March Madness Bracket and Picks

By: Garret Kryzanowski

March Madness has finally arrived.

One of the best sporting events of the year will start tomorrow when the First Four begins, with the official first round starting Thursday March 16. Now no bracket is perfect but mine comes pretty close, maybe. Okay probably not but thinking you can and have created the perfect bracket is what makes this tournament so special and unique. March MAdness is hectic and will have all of us on the edge of our seats until the National Championship game on April 3. I am going to break down who I think is going to win each region as well as my picks in the final four and championship game. Without further ado, let the madness begin.

South Region

The "South Region" is incredibly top heavy in my opinion, with the top overall seed in the tournament, the Alabama Crimson Tide leading the way. Followed by the Arizona Wildcats in the two seed, the 2021 National Champion Baylor Bears in the three seed and the 2019 National Champion Virginia Cavaliers as the four seed. In this region I think the top seeds will advance more often than not with the Alabama Crimson Tide beating the Virginia Cavaliers in the Sweet 16 to set up a matchup with the Arizona Wildcats who will beat the Baylor Bears in the before mentioned Sweet 16.

The Elite 8 game between the Crimson Tide and the Wildcats has the potential to not only be the best game of the tournament but an all time classic. Both teams play a quick paced offence and have incredible talent with freshman and SEC Player of the Year Brandon Miller leading the way for the Crimson Tide and junior forward Azuolas Tubelis leading the scoring for the Wildcats. Now, you have to consider the distractions that have surrounded Miller and the Crimson Tide program. Now I won't get into to it because I don't have all the facts but I will say new information is always coming to light and you never know how young kids, especially freshman will handle the distractions and pressure. Miller and his team have done a great job so far, however, I do think that by the Elite 8 the exhaustion will have really kicked in and I believe that the Crimson Tide will just run out of gas. The Wildcats have the depth to outlast the Crimson Tide in a fast paced, high stakes game. It will be close but I have the Arizona Wildcats winning the "South Region" 87-82 and securing a spot in the "Final Four".

East Region

The "East Region" is the most up in the air, anything can happen region I have seen in quite some time. With the one seed in this region and perhaps the most questionable one seed this year, the Purdue Boilermakers leading the charge. Big East conference champions, the Marquette Golden Eagles in the two seed followed by the Kansas State Wildcats as the three seed and the Tennessee Volunteers in the fourth seed. Then we have two blue blood programs in the Duke Blue Devils as the five seed and the Kentucky Wildcats as the six seed. Not to mention that the eighth seeded Memphis Tigers are coming off an American Conference title, beating the top ranked (at the time) Houston Cougars by double digits. Anything can happen in this region and you can find clear paths for any team. Here is the path I found.

The biggest upset I have in this region and maybe the tournament is the eighth seeded Memphis Tigers beating the one seeded Purdue Boilermakers in the round of 32. I have them following up that major upset with a Sweet 16 win over the fifth ranked Duke Blue Devils to earn a spot in the Elite 8. In the other Sweet 16 game I have the sixth seeded Kentucky Wildcats upsetting second ranked Marquette to set up a eye catching six vs eight matchup in the East Region final.

Now you may be asking "how" and "why". Well I'll tell you, momentum and luck. For the Memphis Tigers, they have all the momentum in the world after beating top ranked Houston a lot more handedly then the double score would suggest. They play team basketball and are led by senior guard Kendric Davis who is averaging 22.1 points per game. They are also riding high with a 9-2 record in there last 11, only losing two close games to Houston. Like I've stated they avenged those two losses by beating the Cougars in the American championship game. For the Kentucky Wildcats I think they will need some luck and I think it is going to happen. That luck is how open this region is and that a bounce here and there will have the blue blooded Kentucky Wildcats in the Elite 8. After a very slow start and talks of head coach John Calipari potentially getting fired the Wildcats turned a corner later in the year, led by senior forward Oscar Tshiebwe who is averaging 16.5 points and 13.1 rebounds a game. In the Elite 8 game I think momentum trumps luck and we will see the eighth seeded Memphis Tigers making the "Final Four" for the first time since 2008 with a 77-64 win.

Midwest Region

The "Midwest Region" seems to be the most clear in my eyes. It's the one seeded Houston Cougars and everyone else. Not to discredit the work of the BIG 12 champion and two seeded Texas Longhorns but I don't have faith in a team with an interim head coach. No offence to Rodney Terry but I just don't see them being able to make a "Final Four" run. I do have the Longhorns making the Sweet 16 along with the other top seeds in the three seeded Xavier Musketeers and fourth seeded Indiana Hoosiers. I do think the inexperience of Texas interim head coach Rodney Terry will show up late against Xavier in the Sweet 16 and some late mistakes will lead the Musketeers past the Longhorns and into the Elite Eight. Now who will they be playing? Like I said, it's the Houston Cougars and everyone else. The Indiana Hoosiers have been so inconsistent down the final stretch of the season. You can't be inconsistent against great teams and the Cougars are a GREAT team. I think the inconsistency will show early and often and the Cougars will run away with it and earn a spot in the Elite 8.

This matchup between the Houston Cougars and the Xavier Musketeers is the most intriguing Elite 8 matchup I have in my bracket. These teams are both extremely talented but get the job done in different ways. For the Musketeers they do it with experience and scoring as all of their top five scorers are all upperclassmen with four of them being seniors. Houston also has a staring five full of upperclassmen but they start a freshman guard as well. The Cougars also out rebound every team they play on the glass and play a slow momentum game. So what will be the outlier? Coaching. Nothing against Xavier head coach Sean Miller but the Cougars have one of the best coaches in the NCAA in Kelvin Sampson. He has turned the Cougars into a powerhouse who have made deep runs the past three tournaments and this one won't be any different. With the coaching edge the Houston Cougars will earn their spot in the "Final Four" with a 61-50 win.

West Region

The "West Region" is the deepest region in the whole tournament. The defending National Champion Kansas Jayhawks have the number one seed in the West with the UCLA Bruins, Gonzaga Bulldogs and UConn Huskies taking the other top spots. It's not just the top seeds that make this region so good but any team can make a run. The Iona Gaels as a 13 seed is going to be a favourite upset pick of a lot of fans and you can't sleep to heavily on fifth seeded Saint Mary's Gaels and the sixth seeded TCU Horned Frogs. With that being said I do have the top four seeds making it to the Sweet 16. It's in the Sweet 16 that we will see a big upset, the UConn Huskies will beat the Kansas Jayhawks and by double digits too. Why you ask? Coaching. Bill Self is coming back after some medical issues and I don't know if he will be on the top of his game. UConn is also a great team and we haven't seen a repeat champion since the 2007 Florida Gators so I'm taking Huskies. In the other Sweet 16 matchup we have the two seeded UCLA Bruins taking on the Gonzaga Bulldogs. I truly just think UCLA is the much better team and there fast paced offence will be too much for Drew Timme and the Bulldogs. The Bruins have a chance to be special in my opinion.

The Elite 8 matchup has my favourite dark horse pick against a team I think can be incredibly special. So who to choose? UConn had an up and down middle part of there season before turning a corner in no small part to head coach Dan Hurley. Led by junior forward Adama Sanogo's 16.8 points and 7.3 rebound per game in the Huskies traditional Big East offence. But does it match up well against the UCLA Bruins electric fast paced offence? No I don't think so. The Bruins are led by Pac-12 offensive player of the year Jaime Jaquez and Pac-12 freshman of the year Adem Bona. Jaquez who is averaging 17.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game was a key part of the Bruins team that went to the "Final Four" in 2021 and this year won't be any different. My dark horse UConn Huskies will fall short of the "Final Four" as the UCLA Bruins will win handedly 83-68, securing there second "Final Four" in three years.

Final Four

My "Final Four" has the Arizona Wildcats facing off against the Memphis Tigers and the Houston Cougars battling the UCLA Bruins. Two American conference teams and two Pac-12 teams. Who will win?

In the first matchup I think the Arizona Wildcats will be able to use their fast paced offense led by Azuolas Tubelis' 19.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game to stifle the Memphis Tigers. The Tigers will have had all the momentum in all there games leading up to this omne, but this is where the TIgers season ends. Arizona will book a spot in the title game with a 72-60. win.

The second matchup will be a much closer game in my opinion. It has all the makings of a chess match, can UCLA's high tempo offense control the pace of the game? Or will Houston be able to slow the game down to there pace and grind out a win? This game is going to be a classic, Jaquez vs Sasser. Sampson vs Cronin. An all time matchup. I think UCLA will be able to pick up the tempo of the game but the Houston rebounding will beat up he UCLA shooters. In the end the Bruins shooting will dwindle and the Cougars will win a close one, 68-65 in overtime. The Houston Cougars will advance to there first national title game since 1984.

Arizona Wildcats vs the Houston Cougars for the National Championship. The finale of the March Madness. The grand finale. The winner? The Arizona Wildcats. The Cougars will fall short once again. The reason? The Wildcats fast pace will be too much for Houston after the grueling overtime game against UCLA. There legs will begin to go and the big bodies wont be able to keep up with their speed. My National Champion pick is the Arizona Wildcats, with a 73-67 win.

That is my bracket and my picks. They're going to be perfect and all correct don't you worry but if I happen to gt one or two wrong I will be previewing the "Final Four" right before the first games on April 1.

The Madness is here, enjoy it.