NCAA Men's Basketball

This section is used for all-College ball Sports Gab editions and/or small articles about the NCAAM. All NCAAM Sports Gab editions feature 3-8 articles about one specific NCAAM time. Look for a potential  preview (September), conference championship week (March), and tournament (March) edition. Additionally, NCAAM brackets,  predictions, lists, and other small articles can be found here.


CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK SPORTS GAB


Table of Contents
Instant Debate- 4th #1 seed: Duke or UVA?
Bracket Busters
The Assist-Answers to Your Questions
Inside the Selection Committee: How the Bracket is made
Projected conference tournament winners
Don’t Ride These Teams: Susceptible Giants

BRACKET BUSTERS

It’s that time again. That time when we become barraged by games, under constant pressure to make brackets, find ourselves cheering for underdogs, hating on Duke, and not being able to escape the never-ending voice of Dick Vitale. In other words, it’s MARCH MADNESS TIME, BABY!
This year has been so crazy, so putting your trust in a 3-5 seed to go to the Final Four, if not all the way, might just make you the resident office champ. With no clear-cut favorite, here are some ‘bracket busters to put your faith in.

Creighton Bluejays
Notable wins: Villanova (2x), Xavier
Creighton certainly has a lot going for it, Doug McDermott is the front-runner in the Wooden Award race, they have the highest 3-point percentage, and go into the Big East tournament having beaten the only team ranked higher than them-twice. Creighton looks more formidable than ever, and certainly seems able to beat some 1 and 2 seeds. Definitely ride these guys if they get put in a region with Wisconsin or Villanova as a 2-seed, or an untested 1-seed like Wichita State. If they’re in a weak bracket, definitely consider the Bluejays.
Iowa State Cyclones
Notable wins: Michigan, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State (2x)
The Cyclones’ Melvin Ejim, or Big-12 player of the year, and DeAndre Kane, certainly have the potential to lead this squad past a Big 12 powerhouse like Kansas, as they are familiar. Look for matchups against smaller teams, as the ISU bigs can dominate down low. In a weak conference, the Cyclones could make s deep run.
Michigan State Spartans
Notable wins: Kentucky, Texas, Ohio State, Iowa
The Spartans have been shaky lately, due to a plethora of injuries. But now that they’re at full strength, anything is possible. Every 4-year player under Tom Izzo has made a Final Four, which means theat if tradition holds, Keith Appling and Adreian Payne are due. If they can get hot during the Big Ten tournament, they are most definitely capable of hanging with anyone.
Michigan Wolverines
Notable wins: Wisconsin, Iowa, MSU (2x), OSU
After last year’s title run, Big Blue is poised to due it again. Nik Stauskas leads a group who knows what it takes to make it to the Finals. The Wolverines have hung in with the best of them, nearly knocking off Arizona earlier this year. They are definitely capable of beating just about anyone.
North Carolina Tar Heels
Notable wins: Duke, Michigan State, Louisville, Kentucky, Pittsburgh
Pick UNC at your own peril. They can beat just about anyone, as you can see by their notable wins, but can also lose to just about anyone, dropping games to Belmont, Wake Forest, UAB, and Miami.

Special Interest Statistics:

§ Ken Pomeroy has Arizona ranked as the top defense

§ Creighton has the top 3-point percentage in the nation

VCU’s Briante Weber leads the nation in steals per game, as part of the ‘Havoc’ defense

INSTANT DEBATE: DUKE OR UVA FOR #1 SEED
Here’s a debate between two of our editors, Gabby Birenbaum and Cal EdgeHoops.
Cal: For me, the choice is clear: UVA not only is the more deserving choice, but will be chosen as the final #1 seed. UVA has already won the ACC outright, and is one of the hottest teams around, with 13 straight wins.
Gabby: Sure they’ve won 13 straight, but who was their last loss to? Duke, who will be chosen as the 4th #1 seed. Duke has beat 3 ranked teams, as opposed to UVA’s 2.
Cal: They may have beat more ranked teams, but Duke has also lost to more than UVA. If Virginia can just win the ACC tournament, they’re a lock.
Gabby: I think whoever wins the ACC tournament will win the seed. And speaking of losses to ranked opponents, how about losses to unranked ones? UVA lost to Green Bay, Maryland, and Tennessee. That’s inexcusable.
Cal: Since you brought it up, Duke has lost Notre Dame, Clemson, and Wake Forest. That’s completely unforgiveable.
Gabby: I think the final word is that whoever wins the ACC tournament will get the bid.

THE ASSIST: ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS
So Kentucky’s gonna win like always, right?
Kentucky is currently sitting in #25 in the AP poll, and will likely receive a 4-6 seed. Kentucky has the potential to beat the best teams, and also has a tendency this year to lose to random opponents. It depends if the freshmen play to the flashes of greatness we’ve seen.
Which player scores the most points per game, and should I pick their team to go all the way?
Doug McDermott of Creighton is the current leading point scorer, which is impressive in its own right, but also considering it’s almost always a player for a bad team. It wouldn’t be a bad pick, albeit risky.
If you could have five players playing right now on your team, who would you choose?
Wow, good question. I’d take Tyler Ennis at point if it was RIGHT now, though I think Russ Smith has more potential. Shabazz Napier, Jabari Parker, Doug McDermott, and Joel Embiid round it out.

SUSCEPTIBLE GIANTS 
Now that we’ve established the viable bracket busters, the key is choosing one. A lot of that depends on which 1, 2, and even 3 seeds (assuming the really low seeds don’t pull a Cinderella, which you can’t assume anyway J) that they will be going against. The identified bracket busters are unlikely to give way to a Cinderella, but then again, we’re all just guessing anyway. Whatever amount of upset potential a team has, their chances of continuing to the next round increase exponentially if they are playing what I like to call a ‘susceptible giant’. These teams are 1, 2, or even 3 seeds that are generally regarded highly, traditionally, but are definitely prone to being upset, based on a variety of weaknesses. The first factor into determining these squads is to see who they have lost to this season: if a team has given games to unranked, but especially middle of the pack and/or really bad teams. Experience (aka number of freshmen), specific weaknesses, and a factor I like to call show-up ability (if the team often fluctuates on ‘showing up’, or playing to their normal standard). Withour further ado, let’s introduce the susceptible giants.

Kansas
Losses to ranked teams: Villanova, Florida, SDSU, Iowa State
Losses to unranked teams: WVU, Colorado, OK-State, KSU
Kansas’ problem revolves more on show-up ability: in their losses, one player plays tremendously, while the rest fail to show up. The 1 player is usually now enough to carry the whole team. Kansas can be straight up beat by a 3-5 seed, and if the random factor kicks in, it could be the lucky night for a 8 or lower seed. Kansas has trouble playing tight D, so teams with strong guards stand a chance.
Potential teams to upset Kansas: Michigan State, OK-State, UNC
Syracuse
Losses to ranked teams: Duke, UVA
Losses to unranked teams: Boston College, Georgia Tech
Syracuse’s recent struggles include losing 4 of 5 games, after going 25-0. During the win streak, the Orange went 8-0 in games decided by 6 points or less, which is really unheard, and more or less flukey. Recently, they seem to have lost their offensive mojo. An aggressive D can upset these guys.
Potential teams to upset the ‘Cuse: Cincinatti, Ohio State, St. Louis, VCU
Wisconsin
Losses to ranked teams: Michigan, OSU
Losses to unranked teams: Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern
Wisconsin was an easy pick for this articles, because they always seem to get upset. Last year, Ole Miss knocked them out in the first round. The Badgers can play with anyone (and lose to anyone), but they just seem to fade against lower tier opponents. Picking a 9 seed or lower to eliminate them isn’t a bad pick. Any 1-5 shouldn’t be overwhelmed.

INSIDE THE SELECTION COMMITTEE: HOW THE BRACKETS ARE MADE
While millions of people across America fill out brackets each March, many don’t know how the bracket seedings are even determined. It’s a very complicated process, taking place each Selection Sunday behind closed doors. Despite these secretive notions, the process isn’t all that complicated. Firstly, the winner of each conference tournament gets an automatic bid. From there, the selection committee takes all of the remaining viable teams, and eliminates them one-by-one until they have the desired amount of teams left-those teams are all in. Next, the seeding has to take place. Seeding is done a snake format. Of the determined top 4 teams, 1 is assigned to each region. To achieve balance, the region that received the top overall seed gets the ‘worst’ 2-seed. Each region gets the opposite best team, so the team that got the 3rd best 1-seed will get the 2nd best 2-seed. Each region is filled out with a 1, 2, 3, and 4 seed, each with a 1st best, 2nd best, 3rd best, and 4th best for each seed. So if a region gets the 2nd best 1-seed, they’ll get the 3rd-best 2-seed, and then the best 3 or 4 seed, and the ‘worst’ 3 or 4 seed, whichever one they didn’t get the best of. For the next 4 seeds, the region that got the best 1-seed will then get the best 8-seed, the ‘worst’ best seed. This continues all the way down to the 16-seed, filling out each region.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT PROJECTED WINNERS
ACC-Duke Blue Devils
American-Cincinnati Bearcats
Atlantic-10-St. Joseph’s Hawks
Big East-Creighton Bluejays
Big Ten-Michigan State Spartans
Big Twelve-Iowa State Cyclones
Mountain West-San Diego State Aztecs
Pac-12-Arizona Wildcats
SEC-Florida Gators
West Coast-Gonzaga Bulldogs

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