Two weeks ago the madness began.
Sixty-eight college basketball teams embarked on a quest for the NCAA Championship. For most, hope was quickly vaporized in the Round of 64, while others advanced only to suffer heartbreaking defeat later on.
Filling out a March Madness bracket is tricky to say the least. Upsets are bound to occur, which sways participants toward selecting the underdogs when this methodology’s history is vastly inconsistent with the actual results.
No. 1 seeds have been crowned champions in seven of the past 10 NCAA Tournament, with No. 3 seeds doing it twice. Last year was an aberration in that the No. 7 seed UConn Huskies defeated the No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats for the national title.
This year’s tournament has followed this extensive trend boasting three No. 1 seeds in the Final Four: Kentucky, Wisconsin and Duke. Tom Izzo, a familiar figure in the college basketball playoffs, is the sole exception, coaching his No. 7 seed Michigan State Spartans to their first Final Four appearance since 2010.
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski enters his 12th career Final Four, and first since Duke’s 2010 national title, with perhaps his youngest starting five to date. Freshmen Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones have remained fixtures in the starting lineup, for good reason.
The seemingly consensus No. 1 overall pick-to-be in this year’s NBA Draft, Okafor owns an assortment of post moves, superior footwork and brute strength up front. Okafor’s dominance on the low-post has freed up an opportunity for forward Justise Winslow to quickly blossom into the team’s X-factor.
Without Winslow, Duke is watching from their dorms. He has emerged as Duke’s co-first option and single-handedly swayed last weekend’s matchup versus Gonzaga in favor of Duke. Within the span of two minutes, Winslow nailed four free throws, grabbed two rebounds and delivered the dagger on a pull-up three to sink Gonzaga with just under three minutes to go.
Unlike Krzyzewski, Michigan State’s head coach Tom Izzo doesn’t have the luxury of signing top-tier recruits out of high school. Izzo utilizes the regular season much like San Antonio Spurs’ head coach Gregg Popovich does in the NBA. He has his core trio of veterans and molds the roster around them. The Spartans’ 23-11 record was certainly underwhelming entering the tournament, but Izzo’s history with overachieving is no coincidence.
The late game has Kentucky and Wisconsin squaring off in a rematch of last year’s Final Four. Though success is the common ground between these two teams, their respective approaches could not be further apart.
Wisconsin’s program is reliant on its two veteran big men: Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker. The duo has accounted for over half of Wisconsin’s total points scored in the tournament and 56 of 85 points in Saturday’s victory over Arizona. It’s also worth noting, Wisconsin did not play a single freshman in the win over Arizona, whereas Kentucky’s system is largely based around freshman standout Karl-Anthony Towns.
Head coach John Calipari has admitted his team is not perfect though, despite its unblemished 38-0 record. Notre Dame exposed Kentucky’s offensive deficiencies on Saturday night by stagnating the Harrison twins and locking down the perimeter, holding the Wildcats to just eight three-point attempts. This could be the recipe to defeating the almighty Wildcats, but Towns proved he is fully capable of willing his team to victory with an elaborate stock of weaponry on the low block if need be.
Parlay Towns’ offensive versatility and shot blocking abilities with junior forward Willie Cauley-Stein’s elite individual defense and the frontcourt battle between these two teams will be one for the ages.
Kentucky defeated Wisconsin 74-73 last season.
The first matchup on Saturday will begin with Michigan State versus Duke followed by the Kentucky-Wisconsin game.