Who is This Year’s Loyola Chicago?
As the calendar changes to March, that means that it is time for my favorite time of year March Madness. Who could be that team this year that ruins everyone’s bracket. In the tournament guard play is very key for very team and also teams who have a bunch of senior leaders.
The first team to watch out for is Ja Morant’s Murray State Racers. If you have not seen him play yet he is much watch tv the sophomore is averaging 24.4 points per game and also is a great distributor getting just over 10 assists, as he looks like a a top 5 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Morany has came out of nowhere as he was not highly recruited. His team is also very good they average 83 points per game, 2 of their loses came against Alabama and Auburn and they lose by 6 and 5 points. Four of their 5 starters average at least 10 points a contest. They are also very good good at sharing the ball averaging over 18 assists per game.
A team that is not far from Murray St. UNC-Greensboro Spartans are in a very competitive Southern Conference sitting at 24 and 5. Greensboro gave number 13 LSU all they could handle losing by 6 and losing to number 4 Kentucky by 17 but had a halftime lead. Senior guard Francis Alonso is there leading score at 16.7 points per game. They are in 2nd in their conference behind number 24 Wofford, as some bracketologist have the Spartans for a at large bid or first four out.
Up north a team to keep your eye on is the Yale Bulldogs. They sit at 18 and 5 and have beaten Miami and Cal. They did play Duke and lost 91 to 58 they were only down by 9 at the half but were 0 for 13 on three pointers in the 2nd half and had an uncharacteristic 23 turnovers. A concern I have for the Bulldogs is that they are not very deep only playing 7 guys. Their leader though is Junior guard Miye Oni who averages 18 points per game and shots just under 40% from three point range as a team they score 81 points a game. Yale also has an advantage during their conference tournament as they will be hosting the Ivy League tournament.
Yales arch rival Harvard is a team that can surprise you. The Crimson got out to a slow start after missing junior guard Bryce Akins to injury with him they are 11 and 2 now that he is back and is leading the way with 21.8 points a game. Harvard coach Tommy Amaker has done a great job on the recruiting trailing having a 25 top class two years ago and a top 50 class last year.
The last team that could be busting your bracket is the East Tennessee State. The Bus are 22 and 8 this season with there NET rating at 65. They are a very good rebounding team 43 a game and only allow 32 boards, junior forward Jeromy Rodriguez leads the team with 11.2 rebounds a contest. They also are very good at getting to the free throw line going about 18 times a game. They hang around versus Creighton and lost by 18 to Illinois.
A bonus team is number 24 the Wofford Terriers at 25 and 4 and there NET rating is 18th. This team will be in the tournament win or lose their conference tourney. The problem is that being ranked at number 24 is that they may be a 8 or 9 seed, which means you would be playing the 1 seed in the second round. Not be shocked through if they gave a 1 seed all they can handle, they beat North Carolina last season and lost by 11 to them this year. North Carolina pulled away at the end of the game. They beat South Carolina by 20 and also have loss to Mississippi state by 11 and to Kansas by 25, they were only done by 3 at the half. Senior guard Fletcher Magee is one of the top shooters in the country he shoots 42 percent from downtown, this kid has no fear of shooting the basketball and shoots from anywhere on the floor and he averages just over 20 points per game. They play in the Southern Conference which has 4 teams in the top 100 for the NET ratings.
Do not be surprised if you see one of these teams make it into the second week of the tourney. One other name to keep your eye on is the Campbell Fighting Camels senior guard standing at 5 foot 9 Chris Clemons who averaged 30 points per game and is number 6 on the all time college basketball scorer list with 3,106 points. Chris Clemons is so explosive when he puts the ball on the floor and is one of the fastest players in the country.They are the 1 seed their conference tournament host.
