With the NCAA men’s tournament tipping off in earnest with a full slate of games on Thursday, we pulled together a roundtable to answer burning questions that’ll help you fill out your Tourney Pick’em bracket. Here are our Cinderellas, dark horses, first No. 1s to fall, best first-round bets and Final Four/champion picks.
Which No. 1 seed will fall first?
Frank Schwab: Baylor is the most vulnerable. They are a good team but losing your leading rebounder (Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, done for the season) and leading scorer (LJ Cryer, return uncertain) is a lot to overcome. I will say Gonzaga is a sneaky choice here because they could face Memphis in the second round, and the Tigers have been very good lately.
Nick Bromberg: It’s always fun for tournament chaos when a No. 1 seed loses on the first weekend. I’m not sure that happens this year. I’ll go with Kansas losing to Iowa in the Sweet 16. The Hawkeyes can score and an off night from Ochai Agbaji could be bad news for Kansas. I’m not 100% sold on this prediction, but I like the early paths for the other No. 1 seeds.
Sam Cooper: It’s Baylor for me. BU won the national championship last year and title teams rarely make another deep run in the following season. Baylor really needs to get LJ Cryer back from his foot injury. Without him, the Bears have been routinely playing just a seven-man rotation. It’s hard to play with such a short bench this time of year.
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Greg Brainos: I’m bearish on Baylor. They could easily lose as early as the second round, and I see UCLA being healthy enough by the second weekend to come out of that part of the region.
Pete Truszkowski: I’ll agree with Frank. It came down to Baylor or Arizona for me, as both teams have tough matchups in the Sweet 16 likely on tap. Houston vs. Arizona and UCLA vs. Baylor are potential matchups in that round. Both No. 1 seeds would only be a 1-2 point favorite in that round if we’re going by KenPom’s rankings. I’ll take UCLA to knock out Baylor, and I wouldn’t be surprised if North Carolina gives the Bears some issues as well in the second round.
Mark Drumheller: I am going to go out on a limb here and say Arizona. They could easily run the table and win the national championship, but they are also a very young team. Their composure will be tested by a string of strong defensive teams in the second round and third rounds with the Seton Hall/TCU winner and Houston. March is about handling pressure and overcoming adversity, and I have my doubts Arizona can settle down and execute when the inevitable chaos occurs.
