Excluding bragging rights amongst your friends, I can say with almost 100% certainty that it is fine to not make a March Madness bracket this year.
March Madness for years has brought out friends and competitors from all over. Everyone is looking to achieve the impossible that still to this day has never been done. Crafting the perfect bracket. The perfect bracket is more impossible than winning a 100 million lottery which at the end of the day still has a winner and in some cases multiple winners.
This year, however, in the time leading up to conference play we have seen one thing stay consistent above the rest.
Nobody can stay consistent enough to remain at the top of the college basketball rankings.
Through nine weeks of college hoops, six teams have been at the number one spot with Gonzaga currently holding the mantle. As of now, there are two undefeated teams: Auburn (12-0) and San Diego State(14-0).
Even the teams that most will tend to put stock in, come March Madness, have all played at a highly inconsistent level. To put this into perspective, Michigan State entered this season as the No.1 team in the nation and before conference play they have already racked up three losses.
Not only them, but North Carolina (preseason No.9) and Texas Tech (preseason No.13 and last year’s runner-up) both have three losses as well.
Early Upsets
And of course, the year of the unpredictable wouldn’t be that without upsets.
The first came with Kentucky’s stunning “Who?” 67-64 loss against unranked Evansville. The loss sent fans into a frenzy scrambling to find any information on who exactly Evansville is. Kentucky had defeated 53 straight unranked opponents before the loss and ironically, this year was when the streak ended.
Soon after, Duke suffered an unbelievable last-second buzzer-beating layup loss against Stephen F. Austin.
And not long after that, in the span of one week more top five teams went down. No.1 at the time Louisville lost to Texas Tech. No. 4 Maryland went down to Penn State. And No. 5 Michigan lost to Illinois.
Trust me, I get that the temptation to make the “perfect bracket” will be exciting. It’s one of the best times of the year. But if you choose not to make one, it is absolutely okay.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see several of the top three teams in each region go down fairly early. I’ll even make my first prediction.
Not a single eventual one-seed will make the Sweet 16 this year. Yes, it’s a bold prediction but that’s just the level of insanity I believe will happen during March Madness.
Follow me on Twitter @ErrolChandler15 and check out other articles by the Belly Up Hoops team.
