Every Single Damn Thing You Need To Get The Juices Flowing For A Day That Should Be Nothing But Mayhem
I hope more than anything we have mayhem today. It's the one thing truly missing from the NCAA Tournament so far. I know NC State is an 11 seed, but you're a major conference team. Hard to buy fully into Cinderella talk there. One could argue for no mayhem so next week is a monster round of Sweet 16 games. Sure, I get that. But we need something. There's gotta be a 1 or a 2 seed that goes down. We need more Creighton/Oregon and Colorado/Florida games. It's the last day we have this week, cherish it, embrace it. Give us the mayhem.
Schedule
Bracket
Part of me gets depressed seeing teams past the first weekend already. The 4 days are a war by fly by way too fast.
3 Best Games Today
1. Grand Canyon/Alabama
2. Colorado/Marquette
3. Houston/Texas A&M
Five Most Entertaining Players Today
This isn't about the best. Every March someone takes over and you just start to watch no matter what. You get Gohlke'd. We're talking about guys who just explode on Twitter, social media and you gotta tune in.
1. Tyon Grant-Foster (Grand Canyon)
2. Wade Taylor (Texas A&M)
3. Eddie Lampkin (Colorado)
4. Cam Spencer (UConn)
5. Mark Sears (Alabama)
Five Storylines/Game Previews
1. The mayhem that was promised
This is by far what's taken over the Tournament for me. All year we talked about upsets, no teams winning on the road, ranked teams losing all the time. And it's been ... pretty chalk so far. Today is the day I thought would set up best for it. Every game is a hell of a matchup plus we're starting to get UConn to creep to the talk of them vs the field. Never play that game. But you look around and every matchup is intriguing for the fact of style of play, a star, the pressure, etc.
2. Jamal Shead vs Wade Taylor
This is the single best one-on-one matchup we'll see. I know they played earlier in this year, but no one gave a shit. Taylor from A&M, a dude who was picked as an All-American before the season and has been carrying them lately vs Jamal Shead, arguably the best defender in the country and an All-American. I want this to be a bloodbath. I want it to be as physical as possible with the refs far, far away. Don't ruin the moment. The moment for any college basketball fan is watching these two go at it. Just keep the stripes away.
3. Shaka Smart's demons
Shaka has made it out of the first weekend once, with VCU. He's got a team with a No. 2 seed again, playing a major conference team that was underwhelming during the year. You have to make a Sweet 16 with this group. You can't lose again, even if Colorado is sneaky talented. At some point you gotta shake whatever demons are out there and change the story. Wait, I think I just started talking about Cody Rhodes. Anyways, they are the early tip, the standalone game. Everyone is waiting to see if Shaka fails again just to jump on him.
4. Dukes, Dukes, Dukes
America's team baby. We're all Dukes trying to beat Duke. I mean there's a legit chance that we're looking at a JMU team that will be in the Sweet 16. I don't say this because I hate Duke, I say this because look at how JMU plays. They switch 1 through 5, TJ Bickerstaff is a fucking stud and most importantly they aren't afraid to play physical. That's how you beat this Duke team. You make FIlipowski uncomfortable and turn over the guards. America loves a good story and what's better than JMU right now?
5. Speaking of underdogs
#DaveandBUSTERS baby. Grand Canyon, the Lopes, Frankie Muniz, all getting ready for Alabama - which Rico has said multiple and multiple times - will basically have a home game in Spokane. The Havocs will travel and make that a home game like we saw Friday. I love this GCU team though. Bryce Drew can coach, I know people don't want to admit that from the Vandy days. Tyon Grant-Foster is an NBA talent. They can dictate pace, they can slow it down if need be. I don't know if there's a more fun game than this one on paper. This isn't Charleston because GCU can actually defend.
Picks
12-6 in round 1, +5.5 units
Colorado +4
James Madison +7
Grand Canyon +6
Texas A&M +9.5
