Yeah, I’m filling out a bracket this year, but I’m not happy about it.
It’s hard to be happy when something that you hold so dearly to your heart gets ripped away from you and you have absolutely no say in the matter.
Each spring, millions of people fill out a March Madness bracket (sometimes two, or three…or five!) in an effort to correctly predict the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Tournament. And for what purpose???
To look smarter than your friends, obviously!
The sense of satisfaction you get from looking smarter than your peers is one of life’s greatest emotions. Everybody should experience it, however it isn’t always easy to find yourself in situations to put that (perceived) knowledge on display. But the NCAA Tournament is one of those cultural phenomenons that everybody is always willing to take a stab at, whether you’re a true hoops head or a basketball novice.
Yet with each passing week, it is hast increasingly evident that completing a bracket this year will be an exercise in futility for pretty much everyone involved. Granted, this will be business as usual for most, but the 2013 tournament is an especially difficult one to solve. Five teams in the top 25 lost on Wednesday night alone. The #1 team in America — according to the Associated Press poll — has lost seven times already this season. Basically, the #1 ranking has been a death sentence for every team it’s been bestowed upon (lots of luck, Gonzaga) and being a “ranked team” isn’t exactly a mark of superiority anymore.
College basketball is now flying in the complete opposite direction of college football. While everyone is clamoring for a college football playoff that is set to commence in the coming years, the reality is the SEC has had the college football landscape on lock for years, having claimed the last seven consecutive BCS National Championships.
Sidebar: “On lock for years”, is more of a reference to the championships than the overall dominance of the conference. From top to bottom, the SEC has been overrated for quite awhile. People act like the SEC bottomfeeders would destroy the top teams from the other power conferences; this simply isn’t true. The top three or four teams in this conference the last several years have been legit (for the most part). But fans shouldn’t act as if the entire conference is elite every season.
Meanwhile, the Butler Bulldogs (formerly) of the Horizon League very nearly won two straight national championships in recent years. Virginia Commonwealth was just in the Final Four and each year it seems like we’re moving closer to the first ever 16 seed over a 1 seed upset in the tournament.
Essentially, the field is as wide open as it has ever been (no hyperbole). In fact, picking the NBA’s “final four” is far easier at this point. If there was ever a year for a Butler, a VCU, or another good, yet still random program to get hot and actually win the whole thing, it would be this year.
So in a few weeks, an official HHSR bracket will be filled out and begrudgingly posted on this site. With that said, as we close regular season play and enter the conference tournaments, only a few of teams have the look of a national champion.
Despite losing just three nights ago to the Ohio State Buckeyes on their home court, on senior night, it’s hard not to believe in the talent and toughness of the Indiana Hoosiers. They’ve been at or near the peak of the Big 10, by far the toughest conference top-to-bottom, all season. The Kansas Jayhawks have also flirted with the top spot this year, despite falling all the way to #14 in the polls just a few weeks ago. Lastly, the Blue Devils from Duke bring that A-1 pedigree to the table and are always formidable in the tournament.
Why these teams, you ask?
Each of these three teams possess certain characteristics that tend to transfer well into the tournament. For starters, all three teams have real size in the middle. Kansas’ Jeff Withey is a legitimate 7 footer and his ability to alter shots at the rim can completely change the complexion of a game (ask Jared Sullinger and Ohio State). Duke’s Mason Plumlee is an extremely athletic 6’10” and is relentless on the boards. The Dukies also have 6’11” Ryan Kelly back from injury, who looked Dirk Jr. last Saturday night against the Miami Hurricanes. Meanwhile, Indiana has 7’0″ sophomore Cody Zeller — a projected top five pick, by the way — patrolling the paint.
Sidebar: Understand that this isn’t the NBA. Many of the top colleges struggle to find a big man that can play that is over 6’8″. So guys like Withey & Zeller look like Russell & Chamberlain by comparison…well, sort of.Â
Each of these three schools also feature a dynamic playmaker/scorer on the perimeter. IU’s Victor Oladipo is a winner and is always making winning basketball plays (on both ends of the floor). Duke’s Seth Curry is capable of taking over a game at a moment’s notice, and Kansas’ redshirt frosh Ben McLemore may just be the #1 pick in the NBA Draft come June.
Another reason to like Duke’s chances: Their opponents won’t have just the Blue Devils to contend with this March (only kidding, Duke fans).
Finally, all three schools contain one of the biggest attributes necessary to make a deep run in the field of 64 (or 65, or 68 or however many): leadership.
Never mind the excellence of head coaches Tom Crean, Bill Self and Mike Krzyzewski, who have combined for 14 Final Four appearances and five National Championships. The Hoosiers, Jayhawks and Blue Devils are all battle tested groups led by upperclassmen. Plumlee, Curry and Kelly are all seniors for Duke. Indiana’s Will Sheehey, Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford and Oladipo are all either juniors or seniors. Elijah Johnson, Travis Releford, Kevin Young and Withy are all seniors for the Jayhawks.
These are old basketball teams (and yes, by “old” we’re talking 21 or 22 years of age), and much like in the NBA, older teams tend to win in the NCAA tournament. While Syracuse in 2003 and Kentucky last year managed to cut the nets down, these underclassmen-led teams are the exception and far from the rule.
This is what a championship collegiate basketball team looks like to me. Undeniable size up front, a transcendent playmaker in the backcourt and leaders all over the floor, and on the bench. While all three of these teams have a championship makeup, and I do expect one of them to be left standing in the end, the field never looked so enticing. The geographical structure and general rigorousness of the brackets (depending on the seedings) will have a say in this matter as well. Regardless, Kansas, Indiana and Duke appear to be the teams to beat.
And when they all get bounced in the first round, you’ll be able to find me. I’ll be the one sitting at the end of the bar. A stiff drink in one hand, a piece of paper covered in red ink in the other, reminiscing about college basketball’s simpler times.