaiah Hicks and Joel James show off their nutty rebounding, especially on the offensive side, as Marcus Paige hit some clutch hoops. The kicker for UNC is the very very under the radar but extremely valuable point guard play of Joel Berry who had another high assist and low turnover game vs. Syracuse.

Villanova, as mentioned are on fire with sharp execution and wily veteran play. Senior forward Daniel Ochefu had an OK game vs. Oklahoma and may be hobbled by an ankle or foot injury. He will play but how much will the injury affect him?

The kicker for Villanova is that the Oklahoma bigs were the only players that showed up with a valiant effort by Oklahoma’s Ryan Splangler. If he was able to get his looks than watch out for the deep UNC frontcourt to possibly feast on the dymanic duo of Ochefu and Kris Jenkins.

Nova’s Ryan Arcidiacono and UNC’s Marcus Paige will have a great match up as senior leaders.

The final x-factor will be the match up between Sophomore point guard, Joel Berry and Freshman point guard Jalen Brunson of Villanova. If Berry continues to distribute the ball as efficiently as he has, then look for Roy Williams to get his 3^rd NCAA Championship.

Finally…..Roy.

Roy.

As in the initial Insanity Report there was an olive branch of peace extended out to Roy Williams who has been criticized for the past 3-4 years by many people including myself. I still believe that the previous years criticism was warranted, but this year Roy and the Tar Heels have grinded over the many critics of his coaching and that of the off-court allegations that most likely will be formally handled between UNC and the NCAA this summer.

Roy has shown some moxy with many quotes of wanting to fight critics and being so critical of the hate-press from many members of the media. Despite this fieriness, Roy still seems to have his body ailments as he wears a knee brace while on the sidelines in his intense defensive stance. His health and the 2-3 years of non-UNC caliber recruits may have tonight be the last time we see Roy on the sidelines.

As J-Dawg put so eloquently, Roy deserves to go out on his terms and once the final buzzer goes tonight, we’ll either see another crowning of UNC or inauguration of Villanova.

As that buzzer rings, so will the conclusion of the greatest March Madness, perhaps ever and unfortunately all that will be left for the summer will be the ugly reality that is NCAA sports.

The hypocrisy and double standards that is NCAA still gets overshadowed by the purity of the Madness and Madness gods…..thanks for this ride,

The Madness concludes tonight.

Yours in Madness,

Commissioner Adolph