The Michigan Times

Andrew Fergerson Times Sports Columnist

The field of 65 is set and March Madness is about to begin.

This year’s NCAA College Basketball Tournament is in my opinion, going to be more exciting in recent years, mainly because any team can take the title home this year.

Overall top-seeded Kansas is the team to beat, for obvious reasons, but they are dropped into what is hands down the most difficult region in the tournament. The Jayhawks, led by star point guard Sherron Collins, have the possibility of facing several past tournamenttested teams, such as Georgetown, Maryland, and Michigan State.

In the end, Kansas should knock off Georgetown to get into the Final Four.

My dark horse pick out of this region, and probably in the entire tournament is the Ohio State Buckeyes, led by possible National Player of the Year Evan Turner. The Buckeyes had some trouble in the Big Ten Tournament, but won at the end of the day, including routing upstart Minnesota with no difficulty.

Duke has a virtual walk into the Final Four, who in fact was the first team I picked into the tournament semifinals. There is very little competition in the region, save for Villanova, although, come crunch time wouldn’t have enough to beat the Blue Devils. Too much firepower from Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler (who is suspiciously looking like Zac Efron in every movie he plays basketball in, which I believe is all of them) leads Duke to yet another Final Four.

Syracuse may not have much trouble getting through as well. Teams like Kansas State and Pittsburgh are no pushovers, but neither team has shown any reason of why they could be a team as good as Syracuse, who has six players who average points in double figures. Pitt has struggled and Kansas State has not been able to knock off a high-ranked team, with the exception of Texas, who subsequently went into a tailspin after the loss. Syracuse gets to the Final Four against Kansas, no problem.

The John Wall-led Kentucky Wildcats head up the East Region of the tournament, full with challenges coming as soon as the second round, possibly against former number one team, Texas. Shocker New Mexico brings a high-powered attack into the postseason as well, but it’s the West Virginia Mountaineers, with Da’Sean Butler taking charge that will knock off Kentucky, getting them matching up against Duke in the Final Four.

West Virginia seems to be riding all momentum into the tournament, so if they can run through their region and beat a tough Kentucky team, they should have no problem beating Duke.

They’ll meet the Jayhawks in the finals and lose to a tough Kansas team with what is probably the best starting lineup in all of college basketball. With big man inside Cole Aldrich averaging 10 rebounds per game, along with great shooting out of guards Xavier Henry and Collins, the Jayhawks are far and away the best team in college basketball this season.

Andrew can be reached at afergers@umflint.edu.

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