2017 MIDWEST REGION BREAKDOWN

January February IZZO!!!! (photo credit gamedayr.com)

MIDWEST REGION BREAKDOWN

This is the region of death! So many tough match ups! So pretty much the bracket buster region this is!

1. KANSAS JAYHAWKS

2 super special players in Outhet Player of the Year, Frank Mason and super freshman Josh Jackson. Jackson is a special talent, but jury out if he’s late game special. Lotsa off court issues which then adds to their incredible lack of depth as KU goes 7 deep at best. Main question is how much is in the tank for their studs that have logged HEAVY minutes all year. Definitively a tourney favorite, but also the 1-seed that is in most danger of getting upset before the Elite 8.

16. UC DAVIS AGGIES

Won play in game yesterday. Won’t go further. Thanks a lot KU!

8. MIAMI HURRICANES

Great coaching performance by Jim Larranaga that has made this limited lineup over perform in the tough ACC all season.

9. MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS

January February IZZO! Freshmen laden line up that have shown their youth all year. Not having a true PG and the typical bruising rebounding of a typical Tom Izzo team have led to a struggling season. However, this line up is still progressing making them a dangerous team vs. Miami and also vs. KU?

5. IOWA STATE CYCLONES

The most under rated line up full of impact players led by 6-4 senior 250-lb Deonte Burton. This guy can explode onto scene with Madness run.

12. NEVADA WOLFPACK

They have been a solid mid-major all season but haven’t had great competition to allow them to progress being in the very weak Mountain West conference.

4. PURDUE BOILERMAKERS

All-Adolph 1^st teamer F Caleb Swanigan is the best psot player in the nation. He had had 20 pt-10 rebound games in 4/5^th of all Boilermaker games. Top team in the Big Ten all year that only garners a 4 seed? Hmmmmm.

13. VERMONT CATAMOUNTS

Pretty good ranked mid major team in many metrics that could catamount to a possible upset. #PaulsenPun

6. CREIGHTON BLUEJAYS

They were having a generation season for this program until they lost their All-American (possible All-Adolph teamer) PG Mo Watson to a torn ACL in January. Don’t sleep on freshman forward Justin Patton who has come outta no where as a top 100 talent to having a season making him a possible NBA lottery pick and one-and-doner. But Patton needs a PG. Too bad for this team.

11. RHODE ISLAND RAMS

This team was a Top 15 rated pre-season team that is finally peaking after finally getting healthy in past month. Solid forwards and great 5^th year senior G EC Mathews will be tough for the newly injured Bluejays.

3. OREGON DUCKS

Jr. G Dillon Brooks can take the Ducks on his shoulders and lead them to the Final 4. He’s that good. He’ll have to be that good as Oregon lost Sr. F Chris Boucher to a torn ACL days ago. It can still happen but is the transition from filling Boucher’s injury too fresh for Oregon? Jr. F Jordan Bell will have to step up.

14. IONA GAELS

Come from the MAAC which was led by upstart Monmouth for a 2^nd straight season only to upset them and rest of MAAC to get the tourney berth. They’re in as a live underdog vs. the newly injured Ducks.

7. MICHIGAN WOLVERINES

I’d say the hottest team coming into the Madness winning the Big Ten Tourney with great great PG from Derrick Watson. They also have grinding, solid forwards in Zak Irvin, Mo Wagner and bruising Mark Donnal.

10. OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS

Top rated offense in the nation. Ten years ago they’d likely get worked by any solid defensive team, but the rules have been changed to promote more offense so the Cowboys high paced offense can make a Sweet 16 run in Head Coach, Brad Underwood’s first season.

2. LOUISVILLE CARDINALS

Get this stat. They have played opponents that amount to the 4^th highest ranked offense only to still be the 5^th highest rated defense in the nation. If you pick these kats as your Final 4 pick outta the Midwest than you ain’t no joke cuz the Cardinals ain’t no joke!

15. JACKSONVILLE STATE

Um no.

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!