What a Mad March

What a March it has been for college basketball, as Dick Vitale would say, "It's awesome baby, with a capital "A."  We have some diaper dandies in this tournament baby!!"

I couldn't disagree with the words of Dick Vitale any more than how much I disagree with my parents.  Who would have thought that the University of Northern Iowa would knock off Kansas, the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, Cornell making it to the Sweet 16, St. Mary's beating Villanova and Washington is finally playing to their ability in the tournament. 

But now that we are in the Sweet 16, are the games going to continue to be upsets or are they going to go back to the higher seeds beating the lower seeds? 

It is a tough one for anyone to call.  The only ones that can determine that are the 16 teams that are left in the tournament, but even then they can never be sure of that. 

With Kansas gone now, most brackets are in for it.  But with Kansas gone now, who is the favorite?
Some would say that Kentucky is, but others would argue that West Virginia, Syracuse, K-State and Ohio State have just as much of a shot at winning as Kentucky does.

But even all of these teams have been shak'y throughout the regular season as well as in the tournament.

The fact of the matter is that all of us can try to predict who will win the National Championship this year, but even our picks now still might not be as accurate or even come close to what we picked before.  Don't sleep on some teams though.

For some reason, most people don't believe that the Duke Blue Devil's, Baylor Bears or the Michigan State Spartan's can make it to the Final Four or even to the National Championship game.

Kalin Lucas may be hurt for the Spartan's, but don't overlook them and their coach Tom Izzo, who has had a tremendous coaching career so far at Michigan State.  Every player he has coached has made it to the Final Four at least once in their basketball career at Michigan State.  With Lucas out, look for Draymond Green to step up and be the vocal leader out on the court and watch how Korie Lucious responds in the game against Northern Iowa after making the game winner against Maryland.

When watching Duke remember your three "S's", Singler, Scheyer and Smith.  When these guys start making their shots they are very difficult team to catch.  On top of their great shooting, they defend well and they also have the height to get them far in the tournament.  For some reason, one player no one on the opposing team and people in the country seem to respect is Brian Zoubek.  Zoubek has given the Blue Devil's big minutes in the tournament and had 14 points and 13 total rebounds in 23 minutes of playing time against the California Golden Bears.  Another two players to watch for Duke are the Plumlee brothers who can post up and shoot from outside the paint. 

Finally, the Baylor Bears are a very athletic team that have height.  The Bears shoot 72.6 percent from the free throw line, shoot 48.9 percent from the field and shoot 38.6 percent from 3-point.  They are lead by #24, LaceDarius Dunn.  He is only a junior and he shoots 42 percent from 3-point and averages 19.4 points per game.

As March finishes up and we await to see who will be crowned the new NCAA Men's Basketball champion, don't forget to enjoy the "Awesome" games, as Dick Vitale would spell awesome, and watch out for your teams diaper dandies as teams finish out the post season.