Every Single Damn Thing You Need To Know For The Best Day Of The Year
Folks, happy holidays to you and yours. We made it. This is the greatest day of the year. Today is the day we all look forward to, the day we battle from November to get to. It's a combination of Christmas, Thanksgiving and a horror show all rolled into one. There's nothing and I mean nothing like watching your team in the NCAA Tournament, knowing you have exactly 40 minutes to save a season. There's nothing like the nerves seeing your team walk out there and wanting nothing more than to survive another day. The secret about today though his your team plays tomorrow you can trick your brain into thinking they advanced further because you had to wait a day. Nothing beats the feeling of waking up with the butterflies and college basketball on CBS theme song in your head (old guitar version only).
Bracket
The last day we'll see a clean bracket. There's still hope for 64 teams. This is the perfect view in all of sports.
5 Best Games Today
1. BYU vs VCU
2. Creighton vs Louisville
3. Yale vs Texas A&M
4. UCSD vs Michigan
5. Clemson vs McNeese
Five Most Electric Players
This isn't about the best. Every March there are guys you just want to watch no matter what. They are the names you bring up with a pal 15 years down the road and can picture everything about them. They could go to 40, they might launch shots, they could pull a Kemba, whatever it might be. These are the guys you should enjoy watching play basketball today, not the best players.
1. Danny Wolf (Michigan)
2. Bennett Stirtz (Drake)
3. John Poulakidas (Yale)
4. Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones (UCSD)
5. Kezza Giffa (High Point)
Five Storylines/Game Previews
1. The mid-major upset
I know this is an easy thing to say, but look at the schedule and lines today. A lot of close lines for mid-majors. UCSD, VCU, Drake, High Point are all popular picks whether it's ATS or bracket or whatever. It's also the NCAA Tournament. We're used to seeing some sort of upset happen and a mid-major get hot and make a run. We all fall in love with the mid-major and I know that term is starting to change a bit, but we have some popular ones today. Each team is kind of different too. Drake is one of the slowest teams in the country who dictate tempo, High Point has a deep bench and will run, Yale beat Auburn las year and run a gorgeous offense.
2. Will Wade
I'm fascinated by this. Will Wade is one of the hottest names in the coaching market this season. No one cares about what happened at LSU since that's all legal these days, but it came out yesterday that he's reportedly taking the NC State job. He's still coaching McNeese State obviously and even said in his press conference that he openly is talking to other schools. Texas is going to open up, which is a perfect for for him. It's easy to say nothing and just coach, but this is going to be talked about on the broadcast and everything else.
3. The teams that were underseeded proving something
Basically everyone agrees that Louisville as an 8 and Michigan as a 5 made no damn sense. Now they have to prove it, even if it doesn't prove anything. But people will yell that the committee was right or wrong based on one game. Louisville gets to play an hour from home in the vastly superior Rupp Arena. Michigan gets UCSD. Both are weird matchups, Creighton as a 9 is a little underseeded too. Too often though it feels like we see people bitch about their seed only to get blown out.
4. Boogie Fland
Fine, I'll talk about Arkansas. Boogie Fland, the All-American freshman, went out with injury and expected to miss the rest of the year. However, it was reported that he was practicing again and could play against Kansas today. He's obviously good, but I'm curious how this changes the Arkansas rotation assuming he plays. They won games because Johnell Davis was able to be the FAU version of Johnell Davis. If you have Fland out there you have two below average shooters who want the ball in their hands in him and Wagner. You also have Davis who you can play off the ball but is better as a playmaker with the ball. At the same time getting a guy who is a top-20 pick in the Draft and ridiculously talented helps.
5. Gonzaga's run at history
There are a bunch of storylines from afar that people are watching. People want to see the SEC fail, people want to see if the ACC overachieves, can UConn make a run, whatever it might be. But then there's Gonzaga, one of the most consistent programs we've seen in the last two decades. In fact getting two wins this Tournament gives them a decade straight of Sweet 16s. Insane. They do have to play in the 8/9 game against Georgia. I don't know what to think of Georgia. They have a ton of talent, but they are much better at home. That said Asa Newell is ridiculously talented and Silas Demary is one of the most underrated players in the country. People, myself included, keep talking about Gonzaga vs Houston in the second round, but don't sleep on this game.
Picks
UCLA/BYU ML +149
Yale +7.5
Arkansas +180
Wofford +18.5
Clemson/McNeese Over 133.5
Houston -28.5
Creighton +2.5
