March Madness Preview and Predictions – Cream Rises To The Top

I’ll be honest, March Madness is not the ideal time to bet on college basketball. The only real advice I could give someone during this madness is bet on the underdog to cover the spread every single game you play and you should come out ahead.

by Tyler Wright – Wannamakeabet Staff Writer

But lets get real here, this month isn’t for the everyday gamblers, it isn’t for the guys who know stats and trends and can pick a winner based on those metrics. March is for the people at the office who don’t watch regular season basketball because they really don’t follow basketball. March is for the people at the bar who don’t bet on sports except for March tournament brackets and super bowl squares. March is for the old men and women who fill out a bracket in the sports section of their Sunday papers and compare them against their church friends and the talking heads on TV. Either way, there is little that brings people together like the NCAA tournament in March, it’s just special.

Like any gambler or lover of March Madness however, I feel like I should be able to figure out a decent final four based on all the normal things so that’s what I’m going to explain here. There is a few things that a final four team must have and almost always have in common year after year in this tournament, so let’s think about those things. It may sound obvious but it’s really just this simple.

A scoring big man- It’s not enough to have a big presence in the paint who can change the look of an opponents offensive sets, or occupy an opposing rebounder. To be a winning program in this tournament you have to have a talented big man who is a legitimate threat offensively and needs to be accounted for.

A true point guard- These games get very loud and very intense this time of year. At times you can’t hear the coach or even your teammates out on the court. If you are in the hands of a true point guard those problems have limited impact on how your team operates because a true point guard knows how to run the team in those situations. They know how to read the flow of a game and understand when to push or when to setup in the half court. Sure it’s nice to be able to get 20 points out of your point guard but that’s not what a winning team is about. A championship caliber team has a point guard that will completely control the game without anyone else realizing it.

A game time coach- There is a lot of really good coaches in this tournament there is no doubt about that. what is needed in these type of games is a coach that knows when his team needs hyped up, or when his team needs calmed down. When his team or a player needs to play through some adversity or when to call a time out and get everyone on the same page. And speaking of timeouts, a coach that can draw up a play in a timeout whether it be an inbounds play or an offensive set and have his team execute it on the floor.

Free throw shooting- You can have to be able to make them in crunch time. Simple enough.

So here’s a few teams I feel are legitimate contenders to win it all in this year’s tournament based on the basic things I outlined above. But it’s Madness…..and anything can happen. Good luck everyone!

Virginia, Cincinnati, Purdue, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan State, Duke