Champ Week Conclusion and March Madness Preview
By Vincent DiGeronimo
So I went 10-17 with my predictions last week. Last week was exhilarating, and it was truly a treat to watch that exciting of a champ week. However, now that the brackets are set, I turn to a more exciting week.
I am personally looking forward to watching the Midwest bracket this year. The one seed, Illinois, is perhaps the most underrated one seed, who plays efficiently and has a lot of starpower. There are also a barrage of other good teams in this bracket, such as Loyola Chicago, who got hot towards the end of the season, Tennessee, who has been consistently good, and Oklahoma State, who has been rolling. Furthermore, there is Houston, who was also very good, and several other well rounded teams. I have a strong feeling that whoever wins this bracket will be crowned March Madness champions.
My bracket is not the “end all be all” in terms of this year’s tournament, but I think that Baylor will be the first one seed that will be eliminated from the tournament. Somewhere down the road, they will have to play Illinois. Considering the conference tournaments, I think it is easy to see that Baylor is heading in a shaky direction while Illinois is consistent.
Nevertheless, there is always the one and only Gonzaga Wildcats. Is this their year? They have the duo in Kispert and Suggs, but will it be enough to carry them? It seems as if every year they have the team to do it, but they have not gotten the hardware to prove their success yet. However, I will be rocking with the same argument I choose every year: Gonzaga will not win March Madness. Their conference does not provide enough competition for them to be ready for an intense tournament. The best piece of evidence is their game against BYU, which it took them a while to take the lead against. BYU is a six seed this year. If someone comes out firing against Gonzaga, it could truly go either way.
Every year, I think that March Madness gets more and more level, and therefore more and more exciting. I think that the playing field is very level and I would not be surprised to see some big upsets. I look forward to it and I will continue to write about it as the tournament progresses.