College Basketball Update (Top 8 Teams)

             The College Basketball rankings this past week came out on Monday, as they always do, and I am going to highlight over some teams in which I like, and I don't like for March Madness. (1) Arizona. They can score an elite clip, the defense is very iffy, and they have a tendency of losing early in March. Take Princeton for example last year, (11) Xavier a few years' prior, and (12) Buffalo a year before that. Arizona landed Caleb Love from UNC this past offseason, however, I am not fully sold on him being the player to elevate a team to the next level. Sure, in 2022 they had that run as the (8) seed, however, he hasn't been known to be clutch as of late. (2) Kansas. Kansas is what you make of them. They are extremely well coached, and have 2 key returners in Kevin McCullar and Dujuan Harris Jr. KU also landed Michigan's Hunter Dickinson in the transfer portal over this past offseason. The thing I will say about KU is that they need more scorers to come through, because Dickinson has been as "soft" in the past and if he gets shut down in March, they're going to need someone to step up or they could have a Purdue-like ending to their season as Edey was carrying the load for the Boilermakers last year. Could that X-Factor for KU be Elmarko Jackson perhaps? Johnny Furphy maybe? (3) Houston. Houston is always extremely well coached as well, and they are always known for their elite defense. They will be extremely battle tested this year in the BIG12, we will see how they perform. But I like them until they run into an extremely efficient offensive team that can score in multiple ways, and have multiple players that could take over a game. Good thing for Houston is that not many teams have that. 

            (4) Purdue. I feel like with the Boilermakers it is either 1st round exit or title. Virginia lost to UMBC in 2018 as the #1 overall seed, but then would go onto win it all the very next year in Minneapolis with their win over (3) Texas Tech. I feel like Purdue is similar, they could go on a run when everybody doubted them, and win it all. However, they could also lose first round again, there is no in between. The thing that worries me about Purdue is the same issue as last year, it's all about Edey. They're not guard oriented or guard heavy, and that is what thrives in March, so Purdue has to prove to me that they can take care of the ball, and can also find other scorers other than Zach Edey. (5) UConn. I really like UConn. Easily a title contender, they are everything you could want when picking a champion. They're extremely efficient, they can score, defend, they have multiple guys that can take over a game, they are experienced, and they're battle tested. As it stands right now, they have the best chance to win it all in my opinion. 

            (6) Baylor. Not much to say on this team, they will be fine until they run into a team that can run with them offensively. It's very weird over in Waco, it was always defense that was preached by Head Coach Scott Drew, and now the narrative seems to have flipped. Any team that can run with Baylor offensively will beat them in March because in the conference they are in, there's not many teams like that, and that means they're not as battle tested as I would like them to be. Teams like Creighton, Alabama, Gonzaga, and Miami just to name a few, are teams that can beat them in March. (7) Gonzaga. I am not high on Gonzaga at all this year. I think they're very early exits, and it is because they are yet to prove to me that they have a guy that can take over a game like Drew Timme did for them last year. They lost veteran experience, and a big piece of their culture when he left. But regardless, they're similar to Baylor, if you can score a lot, you can beat them. (8) Marquette. I don't like Marquette, even though they're efficient. Until Shaka Smart can prove to me he can win the big game, I cannot take them to advance. Smart hasn't done won anything outside of making the final four with VCU in 2011, and I feel if they run into a team with experience at the head coaching position, they could be on upset alert. 







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