The college basketball season is often referred to as a prelude for the only time of year which really matters, the only time when college basketball coaches are truly remembered. March Madness tests reputations and gives a lot of glory to the winners. The losers suffer one of the most crushing and difficult experiences of their competitive lives. Coaches often like to say that they need their teams to play their best basketball at the right time. Here are examples of teams playing their best as they enter the NCAA Tournament:
East Region: Duke Blue Devils
This is an easy choice to make. It’s true that Villanova won the Big East Tournament championship with victories over St. John’s, Seton Hall and Creighton, but that doesn’t quite compare to what Duke did at the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn. The Blue Devils became the first number five seed to win the tournament. They also won games on four consecutive days, a rarity in ACC history. Duke beat Louisville and Rick Pitino in the quarterfinals on Thursday, then North Carolina and Roy Williams in the semifinals on Friday. The Blue Devils overcame deficits of at least 12 points in each game to beat back the competition. Duke was so good in the ACC Tournament that it started the event seeded fourth by the selection committee, but ended up as a number two seed.
West Region: Arizona Wildcats
This is the team a lot of experts thought would be intact throughout the season. Allonzo Trier has come off his suspension for using performance enhancing drugs. The starting and backup big men are healthy, as are the guards and their backups. Arizona just got done winning the Pac-12 Tournament championship, and the Wildcats had a tough draw to get there. They had to play UCLA in the semifinals, whereas Oregon merely had to play California, a much less daunting opponent. Beating UCLA and Oregon on back-to-back days announces that Arizona has the talent to make the Final Four. It’s just a matter of continuing to put the pieces together. This team has been completely different with Trier in the lineup as they are 13-2 when he starts. He’s averaging 17.3 points per game on the season but was even better during the Pac-12 Conference Tournament as he averaged over 20 points per game in that span. Things are setting up nicely for the Wildcats as the top seed in their region is Gonzaga, a team that has typically underachieved in the NCAA Tournament. We’ll see if the Wildcats can take advantage of their stellar play and make a deep run to the Elite Eight or possibly the Final Four.
South Region: Kentucky Wildcats
The competition in the SEC might not be as substantial as the competition in most other power conferences in college basketball, but the point still remains that Kentucky hasn’t lost a game in roughly a month. It’s true that the Wildcats have looked poor at times, and it’s also true that De’Aaron Fox is looking very strong after coming back from a late-season injury. Kentucky does not figure to be an easy out in this tournament, and UCLA will have a tough time declawing UK in the upcoming Sweet 16. The Wildcats, not the Bruins from the Pac-12, are riding the wave in the NCAA Tournament.
The last time the Wildcats lost was on February 4th to the No. 24 Florida Gators. Since then, they have won 11 straight games and come into the NCAA Tournament with a head of steam. Two of their last three wins were by double digits. Their performance this season is why they are one of the favorites at the top of the board to win the NCAA Tournament.
Midwest Region: Michigan Wolverines
While Kansas and Louisville are left smarting over losses early in their conference tournaments, Michigan is steaming ahead. The Wolverines won the Big Ten Tournament by winning their opening game against Illinois, and then defeating top-seeded Purdue, fourth-seeded Minnesota, and second-seeded Wisconsin. They went through the tough teams instead of trying to deny they exist. That’s the confidence of a hot team which knows what it has to do.
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