If all the brackets for March Madness were filled out on paper, the world would see a drastic increase of waste in March.
What is March Madness? It is a 64 team college basketball tournament that’s happening now. One game determines the fate of each team, and it gives a better opportunity for a low-tier team to beat a top-tier team.
Why? Because the top-tier team could have a bad game and the low-tier team could have a great game, which, in a single elimination tournament, creates eye-popping upsets.
This year’s March Madness is different. Every year’s final four favorites, Duke and Kentucky did not even make it. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many games were cancelled. Some teams may have built better team chemistry while some have not had many opportunities. In addition, any team is one COVID-19 affected player away from cancelation of their matchups.
Without crowds and no home-court advantage, it is even more difficult for people to predict who is going to do well during the tournament. To be fair, it has always been difficult, even before the pandemic. I just like to throw another excuse out there before sharing my tragic bracket.
Yes, my bracket is already ruined. No, it is not in the garbage because I filled it out through online platform, but my bracket is already erased mentally.
But seriously, what happened, Big Ten? I was just talking to people about how Big Ten teams are going to do, and I was telling them that the Big Ten teams will show up with big confidence. Well, maybe I was too confident. Now I am rooting for Oral Roberts to win the National champion so that everyone’s bracket is ruined like mine.
Doug, my advisor for the Clarion shared his picks with me. Here is his comments: “With the short season this year, it’s really hard to pick many upsets. Teams haven’t had as much time to improve or recover from losing streaks. So I think this year more than ever the teams that have been strong all year long are going to continue to be strong in the tournament. … Still, I like to pick one big upset early since there’s almost always one. I’m probably going to be wrong, but I’m picking Ohio to beat Virginia (a No. 13 seed beating a No. 4 seed). Of course, I like Baylor to beat Gonzaga in the finals. The two have been the best teams by far all year and I don’t see anything happening to change that.”
I wanted to share my logic why I picked certain teams but realized that it is not worth anyone’s time to read. Basically, do exactly opposite of what my logic says, and then your bracket will be sailing well. Anyway, here are my picks (and Doug’s).
Sweet 16
My picks (do not follow this..): Gonzaga, UCSB, Kansas, VCU, Michigan, Florida State, Texas, Maryland, Baylor, Villanova, Arkansas, Ohio State (Yikes), Illinois (Yep, just end the bracket here), Tennessee, San Diego State, and Houston (Can we just remove Midwest Region from the bracket completely?)
Doug’s picks: Gonzaga, Creighton, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, Florida State, BYU, Alabama, Baylor, Villanova, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Houston.
Elite 8
My picks: Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan, Texas, Baylor, Ohio State, Illinois (Yikes again), and San Diego State (Yikes).
Doug’s: Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan, Alabama, Baylor, Arkansas, Illinois, and Houston.
Final 4
My picks: Gonzaga, Michigan, Baylor, and Illinois.
Doug’s: Gonzaga, Michigan, Baylor, and Houston.
National Championship game
My pick: Illinois over Gonzaga (73-70). Yep.. pretty much done.
Doug’s: Baylor over Gonzaga (79-72).
Yes, I am looking forward to 2022 March Madness after two days of March Madness. I cannot wait for another 365 days for the next March Madness.