Every Single Damn Thing You Need To Get The Juices Flowing For The Most Important Day Of The Year
Can watch a video like this all day .. at least until noon. But today is the most important day of the year. Not because Kentucky is playing (it is for me) but rather because of the delicate balance of NCAA Tournament and St. Patrick's Day. If you go to the bar to watch games you better pick right. Can't end up at a bar with terrible TV viewing.
It's also the last full day of basketball we have during the week. No more day time weekday basketball. Embrace it. Cherish it. It's the most important day of the year.
Bracket
Last day it looks somewhat clean. Yesterday was weird. Outside of Princeton (obviously) every game mostly went to play. The next biggest upset in Furman, well, that was a 5 point spread. Not like it was anything historic. In terms of seeds we got a 10 and 9 to go with the 15 and 13. Most of it was due to the slate, so today should be mayhem.
5 Best Games Today
Kentucky/Providence, FAU/Memphis, NC State/Creighton, Drake/Miami, Arizona State/TCU
1. Do we finally get mayhem today?
I mentioned it earlier, but yesterday wasn't insane outside of Princeton. It was sort of a cock tease getting the Furman and Maryland games right off the bat. Back and forth, crazy ending obviously. It all was kind of whatever after that. Not saying it wasn't awesome, we just didn't get that mayhem we're used to. But you look at the bracket and schedule and it makes sense. Six of the 16 games were either 1/16 or 2/15. Today is set up for the mayhem.
2. First Four winner history
Every year we hear about a team who wins a First Four game and how they end up winning a First Round game. For some reason both 11 seeds are playing today. Not sure why that's the case - it was always if you won Tuesday you played Thursday. But we have TCU/Arizona State late night and Pitt/Iowa State. Both are gettable games. I like TCU just because I love TCU's team and have a Sweet 16 future on them. Arizona State coming off the ridiculous offense game against Nevada so people are high on them. I actually am interested in the Pitt game a little more. Battle of Blake Hinson who transferred from Iowa State to Pitt.
3. Bracket wide open in the South region
Look at that South region now with Princeton vs Mizzou for the right to make the Sweet 16. Sure. But now look at that pod above it. NC State/Creighton and UCSB/Baylor. That's the most interesting pod all of a sudden. Baylor basically is a 2 seed, Creighton goes from a 6 to a 3. It's that wide open. I could easily see NC State catching Creighton tonight because DJ Burns' in the post and their guard play. They can match Creighton. Baylor's guards are elite even if they can't defend anyone. But that right there is the most interesting pod all of a sudden.
4. The Norchad Omier dilemma
This is an injury I'm paying attention to because I love this Miami team. They have the guard play to make a Final Four. They have the stars and shooting. They have all the pieces (minus the defense) but most of what they do is because of Omier. He makes the lineups work because of his rebounding. You need him out there, especially against a Drake team that is just so disciplined on offense. There's too much experience from Drake to not have a guy like Omier.
5. #BracketBuskers
Big day in the Reags household. Obviously the last name Reagan means we're Irish so we got that going for us. But that means nothing during the NCAA Tournament. We have a Kentucky game to go to war over then late night, the Owls come out. That's right it's BracketBuskers time and I'm simply doing my job. Need FAU to get to the Sweet 16. Everyone talking about Memphis and how their defense can just turn Purdue's guards over. You know who is good? Florida Atlantic. Put some damn respect on their name. They shouldn't be a 9 seed. This is like the San Francisco/Murray 7/10 game last year. These teams are better than 8/9.
Picks
Download the Barstool Sportsbook here
97-86-2 (+15.7) on the year on Twitter, mind as well add it to the blog
5-3 (+3.45) in the NCAA Tournament
MSU/X/Baylor ML +130
VCU +4
Pitt +4.5
NC State +5
Kent State +4.5
TCU/Drake ML +190
FAU +110
VCU/SMC U 56.5 1h
TCU/ASU O142