The appetizer of the First Four is complete. Now it’s time for the real deal. NCAA thoughts.
Jayhawk Talk
I’m not sure how to feel about this team. Kevin McCullar and Gradey Dick both say their back issues are fine. Can we trust them? Might they be fine against Howard today and flare back up Saturday in the second round? For a team that is not very deep, those alone are massive questions.
Then you throw in that the Jayhawks seem to have been a little low energy since winning in Ft. Worth three weeks ago. Maybe all that championship DNA in the returning players will be enough to kick start a fresh run for the next few weeks. But I’m definitely concerned that the team isn’t firing on all cylinders going into the biggest games of the year.
And Bill Self’s status is still up in the air. He was supposed to appear publicly twice this week, and each of those appearances got cancelled. The team claims he’s been at practice. Will he be on the bench? And if so will he be able to relax and coach normally? Today shouldn’t be an issue. Saturday will.
Update
News just broke that Self will not coach Thursday. Maybe it’s just me but if he can’t coach today, I have a hard time seeing him be ready for Saturday. Hedge your bets appropriately.
Throw all that together and it has my confidence level pretty low before even looking at the brackets. Which takes some pressure off. I’ll still probably be a mess during games, but I doubt that the eventual letdown will be all that bad. I’ll just go back and watch games from last March to improve my mood.
I have KU losing to UConn in the Sweet 16. I think Saturday’s second round game will be tough, but KU will find a way to pull it out regardless of opponent. Then UConn’s depth will overwhelm them. That feels like a game that is either close until the last eight minutes when UConn pulls away, or that KU gets down early, makes a run, but can’t do enough to ever take the lead. Pretty sure that’s the game where we’ll see some crazy lineup because of foul trouble, too.
Now if KU either beats UConn, or plays someone else in the Sweet 16, I have them in the Final Four. Gonzaga would be a great, open-ended game. But the Zags can’t guard my daughter’s team, so KU would win a game in the 80s. UCLA losing its best defender is devastating, so if they were to win three games I can see KU handling them.
Brackets
This feels like such a weird year overall. Other than Alabama, I don’t trust anyone completely. And given what’s going on with that program off the court, maybe the pressure is too much for them.
Purdue has the best player, but I can’t see their young guards handling the pressure it will take to win four games and get to Houston.
Speaking of Houston, if you told me Marcus Sasser would be completely healthy for the next two weeks, I’d put them through. I have Texas beating them, but do I really trust Texas? Yes, they are super old. Yes, they have a great balance of size and athleticism and shooting. Yes, they can lock people up when they want to. But when they look bad, they look really bad. All it takes is one rough night and even the sexiest teams can lose.
Arizona has injuries. The Big East was pretty garbage once you got past the top, so can you trust any of those teams? Are the Big 12 teams too beat up from two months of league play?
My Final Four:
Alabama
UConn
Marquette
Texas
Alabama over Texas
Player Draft
We had our fantasy draft last night. Points only. I won last year after getting the first pick, taking Drew Timme, then a bunch of other guys who all went off in either their first or second game.
This year I got the first pick again! I took Alabama’s Brandon Miller with my first selection. Joining him are Kam Jones, Julian Strawther, Sir’Jabari Rice, Gradey Dick, Courtney Ramey, Amari Bailey, and Dylan Disu. I don’t feel nearly as good about this year’s team.