March Madness is set to begin with the First Four Games taking place on Tuesday, March 15th and Wednesday, March 16th. Games will be taken across the country as the tournament is back to “normal” for the first time since the 2019 tournament.
Michigan and Michigan State have both received bids to the tournaments and enter as 11 and 7 seeds respectively. Michigan has a matchup with 6 seed Colorado State in the first round. The game will take place in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Rams are 25-5 but have not played a game against a top 25 side. Recent history has also favored 11 seeds in the matchup.
Michigan State meanwhile are facing a 27-6 Davidson team. The game is set to take place in Greenville, South Carolina. The Wildcats have only played one top 25 game, which they won by 1 against Alabama. In the last two tournaments the 10 seeds are 5-2 against 7 seeds.
Region by Region Prediction
West Region
Gonzaga (1 Seed) are the clear favorites to make it to the Final Four. Duke (2 Seed) and Arkansas (4 Seed) will not be easy tasks for the Bulldogs, but I predict Gonzaga will make it back to the Finals in New Orleans.
East Region
This region is more open than the west. Baylor (1 Seed), UCLA (4 Seed), Kentucky (2 Seed) all feel like they should make it out of this region. Other teams like Murray St (7 Seed), Virginia Tech (11 Seed), and North Carolina (8 Seed) would like to spring a surprise. I believe UCLA will make it back to the final four again this year to face Gonzaga.
South Region
The south region is a difficult one to figure out as Arizona (1 Seed), Villanova (2 Seed), and Tennessee (3 Seed) all should feel like a run is within reach. Houston (5 Seed), Illinois (4 Seed) and Loyola Chicago (10 Seed) are boast squads capable of making a deep run in the tournament, however I feel Arizona will be the best team in the region.
Midwest Region
This is arguably the most wide open region with teams seeds 1-4, Kansas, Auburn, Wisconsin, and Providence, believing they should make a run in the tournament. I believe Kansas will be knocked out of the tournament early against Crieghton in the second round. This will allow Providence to make the run to the Final Four.
Final Four
Gonzaga v UCLA is a rematch of the Final Four last year. This time I believe UCLA will get the job done.
Arizona v Providence is a tough matchup on Providence’s side as Arizona is one of the nation’s most proficient teams on the offensive side. Arizona will likely be too much for Providence to handle.
This leaves the title game to be UCLA v Arizona, both teams faced off in the conference title match that Arizona took over UCLA. I believe the Wildcats would beat the Bruins down in New Orleans and Arizona would win the title.
