(68) The ACC will only get five teams in the tournament this
year.
(67) The Virginia Tech Hokies will not be a bubble team this
year, although they will look back fondly on the years when they were.
(66) Florida
State will not be one of
the five either.
(65) No ACC school will make it to the Sweet Sixteen this
year.
(64) Maryland will advance
farther than North Carolina and North Carolina State.
(63) Everyone will continue to hate Duke.
(62) Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma
State and Baylor will be the only four Big 12 schools in the NCAA Tournament.
(61) Baylor will get a 9 seed; some major college basketball
writers/bloggers will think it too high while others think it too low.
(60) A vast majority of brackets will pick Baylor to win
their first round match-up and a large percentage of these people will be
properly berated for considering it an upset.
(59) Oklahoma
State will advance the
farthest out of any of the Big 12 teams.
(58) Kansas
will have a better seed than last year (they were a 2) but will not advance as
far as they did a season ago. (These all can’t be bold.)
(57) Connecticut
will not make the NCAA Tournament. (Yes! Guaranteed correct!)
(56) For the first time in recent memory, the Big East
conference will not be the conference with the most tournament bids.
(55) Syracuse
will not be the highest seeded Big East school but they will advance the
farthest in the tournament.
(54) Notre Dame will get upset in the first round by a team
seeded lower than them.
(53) The same thing will happen to the Georgetown Hoyas.
(52) The Big 10 usurps the Most Tournament Teams throne from
the Big East.
(51) The Big 10 becomes the undisputed best conference in
the land, perfectly mirroring what happened to their schools during football
season.
(50) Three Big 10 teams will make the Elite Eight.
(49) Someone will remark how the Big 10 is now “the SEC of
basketball.” They will be given no credit for wittiness and will be criticized
for the comment more than they are praised.
(48) With multiple teams in the Final Four, the Big 10 will
still fail to win the National Championship.
(47) Washington
will fail to make the NCAA Tournament.
(46) Both the university and Tony Wroten deeply regret that
he left school early to enter the NBA draft.
(45) Both the university and Terrence Ross also regret that
he left school early, although Wroten seems to not care at all about this.
(44) With only two schools winning their first round games,
everyone will be quick to jump on the story of the continuing demise of the
Pac-12 conference.
(43) This will gain steam when Arizona gets bounced earlier than expected
in March Madness.
(42) The storyline will take a turn when UCLA outplays their
seed and makes it to the Elite Eight.
(41) The SEC’s Florida Gators will be a 1 seed heading into
the Big Dance.
(40) The Missouri Tigers will be a 2 seed in their first
year in the SEC.
(39) Kentucky
will be a 3 seed after making huge strides during the second half of the
regular season.
(38) With three of the top 15 teams in the country, the SEC
is the most top-heavy conference in the nation.
(37) The SEC will claim ownership of one quarter of this
year’s Final Four.
(36) Stony Brook wins the America East conference and gains
an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
(35) With the addition of VCU, the Atlantic
10 stakes its claim as the best high-major conference in the country.
(34) Temple
wins their first game in the tournament from their perch as a double-digit
seed.
(33) VCU goes farther than any of their old peers in the
CAA.
(32) A team with an under .500 overall record wins the
Atlantic Sun conference tournament and is automatically invited to the Big
Dance.
(31) Weber State and Montana have such an awesome battle for
the Big Sky conference crown that, if anyone cared, it would be described as
“what college basketball is all about.”
(30) The winner of the Big South, as a 16 seed, gives a
scare to the 1 seed they are paired with. The 1 seed ends up winning by a
reasonably slim 12 point margin.
(29) Cal State Fullerton leads the nation in scoring and
nabs the Big West’s automatic berth.
(28) It what has become an ironic, “winner leaves town”
situation with many of the best schools departing, rumors immediately start to
fly after George Mason wins another CAA title.
(27) For only the second time since 2005, someone other than
Memphis wins Conference USA.
(26) Youngstown State upsets tourney favorite Valparaiso in the Horizon League final to
advance to the Big Dance.
(25) The winner of the Ivy League gets undue credit during
their first round blowout loss because “gosh, they have a great graduation
rate.”
(24) The Fairfield Stags win the MAAC and enter tournament
play as the only Connecticut
school representing. What up Nutmeg
State!
(23) Ohio University wins another Mid-American Conference title
and, for the third time this century, numerous people will mistakenly pick them
to advance to the Sweet Sixteen thinking they are Ohio State.
(22) After winning their first ever MEAC Conference
championship a season ago, Norfolk
State repeats, but sees
no such tourney magic this time around and gets soundly romped in their first
contest of the NCAA Tournament.
(21) Creighton does not win the Missouri Valley Conference
but snags an at-large bid, to the disgust of many bubble teams.
(20) With a regular season title, UNLV gets back to the top
of the Mountain West for the first time this century, wins the conference
tournament as well, and captures their first March Madness win since 2008.
(19) Sacred Heart, Central
Connecticut State,
and Quinnipiac are all bounced from the Northeast conference tournament, to the
shear delight of all Fairfield
fans. Nutmeg State bragging rights abound!
(18) With no at-large bid in play for an Ohio Valley
team, the championship game is a barn-burner between Murray
State and Belmont, with the Bruins ultimately coming
out on top.
(17) Bucknell steamrolls through the Patriot League and
receives one of the better seeds for any mid-major in the tournament.
(16) For the second consecutive season and the second time
since Stephen Curry happened, Davidson triumphs in the Southern Conference and
makes the NCAAs.
(15) Oral Roberts (the Southland champ) and Southern
University (the SWAC champ) will play each other in a “round one” game, a.k.a.
one of the play-in games.
(14) North
Dakota State
runs through the Summit League regular season but gets upset in the conference
tournament, crushing the spirits of their loyal fan base.
(13) In the Sun Belt tournament, an interesting occurrence
develops. Florida Atlantic and Florida International team up; Arkansas State
and Arkansas-Little Rock do as well; so do the two Louisiana squads: Monroe and Lafayette. The
three super teams enter, but all for naught as Middle Tennessee still wins the
conference and gets the automatic berth.
(12) Gonzaga, West Coast powerhouse and perennial mid-major
darling, is once again knocked out a bit early from the NCAAs. People begin to
wonder if the praise is unwarranted as the Zags haven’t made a deep tournament
run in their last 13 tries.
(11) With Utah State looking nearly as dominant as they were
in 2010-2011, the Aggies get taken down in the WAC final by Denver and have to
settle for the NIT.
(10) Throughout the tournament, Florida Gator’s big man Erik
Murphy becomes a breakout star. The long-range shooting senior displays his
inside-outside game to perfection, averaging nearly 18 points per game in
tournament play.
(9) In a sweet union, Florida’s
coach, Billy Donovan, becomes widely considered one of the best coaches in the
country after another long tournament run cements his legacy.
(8) On the opposite side of the spectrum, with the failures
of Carolina and
NC State so highly publicized, the draft stock of Tar Heel James Michael McAdoo
and Wolfpack forward CJ Leslie will plummet with NBA teams unsure of how well
the two will do at the next level.
(7) Since tournament play can make such a big difference
with how pro scouts determine players deal with adversity and top competition,
Trevor Mbakwe will skyrocket up draft boards following his stellar tournament
performance for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
(6) With coaches not immune to this development either, Fairfield
Stags head man Sydney Johnson will receive a few offers from high-major
programs following the tournament.
(5) Since it’s always about the money, much like Shaka Smart
and others in years prior, Johnson will return to Fairfield after a contract restructuring goes
in his favor.
(4) The Final Four is comprised of Michigan,
Ohio State, Missouri
and Syracuse.
(3) Missouri
will face the Michigan Wolverines in the tournament final.
(2) Laurence Bowers is named the tournament’s Most
Outstanding Player. This, after missing all of last season with a torn ACL, is
one of the better stories in all of college basketball.
(1) Behind Bowers and Phil Pressey, Missouri
upsets tournament favorite Michigan
to take the NCAA Championship.
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