I’m not one who ever fills out brackets but I recognize that it’s a huge part of college basketball. For some it’s a superstition or ritual to try to get some karmic edge for your own team; for some it’s simply an exercise to show how much you know about the sport and to have a friendly competition with friends. Now is the time for all office pools to ramp up and work production to grind to a halt.
One thing you can be certain of as it’s happened in every NCAA Tournament is that there will be upsets. The key to a successful bracket is being able to suss out those slippers and cinderella stories. You have the favorites that have hovered around the 1 line for a while like Virginia and Villanova. They have been the most consistent teams the entire year, if you were considering putting any money down on these consistent teams these details to help choose a sportsbook break down exactly what you need to take into account based on an editors rating system.
UVA nearly did the impossible by going through the entire ACC season undefeated. UVA boasts the strongest defense in all of college basketball and what we know about the tournament is that defense travels. Villanova, under Jay Wright, have become a powerhouse. No one does a better job of getting talent to perform at a high level. The Wildcats are led by quite possibly the best point guard in the nation, Jalen Brunson. Villanova have hovered around the top of the rankings the entire season and are probably the favorites to cut down the nets in San Antonio this year.
There are also major conference teams that have underperformed this year that very well may have their proverbial act together by the time they take the floor later this week. Teams like Kentucky, Florida and Arizona State. These teams either are not seeded as highly as they normally are and some are upstarts that had stumbling blocks this season. It is very possible for a team like Arizona State to surprise a higher seed. They played well at times and were a top 5 team during the course of the season. Kentucky is young but have a to of talent. That talent seems to be playing much better, even taking their conference tournament. Coming in at a 5 seed, they make for a dangerous matchup if they can get to the second or third round game.
The tournament also tends to put some shine on teams you may not see on TV like Loyola-Chicago, a team with a top 25 defense and good shooting, they can very easily bust some brackets this season. New Mexico State is another team that people may not have had a chance to see play but they play a physical brand of defense that generally works well in the tournament and they can also put the ball in the basket with the best of them. They are a team that is very capable of an upset in this years tournament.
