2015 NCAA Tournament- Duke Keeps My Bracket Hope Alive

The field of 64 has been narrowed down to two, and I couldn’t be happier. After all, not only did Kentucky lose to Wisconsin, thus ending its perfect season, but I still have a legitimate shot to win the office tourney pool. Even better than that is the possibility that I could win $300 in my friend’s bracket challenge as well.

And while the majority of my friends and co-workers might be rooting for the Badgers on Monday night, I will most certainly be in Duke’s corner. It doesn’t matter that Wisconsin represents the Big Ten, or they will more than likely be the underdogs.  Also of little importance is that guard Traevon Jackson is not only from Ohio, but also happens to be the son of former Ohio State standout Jimmy Jackson.

(As a side note, while I would normally root for the Big Ten, even at the expense of my own bracket, when you wager $50 to win $300 in a winner takes all format, your perspective kind of changes.) 

The fate of my brackets rest on the ability of the Dookies (sic) to get Coach K his fifth championship, and his third in Indianapolis at that. Duke already defeated Wisconsin once this season, but this is not the same Badger team. It should also be pointed out that Duke is not the same team, either. Is it possible that team that beat both Michigan State and Wisconsin in the regular season by 10 points apiece has played even better in the postseason? Not only is it possible, it seems downright plausible.

So the million-dollar question then becomes, how did I end up picking the Blue Devils to win it all, when most everyone and their brother had the Wildcats? Is it because Duke is not only the one of my favorite teams(according to this blog), and unlike Ohio State they had a legitimate chance of advancing? I wish I could say that was the case, but my affinity for the Blue Devils had little if any affect on my decision. What about freshman sensations Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor? I must admit the blue-chippers, the former averaging 11.5 ppg and 3.5 apg and the latter averaging 17.5 ppg and 8.6 rpg, are a rare inside-outside combination. But alas, as I watched less than a handful of Duke games, I didn’t know much about the duo.

So how exactly did I end up picking Duke, when less than 20% of the nation even had them in the national finals? Let’s just say that like most other people who have won their tournament pools in the past, I went with my gut. While other people agonized from 30 minutes to several hours on their bracket, I filled out mine within 10 minutes. And although it’s safe to say my round-by-round performance isn’t stellar (I’m currently 44-18 through the final four), it doesn’t matter how you start, only how you finish.

Yet it is far from a given that Duke will win their fifth title tomorrow night, or that I will win my first tournament pool ever(in what I have estimated is over 25 years of filling out an entry of some form, whether it be for school or work or online just for fun.) This time around not only do they have to account for a fully healthy Sam Dekker, but if they are going to win they must do so without the services of junior guard Rasheed Sulaimon, dismissed from the team before the regular season had even ended.

A tall task for the Blue Devils (literally and figuratively), but my gut tells me they have one more win left in them. After all, in an imperfect bracket, they are the only team that has been perfect for me thus far.

NCAA Tournament: Tennessee keeps Play-in game relevant

Good morning all, and happy NCAA Tournament. While it appears a virtually certainty that no one will win Warren Buffet's billion dollars, I hope none of my readers' brackets are busted yet.

Today I'd like to talk about the play-in games to the NCAA tournament, also known as the first round by the mainstream media. Previously I have gone to great lengths to discredit the whole play-in round, saying its impact on the tournament is by and large minimal.

Yet since the inception of the play-in round, the teams that comprise that component of the NCAAs have continued to prove me wrong. It started several years ago when little known VCU (a cinderella team to no one anymore) made it all the way to the final four. Fast forward to today, when the University of Tennessee has once again proved a play-in team can make it to the round of 32.

The Volutneers opponent in the round of 64, the University of Massachusetts, may have been wrongly seeded. The Minutemen were awarded the sixth seed in the Midwest Region despite finishing behind both St. Joe's and George Washington in the A-10 (both St. Joe's and GW, coincidentally, were seeded lower than the Minutemen)

Adding more fuel to the fire were comments made by Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who implied the A-10 wasn't even good enough to have 6 teams in the dance. With only Dayton advancing to the round of 32, he may have been onto something. It's just too bad his Blue Devils won't be playing this weekend either.

But I digress. Tennessee not only beat UMass, but they throttled them 86-67, shooting over 53% from the field. The Volunteers may have all they can handle when they play the Mercer Bears(the team that ended up defeating Duke) tomorrow afternoon, but they have a better than average shot of making the Sweet Sixteen. Their key to victory will more than likely be to do something Duke could not, that is stop Mercer's pick and roll.

Regardless of the outcome tomorrow, one thing is for certain: it is no longer passe to call the play-in round irrelevant.