March 17 marks the start of the best basketball tournament in the world: March Madness. The combination of buzzer-beaters, Cinderella teams, breakout performances and crushing defeats is what makes the NCAA basketball tournament so irresistible.
However, the college basketball season is routinely overshadowed by the NFL regular season and playoffs and the NBA’s trade deadline and All-Star game. By the time those two are over, fans only have a couple weeks to catch up on an entire season of college basketball to fill their brackets.
To help those entering the fold, I have compiled a list of the best and most likely teams to win the championship.
#1 Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-3)
Like last year, Gonzaga is entering the tournament as the overall #1 seed in college basketball. They are led by one of the best frontcourts in the NCAA with the combination of the experienced Drew Timme and the freshman phenom Chet Holmgren, accompanied by a well-rounded backcourt. Despite their most recent loss to Saint Mary’s, Gonzaga is still the most dominant team with convincing wins over Texas, UCLA, and Texas Tech, all of whom are ranked opponents.
The Bulldogs, however, always have the same arc each season; they blow through the regular season and earn a top seed, yet they can never go all the way. This pattern is largely due to their weak conference schedule with only one other ranked team. As was obvious in last year’s meltdown in the National Championship game, Gonzaga doesn’t regularly play tough teams down the stretch like Baylor, who essentially bullied them for 40 minutes last year.
As previously stated, any team can win it all, but Gonzaga has an extensive recent history of coming up short.
#2 Arizona Wildcats (28-3)
‘Zona is back! After four years of floundering in limbo after the loss of the #1 overall draft pick Deandre Ayton, the Wildcats have finally made it back to the NCAA tournament. Unlike most other teams, Arizona is lead not by a standout, one-and-done freshman, but is instead a conglomerate of sophomores and juniors.
Arizona has had multiple great wins this season with victories over Michigan, Illinois, UCLA, and twice over USC. Their worst loss was last month against Colorado which was due to their 16 turnovers and a lackluster performance from their leading scorer, Bennedict Mathurin. The Wildcats showed their toughness the next game by blowing out USC by 20 in the next game.
#3 Baylor Bears (26-5)
The Bears were in prime position to win the National Championship in back-to-back years, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since Florida in 2006 and 2007, according to ncaa.com. Despite losing Davion Mitchell and Jared Butler to the NBA Draft, Baylor retained much of its championship core. Unfortunately, Baylor’s best player, LJ Cryer, has been in and out this season with a foot injury that has caused him to miss most of February.
He is currently a game-time decision for the Big 12 Tournament game against Oklahoma, as stated by foxsports.com.
The absence of Cryer has not prevented Baylor from clinching key wins over Kansas, Iowa State, TCU, and Texas. The Bears will be a very dangerous team if they can get their leading scorer back during the tournament.
#4 Auburn Tigers (27-4)
The Tigers boast one of the best players in the country in potential franchise player Jabari Smith. He has really come into his own over the past six games, averaging 24.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and shooting 60.5 percent from three. Combined with senior center Walker Kessler, who averages an impressive 4.5 blocks per game, Auburn arguably has the best frontcourt coming into the tournament.
The Tigers started this season off strong, although they’ve had some trouble recently. They beat Kentucky, Alabama, Texas A&M and Florida. February was a tough month for the team as they lost three very close game to Arkansas, Florida, and Tennessee.
Gonzaga, Arizona, Baylor and Auburn were the Associated Press’ top four seeds in Week 18, the last week of the regular season, but there are still plenty of other teams to mention.
#5 Kentucky Wildcats
Led by lottery draft pick Oscar Tshiebwe (17.3 points, 15.3 rebounds), Kentucky hopes to win their first National Championship since their magical run with Anthony Davis in 2012.
#6 Kansas Jayhawks
An older, more experienced team, Kansas has a legitimate shot behind their senior guard Ochai Agbaji.
#7 Duke Blue Devils
The counterpart to Holmgren, Duke’s Paolo Banchero is another potential top-three pick hoping to lead the Blue Devils to a National Championship in Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last year.
#9 Purdue Boilermakers
The electrifying sophomore Jaden Ivey has powered Purdue to statement wins over Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, and Villanova.
#13 UCLA Bruins
UCLA burst onto the scene last year during March Madness, nearly making the National Championship game if it weren’t for Jalen Suggs’ half-court prayer. Their two most important players, Jaime Jaquez and Johnny Juzang, returned this season looking for revenge.
#16 Illinois Fighting Illini
Jamaican senior Kofi Cockburn is one of the best centers in the NCAA and leads the team with 21.0 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. Few teams can stop him in the paint.