Given that I have not entered an NCAA Tournament pool since the internet was invented, I have no idea whether my bracket effort from a year ago would have produced acceptable results.
I suspect it would not have done well; I correctly picked only one Final Four team.
MARCH MADNESS: Printable NCAA bracket
I did have UNC winning, however, so I’m calling that a victory.
Can I repeat that this year? My Final Four picks this year are Michigan, Arizona, Villanova and Duke. I’m not confident, though, because this has been such a curious season.
I read a piece last week from Ken Pomeroy of The Athletic discussing the annual assertion that the tournament selection process is suffering from a “bad bubble.” My initial reaction was that suggesting only the bubble was bad seemed too limiting, and when the bracket was released and you had TCU as a No. 6 seed at 21-11 and Texas A&M as a 7 at 20-12 – my goodness that’s terrible.
A year ago, Wisconsin was 25-9 with six victories over the NCAA Tournament field and was dumped into an 8-9 game.
NCAA BRACKET BREAKDOWNS: East | South | Midwest | West
Goodness, how far we have fallen.
It should be fun, though, because the uninspiring field is evenly matched, and that is what produces great competition. Whether it produces a great NCAA bracket for me remains to be seen.
March Madness bracket picks
South region
West region
East region
Midwest region
MORE NCAA BRACKET PICKS:Bender (Virginia) | Birdsong (Arizona) | Fagan (Villanova)
Final Four predictions, national champion
My Final Four picks this year: Michigan over Arizona, and Villanova over Duke.
Villanova is my pick to win the national championship.
