CBB: Championship Week Preview

Mar 9, 20186 min read

1. Virginia Cavaliers (29-2, +0, 100 Pts): The Cavaliers are the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament and are expected to at least reach the championship game. With their top ranked defense they are looking to continue to control the pace during their ACC Tournament games. And if they can do that then they can win the whole thing, but if a team speeds them up, they will be in trouble. The teams that they have to look out for is Duke, Clemson, and North Carolina. I feel like those three teams would give them the most trouble if they played at some point this week. If they win it all or lose in the championship game, I see Virginia being a one seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. At this point in the season, with only two losses, the Cavaliers have clinched at least a top two seed, and should have no problem clinching one of the top four spots. Kyle Guy and his team will face either Florida State or Louisville in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

2. Villanova Wildcats (27-4, +1, 94 Pts): The Wildcats lost out on getting the one seed in the Big East, but I still see them going all the way and winning the tournament and showing why they should be a one seed during March Madness. They will have a tough time if the face Xavier, in the title game, even though they beat them easily the last time they played. The final score was 89-65 on January 1st, but Xavier is a way better team than they were at that time. I think they will be ready for the challenge. Villanova has a great chance of going deep in the tournament, though. With playmakers like Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, both of whom are top 10 players in the nation right now, the Wildcats could return to their 2016 form and win the whole thing. Brunson averages 19.0 points, 4.8 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game. Bridges isn't far behind, going for 17.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per outing. Jay Wright's team is one of many that can contend for the title.

3. Michigan State Spartans (29-4, -1, 90 Pts): The Spartans are coming off of a semifinal loss to Michigan, making the Spartans 0-2 against the Wolverines this season. Michigan State has struggled when their is not an even amount of distribution from their guards and when they are facing opponents who have multiple threats from all players in the starting five. The Spartans are likely to get a one or two seed heading into the tournament, and hope to have an easy road to the Final Four. Coach Izzo and his team need to work on hitting shots efficiently, as the last game, they shot 38 percent from the field and only 28 percent from the three. If Michigan State wants to advance to the Final Four, they need solid performances from everybody, and they need to shoot well from the field. Guys like Nick Ward need to get back on track if Izzo's team wants to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 2015. Ward had just six points against Michigan.

4. Xavier Musketeers (28-4, +0, 88 Pts): The Xavier Musketeers escaped a close game against DePaul 65-62. Despite Trevon Bluiett’s 22 points, the Musketeers did not receive any help from the rest of the starting five. The Musketeers have been struggling on defense all season, but this was not the case on Saturday. They held DePaul to 41 percent shooting and 24 percent from three. Xavier however, racked up 20 turnovers, and only shot 42 percent from the field. With the Big East Tournament underway, Xavier looks to fix their offensive woes and build on their defensive efforts from the last game of the regular season. In the Big East Tournament quarterfinals, Xavier pulled away from St. John's in the second half, winning 88-60, after only leading by four points at the break. Bluiett led the team with 27 points on 44.4 percent shooting from the field and 87.5 percent from the free-throw line. Xavier will face Providence in the Big East semifinals tomorrow.

5. Michigan Wolverines (28-7, +8, 81 Pts): The Wolverines are becoming one of the main storylines in the month of March for the second straight season. After winning the Big Ten Tournament title last year, and turning that into a Sweet Sixteen bid, John Beilein's crew is at it again. Michigan clinched their second straight tournament championship on Sunday, defeating No. 7 Purdue. The day before? The Wolverines took down No. 2 Michigan State for the second time in the last two months. Michigan was on the bubble just one month ago, but because of nine consecutive wins, they're all of a sudden a true title contender. With Moritz Wagner in the middle, who averages 14.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, this team can stretch the floor and switch at all five positions on defense. Not to mention that Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman has been a stud, scoring 17.6 points per in his last five outings. With the week off, Michigan will wait patiently for their seeding.

Sweet Sixteen Rankings: Duke (25-6, +2, 79 Pts) is our first team out of the top five, but they're only two points out of fifth place behind Michigan. Gonzaga (30-4, -1, 77 Pts) isn't far behind either, as they clinched their sixth consecutive West Coast Tournament championship. Cincinnati, Purdue, and Kansas (26-7, -5, 55 Pts) round out the top-10, and all have the possibility of becoming a two seed in the NCAA Tournament. Wichita State (24-6, -1, 53 Pts) lost their most recent game at home against the Bearcats, but still have an opportunity to get revenge and earn a conference tournament title in the mean time. Arizona (26-7, +4, 51 Pts) finally has all of their guys back with DeAndre Ayton and Allonzo Trier looking ready to go for March Madness, and will play in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals against UCLA tomorrow night. A couple of SEC schools, Tennessee and Auburn are near the back of the rankings, along with North Carolina and Texas Tech.

Conference Tournaments: The ACC seems like a three-team race at this point between Virginia, Duke, and North Carolina, but two of our experts have the Tar Heels winning the title. In the American, Chinedum Wejinya (22-18, 6-4) favors Cincinnati over Wichita State. Meanwhile, Charles Post (28-12, 9-1) is picking the Shockers to pull off the slight upset. Post is also picking Arizona, Kansas, and Villanova is other conference tournaments. Max Heningburg (22-18, 5-5) is riding with the favorites for the most part, selecting Buffalo over Toledo in the Mid-American, Arizona over USC in the Pac-12, and Auburn over Tennessee in the SEC final. Wejinya is expecting Florida and Kentucky to make deep runs in the SEC tournament, though, as he has the Gators defeating the Wildcats for the third time this year. Post is taking Florida too, but over Auburn, who they just beat less than two weeks ago. We all agree that Rhode Island will win the A-10, as well.

Player of the Year: DeAndre Ayton (100 Pts) is an absolute monster. It's simple at this point. No one in the country is able to stop him fully, and it shows, as he's putting up 19.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. After hanging around the top five for much of the year, the Arizona freshman is now the favorite to take home the top player in the nation. Jalen Brunson (94 Pts) isn't too far behind as he was named Big East Player of the Year, but the junior has some work to do if he wants to close the gap on Ayton. Marvin Bagley III (93 Pts) and Miles Bridges (86 Pts) have been impressive to say the least and Bagley made the most of his recent game against Notre Dame, dropping 33 points and 17 boards in the 88-70 triumph. Devonte' Graham (82 Pts) rounds out the top five, as he was named the Big 12 Player of the Year earlier in the week. The remaining contenders are freshman sensations Mo Bamba (63 Pts) and Trae Young (58 Pts), and Mikal Bridges (55 Pts), the junior.

Final Four Picks (November 7, 2018):