NCAA Tournament Picks 2016 | Who Will Make it to The Final Game?

Well, here we are, another edition of the March Madness, also known as the greatest four days in sports, is upon us. Here is a summary of what my bracket looks like. Will we see an upset that takes out most of the brackets in the first round? Will things go according to plan? 

In round one, I have all four number one seeds advancing as well as all four number two seeds. The lowest seed I have winning in round one, is 14^th seeded Stephen F. Austin in the East Region. I have them defeating West Virginia in round one. In round two, believe it or not, I have them defeating Michigan and advancing to the Sweet 16. In addition to that, I have a pair of 13 seeds in the Sweet 16. First we have Hawaii out of the South Region. I really like this Hawaii team. They are anchored by three veteran guards in Roderick Bobbitt, Aaron Valdez, and Quincy Smith. Their leading scorer is their big man; 6'11” forward Stefan Jankovic at 15.7 points per game. In round one, I have Hawaii defeating the California Golden Bears. In round two, I have them defeating the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, after they themselves dispatch of 5^th seeded Maryland in round one. Once a national championship and number one seed favorite, the Terrapins are going backwards at the wrong time. The other 13^th seed is out of the Midwest Region, the Iona Gaels. In round one I have Iona defeating 4^th seeded Iowa State, and in round two I have them defeating 5^th seeded Purdue. Not all four number one seeds make it to the second weekend in my bracket. In round two, the 9^th Providence Friars stun the North Carolina Tar Heels in my bracket.

As we move into the second weekend, the seasons of all three of my mid-major underdogs come to a close. I have Hawaii getting bounced by Kansas, Iona getting beat by Virginia, and Stephen F. Austin getting dispatched of by Xavier, all in the Sweet 16. I have Seton Hall, the 6^th seed in the Midwest, upsetting Michigan State in the Sweet 16, a trendy pick for the national champion by many. In the Elite 8 I have Miami defeating Kansas, Oregon defeating Oklahoma, Virginia defeating Seton Hall, and Xavier defeating Providence to get to the Final Four.

In the Final Four, in my first match up, I have Miami going against Oregon. The Ducks will win this game by a score of 83-75. In the other Final Four match up, I have Virginia going against North Carolina. That will be the classic “Tortoise vs. Hare” match up, with the hare winning 76-70. In the National Championship game Oregon will defeat Virginia by the score of 74-63. Can you say "quack quack"?

March Madness

The 2010-'11 men's basketball campaign has thus far stuck to the Bo Ryan script. Ryan took a team picked to finish in the middle of the Big Ten standings and wound up continuing his streak of now 10 seasons of top-four finishes top four in the conference.

Heading into the conference tournament in Indianapolis this weekend, the expectations are high for a Wisconsin team that carries the third seed in the tournament.

Despite coming into the postseason winning eight of the last 10, the Badgers know that regular season success does not guarantee  a tournament run. Take one look at the way the 2009-'10 campaign finished (second round loss to Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament and second round loss to Cornell in the NCAA Tournament) and that fact should be fairly well established.

"Last year was a different year, a different team," freshman guard Josh Gasser said. "This is what we've worked toward, to win a Big Ten title and go to the Final Four."

Still, for every point of criticism that could be made against Ryan's program and its lack of a Final Four run, it is hard to argue with two conference tournament titles, four Big Ten championship game appearances and 12 NCAA Tournament victories, three more than the Wisconsin program had in the 96 years prior to hiring Ryan.

First team All-Big Ten selections Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer have combined for 37.1 points per game this season, second most in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation. Add in the fact that Taylor is currently on pace for an NCAA record with his 4.26 assist to turnover ratio, and it seems that the talent is certainly there for a postseason run.

As much as the blowout loss to Ohio State on Sunday brings back thoughts of the Cornell loss, it is difficult to compare last year's team with a Badger squad this season who is on pace to set NCAA records for free throw percentage (82.7 percent), turnovers per game (7.47) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.79), all while carrying the nation's second most efficient offense (1.19 points per possession) and ninth best scoring defense (59.1 points per game).

Simply put, the Wisconsin system is built for tournament play.

"It's what our system is predicated off of. Taking care of the ball and not giving the other team easy opportunities, easy run-outs and defensively just being sound," Leuer said. "Obviously you have to hit shots but if you play good defense and rebound, you're going to have a chance to win any game."

With a favorable matchup set for Friday (Wisconsin will face the winner of Thursday's Penn State-Indiana game), the stars are starting to align for what the Badgers hope is a long run into the postseason.

"We are going down there to win the thing," Leuer said. "We wanted to win the Big Ten regular season and obviously we didn't get a chance to do that but now we have a new opportunity in front of us."

It would be awesome if the Badgers could win the Big Ten Tournament.  GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason Bohannon Scores 30 points in win over Indiana

With a pair of former Badgers sitting behind the bench wearing their jerseys Saturday, senior guards Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes had one of the best combined performances of their careers.
Bohannon — whose jersey was worn by current New York Knicks forward Marcus Landry — put up a career-high 30 points while Hughes — whose jersey was the choice of Minnesota Timberwolves guard Alando Tucker — added 16 points, all in the first half.
Combining for 46 points, the UW senior captains helped No. 11 Wisconsin cruise past the Indiana Hoosiers in Saturday’s decisive 83-55 victory at the Kohl Center.
With the win, the Badgers managed to remain undefeated in games immediately following losses, as Wisconsin has yet to lose consecutive games during the 2009-10 season.
“We just hate the way it feels — we hate losing,” Hughes said. “The way we lose is when we get away from our game plan. If we stay in tune to that throughout the whole 40 minutes of the game, then we’ll be fine. That’s what we did.”
As they have several times this season at home, the Badgers quickly jumped out to a big lead over the Hoosiers. UW went up 8-0 in the first two minutes, 20-5 in the first six minutes and led by as many as 28 in the first half following a layup by Hughes with 2:55 remaining in the period that made it 46-18 in the Badgers’ favor.
The difference, though, between Saturday’s win and Wisconsin’s loss Tuesday to Illinois — a game in which the Badgers also led 8-0 in the opening minutes — was the ability of UW to maintain its hot start and to keep a young Hoosiers squad from getting back in it.
“You get that run, (and) you’ve got to sustain it,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “You’ve got to stay after it, and I thought we did a good job of that. They chipped away a little bit, but we got it back and then extended it again.
“It’s tough when you’re playing from behind, and we tried to make sure that we didn’t make it easy for them to chip into the lead.”
For the third time in four games, UW made more shots than it missed in the first half, as the Badgers shot 53.1 percent from the floor, including 46.2 percent from 3-point range. Six players scored in the period for Wisconsin, including Hughes, who led all scorers with 16 points at the break, and Bohannon, who had 14 first-half points.
It is great to see the Badgers rebound after a loss and continue to prepare themselves for a run at the Final Four. GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!