The Madness is here, and the field-of-64 thousand-dollar question is: What shade of blue do you prefer?
Carolina blue? Bruin blue? The Memphis blues? Or that deep-sea Kansas blue?
First, the selection committee should be applauded for elevating America’s four best teams to the top line of the bracket. Committee members did a masterful job of smoothing out the bubble and proved that they actually watched a game or two, as evidenced by slotting Indiana as an 8-seed (haven’t been the same post-Kelvin Sampson), and rewarding Pittsburgh with a 4-seed (nearly unbeatable with a healthy Levance Fields).
Unfortunately, the more accurately the committee seeds teams, the more chalk in the bracket. In fact, Clark Kellogg immediately declared on Sunday night’s selection show that this was the year where the four top seeds will reach the Final Four. It’s difficult to disagree, and that will be one enormous crowd of blue in San Antonio.
Memphis has been overlooked since dropping a close game to Tennessee. Bruce Pearl’s team, which has been a nightmare opponent for the Tigers, executed a perfect anecdote to the Tigers’ "dribble-drive motion" offense by sagging into the lane and baiting Memphis into launching 27 3-pointers. Antonio Anderson took arguably the worst late-game shot in the history of basketball, and Memphis still almost won. It sits at 33-1, having blitzed Georgetown and Arizona and easily winning at Connecticut and Oklahoma
UCLA is reminiscent of Ohio State from a year ago: solid defensively, with a stud freshman at center and a point guard who drives the team engine. Its ability to win close games should result in a third consecutive Final Four.
The Bruins also have the easiest road to the Final Four. Yes, North Carolina could walk from campus to Raleigh and Charlotte ““ perhaps Roy Williams will implement this as a pregame warm-up ““ but the East is still loaded with quality teams: Notre Dame, Louisville, Tennessee, Butler and even Indiana are all currently ranked in the top 20 of the ESPN/USA Today poll.
UCLA matches up well with almost every team in the West. Connecticut seems most equipped to bother the Bruins, but youth and inconsistency might prevent the Huskies from advancing to the second weekend. Ultimately, look for Bill Walton in the Alamo Dome engrossed in glorious flashbacks to 1973 as UCLA clogs the lane against Memphis and returns to the title game.
National pundits are infatuated with Tyler Hansbrough and the Tar Heels, but they are fawning at the wrong blue. When Roy Williams finally won a championship three years ago, he needed every bit of Rashard McCants’ and Raymond Felton’s outside shooting. This is a similar team, but they lack the guard play and mental resiliency of the 2005 squad. On its way to San Antonio, UNC could encounter D.J. White, Luke Harangody and David Padgett, all of whom could saddle Hansbrough with foul trouble.
While the softness of North Carolina’s baby blue might ultimately do them in, the strongest and boldest tint is donned by the tournament’s best team, Kansas. The Jayhawks move the ball like NBA champions, their starting five functions so well together they resemble an instructional video, and they are balanced and athletic inside and out. Brandon Rush has finally asserted himself; he set a career mark with 28 points in the Big 12 semifinals and churning out 19 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists en route to the conference championship. Kansas can defend well at every position and win close games, and they bring a load of experience.
My color wheel foresees Bill Self finally reaching the Final Four and the Jayhawks cutting down the nets on the first Monday in April.