NCAA Tournament Picks: South | West | East | Midwest | Final Four
2016 NCAA Tournament Picks – Final Four
By Walter Cherepinsky – @walterfootball
NCAA Tournament Picks: Final Four
No. 11S Wichita State vs. No. 2W Oklahoma
You may question the wisdom of not having any one-seeds in the Final Four. Well, to that I say that this is the weakest year of top teams in the NCAA Tournament since I began picking college basketball on this site. In fact, Kansas is the lowest-rated overall No. 1 seed this century. Granted, this century is only 16 years old, but that’s still a significant sample size. I can’t remember a year like this where the teams were so weak at the top. There are going to be tons of upsets in Round 2 onward, so I recommend not loading up your Final Four with No. 1s. If you do want a No. 1, I guess the one that feels most wrong here is Wichita State over Kansas, but I just couldn’t stomach having the incompetent Bill Self advance into my Final Four.
With that in mind, I’m going to take Oklahoma. The Sooners are the slightly better team, and while they don’t have the Shockers’ experience – though they are close – they do possess one thing Miami doesn’t: Buddy Hield. The Oklahoma swing man is unbelievable and should be able to make a deep run into the NCAA Tournament.
2016 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 2W Oklahoma
No. 3 West Virginia vs. No. 2M Michigan State
Two of the best coaches square off in this semi-final, which figures to be awesome. West Virginia has a great team this year that is certainly capable of going all the way, but Tom Izzo plus Denzel Valentine figure to be a bit too much for the Mountaineers to handle.
2016 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 2M Michigan State
NCAA Tournament Picks: Championship
No. 2W Oklahoma vs. No. 2M Michigan State
I’ve mentioned Buddy Hield quite a bit, and he’s considered by many to be the best player in the country. He very well could be, but in my opinion, that distinction should go to Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine, who is simply more versatile. I hope Hield and Valentine meet here at the championship, because it’ll be a breath-taking game to watch.
However, players are one thing. Coaching is extremely important as well, and Tom Izzo is the best in the business. He took a seven-seed to the Final Four last year – as predicted on this site – so it’s pretty reasonable to expect him to go even further with an even better team. Oklahoma’s Lon Kruger is pretty solid himself, but Izzo the one man you want to trust in March.
2016 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 2M Michigan State
NCAA Tournament Picks: South | West | East | Midwest | Final Four
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