Andrew's March Talk

We’re nearing the end of November and have witnessed some great basketball games already this season. There have been some surprise teams like Colorado and Illinois, and some disappointing ones like Memphis and Drexel. For better or worse, all of these teams have started putting together their resume for the Big Dance. Let’s take a look at March Madness, and fill in the top 8 seeds as they stand now:

NOTE: These are not team rankings, but a combination of how good they are mixed with their early season resume.

1 Seeds

*Duke – Have wins over Kentucky, Minnesota, VCU, and Louisville. Wow!

Michigan – Won the Preseason NIT by beating Pittsburgh and Kansas State.

Indiana – Still my number one ranked team, but only good win is Georgetown.

Ohio State – This last team was a tough call because they haven’t played anyone.

*Top Overall Seed

2 Seeds

Louisville – Lost to Duke without Dieng, but beat down Missouri the day before.

Florida – Best win to date was a blowout of Wisconsin.

Syracuse – Took down a good SD State team and haven’t played anyone good since.

Kentucky – Only loss was to Duke, best win was Maryland.

3 Seeds

Arizona – Unbeaten but without a quality win.

Gonzaga – Have blown out West Virginia and Oklahoma so far.

Creighton – Looked good in wins over Wisconsin and Arizona State.

Oklahoma State – Big win against NC State, but also beat Tennessee.

4 Seeds

Cincinnati – Have quietly dominated early, even over Iowa State and Oregon.

Michigan State – Opened season by losing to UCONN, but then beat Kansas.

Colorado – Dayton, Baylor, and Murray State were all surprise wins.

Illinois – Won the Maui Invitational by beating USC and Butler.

5 Seeds

Georgetown – Beat UCLA and took Indiana to overtime before losing.

Missouri – Got blitzed by Louisville, but have beaten Stanford and VCU.

NC State – Beat Penn State and UMASS before they fell apart against OK State.

Kansas – Only opportunity for a good win was MSU, and they lost.

6 Seeds

North Carolina – Impressive in all games except their loss to Butler.

New Mexico – Decent wins include Davidson, George Mason, and UCONN.

Minnesota – Only loss was to Duke, but have beat Memphis and Stanford.

Connecticut – Lows and highs include a win over MSU and loss to UNM.

7 Seeds

Wichita State – Nobody wants to face this team in March, just ask VCU and Iowa.

San Diego State – Best win was USC, only loss though was to Syracuse.

Pittsburgh – Five wins to date, narrowly lost to Michigan.

Northwestern – Still unbeaten, but best win was Illinois State.

8 Seeds

Notre Dame – Only blemish was an overtime loss to St. Joseph’s.

Alabama – Solid start to year beating South Dakota St., Oregon St., and Villanova.

California – A 6-0 record is a great start to the season for the Bears.

Oregon – Narrowly lost to Cincinnati, but five early wins including one over UNLV.

Next Four: UNLV, Florida State, Temple, Colorado State

Other Bids (alphabetical): Arizona St., Baylor, Bucknell, Butler, Charlotte, Houston, Illinois St., Iowa, Kansas St., LSU, Marquette, Maryland, Memphis, Miami, Murray St., Ohio, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon St., Saint Joe’s, Santa Clara, Southern Miss, Stephen F. Austin, Tennessee, UCLA, VCU, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Xavier

By: Andrew Miller