Making March Madness predictions is big business nowadays, and the major news sites all have experts who spend the year breaking down the science of “bracketology”. The major consensus is that one of these four teams will be cutting down nets in their future, so here we go.
Kansas
The Jayhawks have a few things that make the experts fawn over them. They’re deeper than anyone in the country and what that means is, the Jayhawks can rotate through a number of players and not lose anything when their “best” players are on the bench. They can score multiple ways, and they’re just as good on the defensive end of the floor. If we had to make a pick, the Jayhawks are just too good to pass on.
Duke
The defending national champions may have something to say about that as the Blue Devils lost only one major component of last year’s title team (guard Jon Scheyer), and Nolan Smith has stepped into that role, even taking over the point position when the sensational Kyrie Irving was lost to a foot injury. Kyle Singler is starting to play well, and the rest of the team knows their roles.
Ohio State
The Buckeyes have their own freshman sensation in Jared Sullinger, who could be the best big man in the country and on his way to the NBA. But he is backed up by an experienced group of long-range gunners who have license to fire away at will, and the Buckeyes are built for games where grinding it out is the gameplan, as that is what they’ve been doing all season.
Pittsburgh
The Panthers are another team like Ohio State, as they won’t get into a run-and-gun shootout with you, but you won’t have that chance as Pitt is arguably the best defensive team in the country. They don’t do anything special, but they’re in your face from the opening tip and they’re fierce on the glass, although the Panthers can be hit from long range. It’s not like they can’t score with Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker and the rest of the team, but you’re not going to confuse Pitt with Kansas in terms of scoring. The Panthers force you to play their game, which is a Big East style of basketball, and that usually doesn’t bode well for their opponents.
