Keep in mind how ridiculously dominant UConn was final 12 months?
When the Huskies reeled off 30 straight factors in opposition to Illinois within the Elite Eight?
Once they defended their title by successful each NCAA Event sport by no less than 14 factors?
When UConn coach Danny Hurley revealed his spouse, Andrea, hand-washes his fortunate dragon underwear between the Huskies’ video games every NCAA weekend as a part of some type of grotesque superstition?
OK, let’s all shudder collectively and neglect we ever learn that final sentence.
Nicely … what if we informed you there might be 4 UConn-style behemoths on this 12 months’s NCAA Event? We may have a Last 4 in San Antonio the place it’ll appear to be Mothra vs. Godzilla vs. Rodan vs. King Kong — all brawling for immortality within the shadows of the Alamo.
Right here’s what we imply: On Choice Sunday final 12 months, UConn was the plain No. 1 group within the nation, in line with the polls and, extra importantly, Ken Pomeroy’s algorithm. The Huskies entered the NCAA Event boasting an adjusted effectivity margin of +32.21.
(This issues as a result of once you’re filling out your brackets and attempting to determine which group will win a selected sport, you possibly can take a look at the 2 groups’ effectivity margins to find out how a lot one group ought to win by. In a associated observe, the nation’s greatest on-line sportsbooks’ level spreads are inclined to look awfully shut to those KenPom differentials.)
Anyway, right here’s why we propose there are 4 UConns to get pleasure from this March.
Going into Saturday’s convention match video games, No. 1 Duke boasted an effectivity margin of +38.09. Second-ranked Auburn sat at +35.57. Houston, which is about to assert a No. 1 seed for the third 12 months in a row, checked in at +35.40. And Florida, which gained by 9 final month at Auburn, owned a +34.90 EM.
In different phrases, all 4 of those groups enter Choice Sunday trying extra dominant than UConn final 12 months.
Now, are we additionally saying you should decide one among these groups to win all of it in your bracket? Not essentially. Each monster has an Achilles’ heel.
Duke, for instance, has three freshmen projected to be lottery picks within the subsequent NBA draft. However Cooper Flagg, the doubtless school participant of the 12 months and the particular No. 1 decide within the draft, injured his ankle Thursday afternoon and sat out the remainder of the ACC match.
That provides him no less than 168 hours of round the clock rehab to be prepared for Duke’s NCAA opener, however what if he’s solely 80%? Is that sufficient for the Blue Devils?
Auburn, in the meantime, has been the nation’s No. 1 group many of the 12 months. However the Tigers enter the NCAAs with losses in three of their final 4 video games — and recollections of getting shocked by Yale within the first spherical final 12 months.
Houston options all the toughness, protection and rebounding of Kelvin Sampson’s greatest groups — however the Cougars additionally shoot 40% on 3-pointers. That’s one of the best within the match subject. So what’s Houston’s potential downfall? Solely Drake performs at a slower tempo. Fewer possessions imply a greater probability for an upset (assume Villanova’s 1985 NCAA title sport upset of Patrick Ewing and Georgetown).
Then there’s Florida. The Gators do every little thing at an elite degree — besides shoot free throws. Of their 4 regular-season losses, they transformed simply 75 of 114 freebies. That’s 65.8%.
It doesn’t matter a lot once you go 18 of 29 on the line on a random Tuesday night time in Athens, Georgia, however that may’t occur throughout, say, a Thursday night time Candy 16 sport in San Francisco.
However having these March Insanity monsters — and eager about every little thing they could destroy and what may be their downfall — is what makes this time of 12 months so fantastic.
Simply keep the heck away from soiled underwear, irrespective of how fortunate it would look like.