Fraud Watch : The ugly step sisters of March
We’ve all heard of the Cinderella stories about the teams who make their own destiny in the tournament. But every year we have “The ugly step sisters”, the top seeds who fail to live up to their own hype. After conference tourney week, we saw many bid stealers and a lot of shake ups heading into selection Sunday. Along with the selection committee making some crazy seeding choices, this leads me to believe that this year will be full of frauds and upsets. So let’s get into it, shall we?
disclaimer: this is all based on my eye test
#1 Purdue - Big10 refs can’t save Edey when it comes to the tourney. Just like last year the Boilermakers (terrible mascot name) will be sent packing early. Being a bottom 50% FT shooting team, is gonna kill them. (You gotta make your free throws) This team just isn’t built for March. Result : Bounced by TCU in round of 32
#4 Kansas - I watched Kansas last year get taken down by Arkansas and it grew my Jayhawk hate more than ever. This team is injured and just doesn’t seem to have the chemistry down for a deep tourney run. It just feels like they would lose to a school called “Samford”. Result : Upset by Samford in round of 64
#2 Arizona - This Long Beach State team seems to have something special up their sleeves and I feel like Arizona might be on upset watch with that one. If the Wildcats do get past the first round, they will likely run into a nice Nevada team who is poised for a Cinderella story of their own. Result : Sent home packing by the Wolfpack in round of 32
#1 UNC - The Tar Heels aren’t making it out of the first weekend this year. A lot of people are gonna hate this one, but Tom Izzo and his boys are taking them out. Nobody thought MSU would sniff a 9 seed, and that’s just what March stories are built around. UNC will collapse under MSU’s solid defense. Result : The Spartans take down the Tar Heels in the round of 32
If you want my references, I called the UMBC over Virginia upset in 2018 and Abilene Christian over Texas in 2021. That’s all the proof I need to be writing this.
03/19/24