March Madness: What to Expect from the 2013 Tournament
The phrase “expect
the unexpected,” dates back almost 2500 years through human history. It may
have first been uttered before mankind had the NCAA men’s basketball
tournament, but there is no more fitting phrase out there to describe the
annual event that is March Madness. As workplace productivity prepares to take
a huge hit over the next two weeks, millions of people across the United States
are wondering what to expect from the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
What
to Expect
In short, viewers
should expect the unexpected when they view the tournament on local and cable TV in the coming weeks. March
Madness is renowned for high expectations of #1 seeds, and devastating defeats
as Cinderella’s pop up out of the blue as #11 seeds or worse and spoil the
party for the big boys.
Some analysts will
tell viewers ahead of time that a certain #8 or #9 seed can shock their section
of the bracket and bust into the Elite Eight or Final Four, but each year there
seems to be a new team ranked #11 or worse that manages to bust brackets and no
one sees it coming. Expect the unexpected.
Why
You Should Expect the Unexpected
A one word answer
will suffice here; history. The NCAA tournament has a rich history of upsets
and unexpected victors, but this isn’t just a thing of the long forgotten past.
One need only go back to the 2012 tournament when #15 Norfolk State (a 21-point
underdog) defeated #2 Missouri in the first round. A #15 managed to defeat a #2
later that same day when Duke was defeated in the first round of the
tournament.
The list goes on with
each passing year. In 2006 the #1 ranked UConn men were defeated in the Elite
Eight by #11 George Mason University. George Mason’s tallest player was 6’8”
and there was no NBA talent on this team. UConn, by contrast, was ranked no
worse than #3 all season, went 30-3, and featured four first-round NBA draft
picks.
2012/13:
The Unpredictable Season
As if there wasn’t
enough drama wrapped into college basketball through March Madness, the regular
season was a longer, drawn out version of the tournament with upsets galore.
Holding onto the number one seed this season was a bit like trying to hold onto
a greased pig. Some of college basketball’s biggest programs failed, some
numerous times, with the #1 ranking on the line during the regular season.
There were several
upsets during the regular season that left people scratching their heads.
Florida’s late season loss to Arkansas (13-8) was shocking for a number of
reasons. Ranked #3 at the time, Florida was winning SEC games by an average of
26.5. Their closest road contest was a 64-47 defeat of Georgia that was close
on the heels of a 31-point dismantling of then #17 Missouri.
Also stunning at the
time was #1 Duke’s 90-63 loss at the hands of the University of Miami on
January 23rd. Indiana was the victim of upsets twice during the
season. First there was a 74-72 loss to unranked Illinois on February 7th
when the Hoosiers were ranked #1. A little over two weeks later the Hoosiers
lost again, this time 77-73 to Minnesota with Indiana ranked #4.
Perhaps the ugliest
upset of the season, and most unexpected, was TCU’s 62-55 defeat of then #5
Kansas. The Jayhawks are one of the nation’s most legendary programs, while TCU
is barely on the basketball scene. Kansas hadn’t lost back to back games in
seven seasons, while TCU has just two winning seasons in the past decade.
Nevertheless, the Horned Frogs held the Jayhawks to 13 first half points and 55
total, both season lows, on the way to the most unexpected victory of the
season.
Programs
and Players to Keep an Eye On
At this very moment
millions of students and office workers are filling out brackets, trying to
determine which powerhouses will live up to expectations, and which
Cinderella’s will go dancing on the dead hopes of larger programs. The easy
answer here is to say “watch the number ones in Kansas, Indiana, Gonzaga, and
Louisville,” but is there ever a year where viewers ignore the number one
seeds?
The first round of
games will offer some interesting matchups of players and programs. Two of the
nation’s best guards, Michigan’s Trey Burke and South Dakota State’s Nate
Wolters, will square off when #4 Michigan and #13 SDSU meet in the first round.
Both players lead the offense for their respective squads and enjoy scoring in
bunches.
Then there are the
first round matchups featuring Butler vs. Bucknell and UNLV vs. Cal. Butler and
Bucknell have a history of upsetting larger, powerhouse programs in the
tournament. Bucknell stunned #3 Kansas as a 14-seed in the 2005 tournament’s
first round, and Butler made back to back appearances in the finals in 2010 and
2011.
Lastly, yes we said
to look past the number one seeds but let’s be serious, they are often the most
ripe for upsets. Kansas is the #1 seed in the South region and could face
former coach Roy Williams if his North Carolina squad can get past Villanova in
the 8 vs. 9 matchup. Good Ole Roy famously ditched Kansas for North Carolina despite
great success in Lawrence, but won back a few Kansas hearts when he sported a
Jayhawk pin at the 2008 final between Kansas and Memphis in San Antonio after
the Jayhawks eliminated his Tarheels.
Smith is a
self-proclaimed college basketball fanatic. In his spare time, he writes about
college and NBA basketball to post on various blog sites.
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