Every March millions of people fill out their NCAA bracket with the hopes of having the perfect bracket.
Fellow office workers create a pool and get everyone to throw money into a pot. Students skip classes just to stay home and watch game after game on TV.
It truly is the most exciting time of the year.
Everyone wants to see the first round upsets, the number 12 seed defeating the number 5 seed. Or maybe even the number 15 seed taking out the number 2 seed.
Even people that don’t really like basketball fill out their brackets, some for fun and others for money or bragging rights.
Now that we are in the month of March it is time to get ready for the NCAA tournament, so a good time to make some choices.
It is clear who the favorite teams are this year. Both Kentucky and Syracuse have only one loss and have been dominating the entire season.
But after these two teams, who might be the favorite to win the title?
A lot of people were saying Duke. But unfortunately they fell to their rivals North Carolina this past weekend at home.
In fact, it was a pretty embarrassing loss for the Blue Devils. The Tar Heels came in to Durham and dropped Duke by 18 points, not the way you want to end your season if you are Duke.
And, in all actuality, that victory by North Carolina could be the difference between the Tar Heels being a number 2 seed and a number 1 seed.
Well what about Kansas? They’ve been doing pretty good lately.
They have won eight straight games since their tough three point loss to Missouri back on Feb. 4, including a 14-point win over Baylor and a redemption, overtime win over Missouri.
But still, does Kansas have what it takes to defeat either Kentucky or Syracuse?
Well here is some news for you, don’t be surprised if neither Kentucky nor Syracuse win the title this year. For many reasons of course, both of these teams are very good, but I’m still not sold on them.
Kentucky is extremely talented and even better than the John Wall Kentucky team that made it to the Elite Eight a few years ago — but they are still a very young team. And the fact of the matter is that they don’t have much experience. Unlike a team like Kansas who has veteran players that might not be startled in the big game.
Syracuse on the other hand does have the experience, and they are also very talented. But there is just something about Syracuse teams, no matter how talented they are, no matter how good their regular season record is, they always seem to disappoint in the tournament.
It seems like every time they are a number 1 or 2 seed they fail to make the Final Four or the Elite Eight.
Right now I really like Kansas. They have the talent and the experience. Although, they also have the tendency to miss out on the Elite Eight from time to time.
Once the official bracket comes out, I will announce my bracket predictions. Prepare for total domination.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School graduate and mass communications major at the University of West Georgia. You can e-mail comments about this column to
tyrollason@yahoo.com.
