The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

March Madness Picks

By Kyle Auger
Sports Editor

Davis slamming home the jam

It is finally here – the grueling three week tournament famously known as “March Madness” is here and the rush for people to fill out their brackets is raging, but before you fill out your brackets, take a gander here.

The tournament begins on Thursday and the first round is two days of wall to wall games and the group of 68 teams quickly gets erased to 32, and on these days upsets are common and there are several teams I feel are primed to upset their first round opponents.

The first team I believe in is the Xavier Musketeers, the 10 seed that will defeat the 7 seed Notre Dame Fighting Iris., Xavier has shown an ability to beat good teams and also has shown endurance. In a 12 day span, the Musketeers defeated Georgia, Vanderbilt, Purdue, and Cincinnati. However, after that streak the team took part in an ugly brawl against Cincinnati and the team went a measly 13-12 so it will be interesting to see if they can right the ship.

Another upset that I feel is very probable is the 10 seed Purdue of 7 seed St. Mary’s. Purdue is filled with experienced players and are primed to take this first round matchup. Senior Robbie Hummel is the experienced leader of the Boilermakers and averages 16 points and 7 rebounds a game. Purdue’s chances in this game rely greatly on his performance and also the performance of fellow senior Lewis Jackson. Their opponent is the 7 seed coming out of the West Coast Conference, the Gaels of St. Mary’s, led by junior guard Matthew Dellavedova, who averages 15.6 points a game and is a deadly threat from the outside. Like fellow teams from non-power conferences, the Gaels lack a true power at center which may be exploited by the Boilermakers.

In the second round I think upsets will not be as plentiful but most notably, I believe that without Fab Melo, the Syracuse Orange has become an average team and they will lose in the second round. With Melo in the lineup the Orange was 125th in the nation in rebounding and Melo was their number one rebounder. Without him I think their probable opponent Kansas State will get second, third and fourth chance opportunities on offense and will knock of the 2 seed.

Based on my projections, the Sweet Sixteen would be: Kentucky, Witchita State, Baylor, Duke, Michigan State, Louisville, Marquette, Missouri, Kansas State, Vanderbilt, Florida State, Ohio State, North Carolina, Michigan, Georgetown, and Kansas.

This is were I took my biggest risk in taking the 4 seed Louisville over the 1 seed Michigan State. Louisville guard Peyton Siva who averaged double-digits in the regular season and is a good distributor. Louisville is also 11-8 against teams in the tournament and coach Rick Pitino has been in the tournament with multiple teams and is one of the best coaches in the league.

Following the Elite 8 I think the Final Four will be Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio State, and Kansas.

The first matchup is that between Kentucky and Missouri. Kentucky has the best player in the nation in Anthony Davis who has been the best all-around player averaging 15 points and shooting upwards of 50%. Although his offensive game has progressed, his defensive skills have been what got him to his lead in the player of the year standings. Davis has averaged 4.6 blocks a game and makes teams adjust their offensive game plans to avoid him in the paint. Despite his power, Missouri may be the team that has the right style to defeat the Wildcats. Missouri can use their extraordinary guard play and attack the outside of the Kentucky defense.

The other final four matchup would be Ohio State and Kansas. The Buckeyes of Ohio State has a similar style to Kentucky and has a powerful big man for themselves, Jared Sullinger. Sullinger has averaged 17 points with 10 rebounds and is flanked by a group of talented shooters like Aaron Kraft and William Buford who combined averages 22 points and 35% from 3, the performance of the Buckeyes relies greatly on those two and their shooting. Their opponent, the Kansas Jayhawks are a more complete team led by their star, junior Thomas Robinson and the supporting cast of Tyshawn Tyler, Jeff Withy and Elijah Johnson. The talent possessed by Kansas is too much for Ohio State in my mind, and  I think they will advance to face Kentucky.

After the dust settles and 66 teams are left disappointed, only two will stand, Kentucky and Kansas and I think Kentucky will overpower Kansas. Kentucky’s talent is on a whole other level and I think the key matchup will be between Sullinger and Davis. Davis is better defensively and has the ability to step back and hit a deep jump shot, because of this, I think Kentucky will be the victor in a dominant 72-62 win.

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