We are six weeks away from college basketball conference championship tournaments. Once the conference championships have ben decided, it will take 48 hours for the field of 64 to be final. And if this season has been a sign of things to come this March Madness, we are going to be in for another memorable March. A March that will live up to it being called March Madness for a reason.
The race for a #1 seed this season or at least the last month has been very competitive. There really has not been one school this year that has dominated this year. Villanova and Virginia are the only two school remaining with a one loss to their 2017-2018 campaign. Obviously if they continue on their winning ways, they will be a #1 seed without question. However they both have a not so easy schedule ahead of them. Purdue and Duke have been playing really great as of late and look to join Nova and Virginia as the two remaining #1 seeds. However there are plenty of great completion on their heels. The way this basketball season has gone, March Madness may start 6 and a half weeks early for us all.
To me this is the most exciting time of the year as far as sports go. It is exciting, it has you glued to your television set or tablet cell phone, or however you will be keeping up with your team or just the tournament in general.
Let us dig a little deeper into how selection Sunday (March 11) might play out until that day. Obviously things could get crazy and change dramatically by then. I will start with the schools I have mentioned earlier.
1.Purdue Boilermakers
The Boilermakers have the easiest road to get themselves a #1 seed out of the of the top 4 current teams. The Big 10 have been down all season long. They have a couple tough games ahead of them. One game being at Michigan State, that is not going go be a gimme. And they have Ohio State at home. Oher than that, they should not have much of a problem finishing out their season.
2. Duke Blue Devils
Duke, of course, is a top contender this year. When are they not ever a top contender come March Madness time? They are a very talented team with quite possibly the best coach in college basketball history. Of course, they have a couple tough road losses against schools that will not make the tournament. The only real no conference win they have is against Michigan State.
3. Villanova Wildcats
Nova has really been the only consistent school all season long. The Wildcats have plenty of road games left against schools in the Big East that we will more than likely see playing in March. The Wildcats have only one loss to their 17-18 campaign at the hands of Butler. Their best road win is against the Temple Owls. But they have great neutral games against Gonzaga, Western Kentucky, and Tennessee.
4. Virginia Cavaliers
The Cavaliers defensive style has been dominate all season long. They have only allowed 60 points put against them three times, including their one loss to West Virginia back on 12/5. They really have not much of a significant road win the Cavaliers have right now is against Rhode Island, but they will have their chance when they go to Durham, North Carolina to face Duke this Saturday.
5. Oklahoma Sooners
The Sooners picked a huge thrilling win against the Kansas Jayhawks last Tuesday night which has kept their #1 seed hopes alive and well. However the Sooners had a rough week last week losing to back to back games against non ranked schools. If the Sooners wants to have a hope at being a #1 seed come March, they can not afford to lose another game the rest of the season. They of course have three tough conference games ahead of them in Kansas, Texas Tech, and West Virginia. Luckily they have Trae Young that could present a challenge to any team.
6. Kansas Jayhawks
I do not have the Jayhawks higher than five for reasons that I mentioned just a minute ago. But that is not a knock on them. The Jayhawks certainly deserve respect from every school out there. They have proven time and time again that they can be a real threat to anyone that stands in their way come March. They still have three games ahead of them that are not going to easy for them. Those games are against West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech.
7. Xavier Musketeers
The Musketeers do not get as much credit as I feel as they should deserve. Xavier has had a great season his year. They are certainly the #2 school in the Big East. Yes, Xavier has three losses to their season, but they are tournament contending teams. Of course hey can improve on their resume with a rematch to Villanova, whom is one of heir losses.
#8 Michigan State Spartans
The Spartans are very well coached and very well talented. However they had a blown out loss to Ohio
State last week, it took them until overtime to beat Rutgers, and also a home loss to Michigan. They do not seem to be clicking at all on both offense and defense. The turnovers on offense are coming in every direction.
In other words, do not be too surprised to see any of these teams being seeded #1 or at least seeded in the top four in their region barring some sort of total melt down from here until the end of the conference championships. Either way, be prepared for another sensational March full of many surprises.