As the NCAA men’s basketball tournament tips off, the madness of March has finally begun. There are an estimated 60 to 100 million brackets filled out each year, and yet there has never been a perfect bracket. The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are roughly one in 9.2 quintillion.
To put it into perspective, you are four million times more likely to get struck by lightning or 200 times more likely to win the Powerball Jackpot than you are to fill out a perfect bracket.
Even with the odds stacked against everyone who decides to fill out a bracket each year, Sun News editors Curtis Keddington and Rylee Hjorth make a case for who will leave the tournament as national champions.
Curtis Keddington — University of Arizona
Going into this year’s NCAA tournament, the University of Arizona enters as the No. 2 overall seed behind the University of Duke. Their success will continue in the tournament, but they will end the tournament by cutting down the nets after winning the national championship.
Arizona went 32-2 in the regular season before winning the Big 12 Tournament. En route to the conference championship, they took down the University of Central Florida, Iowa State University and the University of Houston. UCF enters March Madness as a 10 seed, while both ISU and Houston are two seeds.
In the regular season, Arizona beat 15 teams that were ranked at the time they played, which is nearly half of their wins. Their success against top teams continued in the tournament as they beat three teams that all secured their spots in the tournament, with two of them being high seeds.
March Madness is a grueling tournament that has earned its nickname for good reason. A lot can happen in a single elimination tournament where teams must face increasingly tough competition throughout. Having experience playing and beating top competition the entire season is what gives Arizona the edge heading into March Madness.
The Wildcats are led by senior point guard Jaden Bradley, who was voted as the Big 12 Player of the Year. Bradley averaged over 13 points a game, nearly four rebounds and five assists this season.
Coming off the Wildcat bench is the unanimous sixth Man of the Year in senior forward Tobe Awaka, who is averaging nearly 10 points a game off the bench. Awaka gives Arizona a player they can rely on when the starters come out of the game or are having an off night.
Arizona has played and beaten top-tier competition throughout the entire season and will have to continue doing so in the NCAA tournament. Players like Bradley and Awaka give them veterans, especially when seniors are uncommon in college basketball. Their experience and talent are why they will hoist the trophy to end the tournament.
Rylee Hjorth — St. John’s University
I’m taking an odd stance: the St. John’s University Red Storm will be this year’s king of the big dance.
In a tournament full of 30-win juggernauts like Duke University and Arizona, this seems like an odd take, but five-seeded St. John’s enters this tournament with a noteworthy resume. They beat 2 seed University of Connecticut twice this season, with one of those wins being in the Big East Conference Championship, and they finished 16th in the net rankings with five Quad 1 wins. It’s worth noting that four of their six losses are to teams that are also playing in March Madness.
On top of that, I have two reasons why St. John’s could sneak in and win it all: size and momentum.
In past tournaments, we’ve seen big men like 6-foot-9 DJ Burns from North Carolina State University and 7-foot-3 Zach Edey from Purdue University dominate in March Madness, and St. John’s has multiple players who could lead the team deep into the tournament.
St. John’s’ leading scorer is the unanimous Big East Player of the Year, 6-foot-9 Zuby Ejiofor. He dominated the paint and averaged 16 points and seven rebounds this season, and he is one of four consistent contributors over 6-foot-8. This height has allowed this team to attack the glass and dominate the rebounding game, where they out-rebounded their opponents by an average of 38 to 34 boards per game.
Alongside paint presence, momentum is one of the most important factors in any March Madness run, and the Red Storm certainly have that on their side.
Senior Bryce Hopkins scored 18 in the championship game and made the All-Tournament Team alongside big man Dillon Mitchell, who scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds. Hopkins and Mitchell also earned all Big East honors, earning spots on the All-Big East second and third teams, respectively.
It isn’t going to be easy with the loads of talent and prestige in this year’s tournament, but we’ve seen many teams in the past beat the odds and land on top. I don’t doubt seasoned head coach Rick Pitino and his Red Storm bigs will go far and defy everyone’s expectations.
