Each week sports reporters Matthew Lambert and Eric Schroeder will face off on a hot topic in sports. The world of sports is changing quickly and constantly, but we want to slow it down and take a better look at the juiciest gossip, scandal, rumor or issue that is making headlines this week. Lambert and Schroeder will take different sides and battle it out, telling you why you they are right.
This week’s topic: March Madness championship projection
With the madness of the entire college basketball season and conference tournaments done, it is time to move toward the big tournament: March Madness. This is a competition in which the top 64 teams are chosen by a selective committee and will compete for the champion title. With millions of dedicated fans flooding to sites to fill out their bracket, there can only be two teams to play in the championship. Who will they be? Let’s talk about it… (Recap by Matthew Lambert and Allison Mueller)
FROM ERIC SCHROEDER
Madness is well under way this college basketball postseason as Iowa State, Villanova and Virginia have already been sent packing. Powerhouses like Duke, North Carolina and Wisconsin still remain, but can they make it to the final? I personally doubt any of the yearly favorites will be there for the last dance.
This year look for Arizona and Gonzaga to be the last two standing come April 6. Arizona has been underrated all year as they took care of the PAC-12 with little resistance. In the first two rounds they won both games by 21 and 15 points respectively. Arizona’s second game was against a very tough Ohio State team, who lost only one game all season by more than 10 points. This is an experienced team lead by junior Brandon Ashley; they are one of the most dangerous teams left in this tournament. With a win against Xavier, the Wildcats will be in the Elite 8 with a matchup against either North Carolina or Wisconsin.
From the other side, expect Gonzaga to surprise everyone. There is no doubt that Gonzaga is an elite team, but everyone continues to rip on their strength of schedule. Sure, their conference schedule is nothing to be impressed with but having one loss in 18 games and two over an entire season is nothing to scoff at. With an opening round victory over North Dakota State and a second round win against Iowa, the Bulldogs are set to take on UCLA in the Sweet 16. No game is easy from here on out and every game will keep us on the edge of our seats. So buckle up cause the madness is not over yet.
FROM MATTHEW LAMBERT
My teams, with a conservative pick, are the Kentucky Wildcats and Virginia Cavaliers.
First off, I understand everyone groaned when I said Kentucky. An undefeated team with a star coach and a team that could likely send their starting lineup to the draft this summer is a simple pick. Let’s be real, this is Kentucky’s championship to lose, and they are the overall number one team. Kentucky was placed in the Midwest, arguably the easiest region in the tournament with the only real competition coming from teams like West Virginia, Wichita State, Notre Dame and Kansas. Kentucky also has a frontcourt that averages 6’10” in height.
Virginia is a team that a lot of people are writing off and have come under public scrutiny from guys like Colin Cowherd who proclaims Virginia’s style of play is bad for basketball. They shouldn’t win the tournament. Personally, I don’t agree with that statement and I relate the Cavaliers to the San Antonio Spurs. People don’t enjoy the Spurs slow rate of play and focus on defensive efficiency and, if the Spurs were a college basketball team, they would be Virginia. Virginia is currently ranked first in the nation with points allowed with 50.8 and with that sort of efficiency will be very important down the stretch for the Cavaliers. As long as Virginia can stay consistent and challenge offenses by keeping them under 50 points a game, I don’t see any reason why Virginia can’t challenge the Wildcats in the championship game.
My prediction isn’t a complicated one. I’m not expecting a Cinderella-esque team to pull off a ton of upsets. In fact, this is one of the only years I have ever picked only one and two seeds in my Final Four. As fun as it is to predict upsets, it’s not realistic. I’ll stick with two teams that dominated this season with Kentucky finishing the season undefeated.
