March Madness Has Arrived

The best time of the year for College Basketball has arrived, March Madness is here! The field of 68 is now set and come April 2nd, we will have ourselves a National Champion in College Hoops! North Carolina is back in the big dance this year, looking to defend its national title and reach the championship game for the 3rd straight year, something that hasn't happened since Duke did it from 1990-1992. This year's tournament looks to be as wide open as any in recent memory, with a number of schools having a legit shot at being the best team in the country. Its time for the madness to begin! Here's how this years tournament could possibly go down.

Its a lock that the four number one seeds will move on in the opening round, as a sixteen seed has never won a game in the tournament. So its pretty much set in stone that Villanova, Kansas, Virginia and Xavier are going to win at least one game. No team lower then an eight seed has ever played in a national title game, and only twice has an eight seed ever played for a national title. Villanova won the title in 1985 as an eight seed and Butler, who lost to UCONN in 2011. Now of the four teams that sit as an eight seed this year, Creighton, Missouri, Virginia Tech and Seaton Hall, the only one I can REALLY see pulling off a major upset maybe Seaton Hall but that's a long shot. A five seed has never won a title, they are winless in three trips to the national championship game. Four and six seeds are each 1-1 in trips to the championship game. The best bet two in the whole thing are either one, two or three seeds.

So who's got the best shot to win it this year?

Villanova and Virginia have been considered by many to be the two best teams in the tourney. Virginia is coming into this thing as the top overall team in the entire country, but there is one fault here, if you want to call it that. They have never been to the Final Four under Tony Bennett and don’t feel like the overwhelming favorite heading into the tournament. Other then the number one seeds, there's quite a few teams that are being thrown around as being favorites in this tournament. Duke, Michigan State, Michigan, North Carolina, Gonzaga, are all being predicted in some way or another to be either in the final four, or even be considered a championship team.

So out of the field, who could prove to have the toughest road to the title? So far, it looks like the West is the toughest test, with tough teams like Xavier, Ohio State, Gonzaga, Michigan and North Carolina. Any one of those schools could easily walk out as National Champion, but I think of the bunch, Michigan and Ohio State maybe the two dark horses to come out of the West (at least out of the contending bunch). Coming out of this pack I have Xavier beating Gonzaga and Carolina beating Michigan before Xavier finally topples North Carolina to advance to the final four.

The Midwest is another tough division to draw out of, when you have talent heavy schools like Arburn, Clemson, Duke, Michigan State and Kansas. One of the names that have popped up on a lot of brackets to come out of this conference is Duke, a preseason for quite a few people. Duke has the horses ti possibly make a long tournament run but might come up short. The two heavy favorites to come out of this region would be Kansas and Michigan State. Michigan State has the talent to be able to pull it out from this conference. Spartans beat Duke and Kansas beats Clemosn, with Michigan State beating Kansas to win the region.

Moving to the upper half of the bracket, we'll start in the South where the top team in the nation, Virginia. Kentucky, Cincinnati, Miami, Arizona and Tennessee also reside with Virginia in the South. Virginia and Villanova were the only teams in the country to win 30 games this year, with Virginia having the top mark at 31-2. One other team in this region is in the top ten in the nation, that being Cincinnati, and only two others cracked the top fifteen, that being Arizona and Tennessee. This will be a tough region to try and climb out of. Virginia, I fell, has the firepower to roll here, having scored under 50 points in one game all season. Cincinnati will topple Miami, while Virginia beats Arizona. Virginia then takes down Cincinnati to win the South.

Finally to the East region we head, where Villanova is the top seed out there. Some feel that they may be the most balanced and well rounded team in this tournament. Villanova has some solid competition in this bracket in the form of Purdue, Texas Tech, and Wichita State. Nova finished the year going 30-4, along with Virginia, they were the only teams to win more then 30 games this season. The Shockers could prove to be a tough test, when you consider what that school has done in the tournament in recent years. They reach the sweet sixteen before falling to Villanova, while Purdue takes down Texas Tech. In the Elite Eight Nova tops Purdue to reach the final four.

Final four I see Villanova beating Michigan State 83-69 and Virginia beating Xavier 77-70.

National title game Villanova tops Virginia 81-77