LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – The 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament – aka, “Can anyone beat Kentucky over the next three weeks” – tips off Tuesday night in Dayton two of the “First Four” games.
And let me dispense with a pet peeve: The Tuesday (Manhattan-Hampton and Mississippi-BYU) and Wednesday (North Florida-Robert Morris and Boise State-Dayton) games in Dayton are “First Four” or “First Round” games, not “Play-In” games.
Those eight teams are not trying to “play their way” into anything – they are already part of the NCAA Tournament’s 68-team field, every bit as legitimate NCAA tourney participants as are the teams that will played for the national championship on April 6.
OK – I’ve got that out of my system.
So, can anyone beat Kentucky and prevent the Wildcats of Coach John Calipari from going 40-zip and being the first unbeaten college basketball team since the Indiana squad that rolled to the 1976 national championship?
Yes, they can.
Notre Dame (the No. 3 seed to the Wildcats’ No. 1 in the Midwest Regional), Wisconsin and Arizona (the 1-2 seeds in the West Regional, the winner of which will hook up with the Midwest winner in the Final Four semifinals), as well as Virginia, Duke, Gonzaga and Iowa State (all located in the East and South Regional fields), can also offer compelling on-court arguments as to why they could knock off the Wildcats.
How likely is it that any one of those teams will pull off the feet, though?
In reality – not likely because too many things would have to go wrong for Calipari’s crew, and too many things have to fall into place for any of those opponents for it to happen.
So there you have it.
On to my round-by-round tournament selections:
MIDWEST
SECOND ROUND: No. 1 Kentucky over 16 Manhattan (projected to beat Hampton in First Four Tuesday night in Dayton); 9 Purdue over 8 Cincinnati; 5 West Virginia over 12 Buffalo; 4 Maryland over 3 Valparaiso; 11 Texas over 6 Butler; 3 Notre Dame over 14 Northwestern; 7 Wichita State over 10 Indiana; 2 Kansas over 15 New Mexico State.
THIRD ROUND: Kentucky over Purdue; West Virginia over Maryland; Notre Dame over Texas; Wichita State over Kansas.
SWEET 16 (March 26/Cleveland): Kentucky over West Virginia; Wichita State over Notre Dame.
REGIONAL FINAL (March 28/Cleveland): Kentucky over Wichita State.
WEST
SECOND ROUND: No. 1 Wisconsin over 16 Coastal Carolina; 8 Oregon over 9 Oklahoma State; 5 Arkansas over 12 Wofford; 4 North Carolina over 13 Harvard; 11 BYU (projected to beat Mississippi in First Four Tuesday night in Dayton) over 6 Xavier; 3 Baylor over 14 Georgia State; 10 Ohio State over 7 VCU; 2 Arizona over 15 Texas Southern.
THIRD ROUND: Wisconsin over Oregon; North Carolina over Arkansas; BYU over Baylor; Arizona over Ohio State.
SWEET 16 (March 26/Los Angeles): Wisconsin over North Carolina; Arizona over BYU.
REGIONAL FINAL (March 28/Los Angeles): Wisconsin over Arizona.
EAST
SECOND ROUND: No. 1 Villanova over 16 Lafayette; 8 North Carolina State over 9 LSU: 5 Northern Iowa over 12 Wyoming; 13 UC Irvine over 4 Louisville; 11 Boise State (projected to beat Dayton in First Four Wednesday night in Dayton) over 6 Providence; 3 Oklahoma over 14 Albany; 10 Georgia over 7 Michigan State; 2 Virginia over 15 Belmont.
THIRD ROUND: North Carolina State over Villanova; Northern Iowa over UC Irvine; Boise State over Oklahoma; Virginia over Georgia.
SWEET 16 (March 27/Syracuse): Northern Iowa over North Carolina State; Virginia over Boise State.
REGIONAL FINAL (March 29/Syracuse): Virginia over Northern Iowa.
SOUTH
SECOND ROUND: No. 1 Duke over 16 Robert Morris (projected to beat North Florida in First Four Wednesday night in Dayton): 8 San Diego State over 9 St. John’s; 5 Utah over 12 Stephen F. Austin; 13 Eastern Washington over 4 Georgetown; 6 SMU over 11 UCLA; 3 Iowa State over 14 University of Alabama/Birmingham; 7 Iowa over 10 Davidson; 2 Gonzaga over 15 North Dakota State.
THIRD ROUND: Duke over San Diego State; Utah over Eastern Washington; Iowa State over SMU; Gonzaga over Iowa.
SWEET 16 (March 27/Houston): Utah over Duke; Iowa State over Gonzaga.
REGIONAL FINAL (March 29/Houston): Iowa State over Utah.
FINAL FOUR
At Indianapolis (April 4&6)
SEMIFINALS: Kentucky over Wisconsin; Iowa State over Virginia.
FINAL: Kentucky over Iowa State
You are so awesome! I do not suppose I have read through
a single thing like that before. So wonderful to find someone
with original thoughts on this issue. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up.
This web site is something that’s needed on the internet, someone with a little originality!