Selection Sunday is only one month away. March Madness is almost here. So now seems like the perfect time to try to get into the heads of the selection committee and predict who they will choose as the No. 1 seeds in this year’s tournament. As anyone who has ever filled out a March Madness bracket will tell you, trying to predict the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament is a fool’s errand. Nevertheless, I present my best bets as to who the committee will select as the top seeds this year. Duke University — All eyes were on Duke coming into this season. The Blue Devils had extremely high expectations after bringing in one of the best recruiting classes ever and they have not disappointed. Zion Williamson is a phenom, one of the best college basketball prospects in recent memory, and RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish both look like top five NBA picks come the draft in June. This team oozes with talent, skill and athleticism. They currently hold a 23-2 record, boasting … [Read more...] about March Madness Selection Sunday Preview
March madness bracket
March Madness NCAA tournament bracketology: ACC to have three No. 1s?
Shelby Mast and Scott Gleeson USA TODAY Sports Published 7:56 AM EST Feb 11, 2019 The ACC isn't having its best college basketball season. The perennial powerhouse league ranks fourth among seven power conferences in the overall NET — the NCAA's new metric replacing the RPI. The ACC has been a top-two conference during the last half-decade. Near the top, however, the ACC has three of the best teams in the country in Duke, Virginia and North Carolina. The Blue Devils and Cavaliers are No. 1 seeds in USA TODAY Sports' latest bracket projection, with Duke's convincing road victory over UVA this past weekend bolstering its résumé, while hardly harming Virginia's. The NCAA committee's early bracket reveal, which unveiled a snapshot of the top 16 seeds Saturday, also showed another team quietly vying for a No. 1 seed — North Carolina (the Tar Heels are the third No. 2 seed on our bracket). UNC hosts Virginia tonight in an ACC matchup that … [Read more...] about March Madness NCAA tournament bracketology: ACC to have three No. 1s?
March Madness NCAA tournament bracketology: Kentucky takes No. 1 sot
Shelby Mast and Scott Gleeson USA TODAY Sports Published 9:35 AM EST Feb 4, 2019 There might not be a hotter team in the country right now than Kentucky. The Wildcats have rattled off eight consecutive wins, including a comeback on the road vs. Florida this past Saturday and a résumé-boosting victory over Kansas the week before. More than that, UK's overall profile has plenty of eye candy with wins over ACC elites North Carolina and Louisville among their six Quadrant 1 (top-30 home/top-75 road) victories. That's why Kentucky has claimed the final No. 1 seed in USA TODAY Sports' first bracket projection of 2019. The Wildcats' top challenger at the No. 1 line is North Carolina, a team they beat on a neutral court. Outside of an ugly season-opening loss to Duke, UK's only other two losses were one possession games and came on the road (at Alabama) or on a neutral site (against Seton Hall); both of those foes are currently in the field of 68. … [Read more...] about March Madness NCAA tournament bracketology: Kentucky takes No. 1 sot
Cougars positioned high in multiple March Madness brackets
By Andres Chio January 30, 2019 Senior guard Corey Davis Jr. has led the Cougars on offense, but the team’s defensive play has been its strength. | Kathryn Lenihan/The Daily Cougar March Madness is just a month away, and news outlets have started to publish bracket predictions for collegiate sports’ most exciting tournament of the year. Some of the top predictors in the business have predicted the No. 13/13 Cougars will play in Tulsa in multiple brackets, and the team should hold a top four seed in one of the four regional brackets.As long as the team’s success continues, the Cougars will get to face mostly lower seeds until the third rounds or later. The NCAA tournament selection process gives 32 seeds to the winner of each NCAA Division I conference. The committee gives the remaining 36 seeds to the best remaining teams that did not win their conference. The teams are then seeded to make the brackets reasonably balanced. The locations are picked to put … [Read more...] about Cougars positioned high in multiple March Madness brackets
This is the March Madness of fat bears
It’s almost winter in Alaska, and to the furry inhabitants of Katmai National Park, that means one thing: It’s time to get profoundly, gloriously large. Brown bears have been busy fattening up for cold-weather hibernation, and boy, is it a sight to behold. Park officials are celebrating the annual plumping by pitting the bears against each other in a March Madness-esque contest: Fat Bear Week, now in its fourth year. Each day this week, the park’s social-media followers can vote between two ample opponents spotted on the park’s bear cam. The bear with more “likes” advances in the bracket. On Wednesday, a portly contender named Divot out-chunked an unnamed “young upstart,” bear No. 503, the park revealed. (He’s got to literally make a name for himself.) And also on Wednesday, Walker was no match against 2015’s Fattest Bear, Beadnose, a zaftig mama who’s been indulging in sweet, salmony freedom since her cubs struck … [Read more...] about This is the March Madness of fat bears