Each week sports reporters Matthew Lambert and Sam Thiel will face off on a hot topic in Minnesota 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 in Minnesota. Lambert and Thiel will take different sides and battle it out, telling you why they are right.
This week’s topic: Which team will win March Madness?
Last week, 68 teams competed in the NCAA Tournament with hopes of becoming the next National Champion. This week, Matthew Lambert and Sam Thiel voice their opinions about which team of the 16 remaining has the best chance of winning it all. Let’s talk about it… (Recap by Sam Thiel)
Matthew Lambert / Winonan
It’s true: like the other millions who participate in bracketology, I’m screwed.
My bracket was busted when Michigan State lost, picking them in the championship game. So after I take my bracket, shred it, run those piece over with a dump truck, take those pieces and burn them over an open fire and finally take the ashes and dump them in Lake Winona, it’s time to look at who else is left.
I did not mention who my other team in the championship was; a team that has the Naismith Player of the Year on the team in Buddy Hield.
My pick is the Oklahoma Sooners.
The Sooners cruised through CSU Bakersfield, ran into a surging VCU team, and will play a comeback champion in Texas A&M in the Sweet 16.
The toughest test will likely be Duke, if they make it, but if I were a general manager of a basketball team, I’ll take Hield over Brandon Ingram any day.
Hield is entering a territory that LeBron James went into this past NBA Finals. The Im-going-to-put-my-head-down-and-destroy-anyone kind of territory.
This is a good thing. Hield averaged 25 points a game throughout the year and has scored 27 and 36 points in the first two games of the tournament.
While we’ve seen first-year phenoms over the past decade in college basketball, a senior will define this tournament.
Believe in Buddy Hield.
Sam Thiel / Winonan
Spring has sprung and the smell of burnt paper from busted brackets hangs in the air.
March Madness season is officially upon us and in full force. Like most of the country, my brackets were busted thanks to teams like Little Rock, Middle Tennessee State and Yale. Now all 25 of my brackets have more red marks than a middle school English paper.
However, one team remains strong in my bracket and is my pick to win the Big Dance: the Kansas Jayhawks.
Led by head coach Bill Self, the Jayhawks bulldozed their way through the Big 12 en route to its 12th consecutive conference title in a row and earned the No. 1 overall seed for the tournament.
In its two games of tournament play, Kansas routed the 16-seed Austin Peay 105-79 before moving past Connecticut 73-61 to advance to the Sweet 16.
The Jayhawks, led by Perry Ellis and Wayne Selden Jr., have looked like the strongest team throughout the tournament. Ellis leads the way in the post for Kansas, averaging 16.9 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game while Selden Jr. records about 13.6 points and 2.5 assists per game.
Villanova or Miami will be the lone roadblock for this experienced Kansas squad, who look to earn its fourth title overall and first since 2008.
It’s time to let the birds out of their cage.
