Busting Brackets
Fansided

Busting Brackets Fantasy March Madness Tournament

By Chris Godfrey

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Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Most of you probably skipped to this page a long time ago anyway. So let’s just roll out the teams.

#1 Team Tondamanthan – @PradTondamanth
Head Coach: Rick Pitino, Louisville
Home Court: Xfinity Center (Maryland)

Defense wins championships, but it will be interesting to see how this team scores its points. No other team in the field will be harder to score against. Pointer and and Brogdon defending the wings is a nightmare, and there will be no offensive rebounds to be had with Harrell and Gathers cleaning the glass. The key is Melo Trimble. He’s the only player on this team that can consistently create his own shot. Also, the Rick Pitino pressure is a huge factor with so many quality defenders on deck. Hopefully, Rico Gathers can keep up with the pace this team will play at.

#2 Team Tran – @DanTranCA
Head Coach: Mike Krzyzewski, Duke
Home Court: Breslin Center (Michigan State)

No scoring issues will be had here. Team Tran features the nation’s best scoring point guard and a knockdown shooter playing off the ball. It’s BY FAR the best backcourt in the tournament. Amazingly, the team is just as solid upfront. Rakeem Christmas and Justin Anderson provide defensive toughness and even more scoring punch. The talents of his teammates will allow Jakob Poeltl to focus on a rim protection and rebounding. It’s a perfect role for the freshman center.

#3 Team Bennett – @BBennett1111
Head Coach: Bill Self, Kansas
Home Court: Kohl Center (Wisconsin)

It’s only fitting that this team plays in a Big Ten gym. Three of the strongest, toughest guards in the country team up with future top pick Jahlil Okafor, while Bill Self brings along his most consistent player from Kansas. This team will be able to isolate any of its three guards, as well as throw the ball into the post for easy buckets. Perry Ellis is the perfect glue guy for this group as well. He will stretch the floor enough to open lanes for penetration, but will also crash the boards and contribute with copious amounts of dirty work. In the Jay Bilas book Toughness, you’ll find pictures of all five of these guys.

#4 Team Piasecki – @appiasecki
Head Coach: Roy Williams, North Carolina
Home Court: Dean E. Smith Center (North Carolina)

I was absolutely certain that one of these teams would end up loaded with young guys, and that moment has arrived. Team Piasecki features three freshmen, a sophomore, and a senior who has hardly any experience playing against this level of competition. If there’s a team that will become the proverbial deer in the headlights, it’s this group right here. Fortunately, Piasecki landed three of the country’s best freshmen to lead his charge. Seth Tuttle adds an interesting stretch-four dynamic, and Bobby Portis can score without clamoring for post touches. The roster works, but can Roy Williams keep this team confident and focused?

#5 Team Sherman – @shermsports
Head Coach: John Beilein, Michigan
Home Court: Phog Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas)

Good gracious, this team is good. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the real-life coach put together a nearly perfect roster with the perfect coach and a dynamite home court advantage. I’m tempted to forgo all of this simulation nonsense and just hand the tournament title to Coach Sherm.

After watching Ricky Doyle flail around for his Michigan team all year, how refreshed would John Beilein be if he had the opportunity to coach this group of basketball geniuses? Another small miracle worth noting, Sherman picked a team with four white players that doesn’t suck. My only gripe is with Monte Morris. An ideal John Beilein team would probably have a point guard that shoots better than 36% from deep. Replace Morris with Kevin Pangos (who somehow went undrafted) and I would have canceled the whole tournament…or renamed it the Coach Sherm Invitational.

#6 Team Krajewski – @KazKrajewski
Head Coach: Tom Izzo, Michigan State
Home Court: Hinkle Fieldhouse (Butler)

Sniff. I smell a homer. Yogi Ferrell at point guard? Trey Lyles (an Indianapolis native) in the front court? Playing at Hinkle Fieldhouse (only because another Indiana homer picked IU’s Assembly Hall). The best player of this bunch is D’Angelo Russell, but Team Krajewski has a massive glitch in its roster. Russell, by most accounts the best passer in college basketball, will be playing off the ball. Ferrell has to play the point as he doesn’t have the skillset to play the two, and he dominates the ball while playing the one. It looks like the best passer in the country won’t be playing with the ball in his hands. That’s a fatal error.

The additions of Hilliard and Niang don’t inspire much hope either. Niang will struggle to guard the other bigs in this tournament, and Hilliard will be guarding small forwards in this configuration. This could have been handled better. Leaving Yogi and Lyles at home and instead adding a legit small forward and center would have worked wonders.

#7 Team Rude – @JacobRude
Head Coach: Shaka Smart, VCU
Home Court: Assembly Hall (Indiana)

There’s some definite positives to this group. Team Rude has one of the country’s best point guards in VanVleet, and a menacing frontcourt that includes three of the country’s most NBA-ready freshmen. The weak link is Quinn Cook, a player who went from being overrated to being disrespected, and now to being overrated again.

Thanks to the revelation that is Tyus Jones, Cook is now a member of one of the country’s best backcourts, but Jones is the real reason for Cook’s success this year. Cook also presents a problem with the installation of Shaka Smart’s HAVOC defense. Cook can’t guard anybody in this tournament, and the thought of him pressuring the best guards in the country is terrifying. He will present value as a knockdown shooter in the corners, but it will be interesting to see how he operates with a point guard that doesn’t command the same defensive attention as Jones.

#8 Team Smith – @KoolAidKid1990
Head Coach: Greg Marshall, Wichita State
Home Court: Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke)

If we called the five guys on this roster before the draft and told them about this tournament, only Willie Cauley-Stein would have responded by saying, “I’m definitely getting drafted in this.” No disrespect to the other players on Team Smith, but I could only make an argument for Denzel Valentine‘s inclusion after Cauley-Stein.

Oubre and his eclectic haircuts have no place here, and Jordan Mickey may be a year or two away from competing at this level. It’s an all-star tournament, and these guys (excluding Cauley-Stein) lean closer to good than great. The front line is imposing, but I’d be shocked if this team played a third game in this tournament. Where does the scoring come from? Who does Nic Moore guard? Is Oubre even going to show up? Too many questions abound, and too many better players were left on the board.

Team Snub – @DaWordOfGodfrey
Head Coach: Jim Boeheim, Syracuse
Home Court: McKeon Pavilion (St. Mary’s)

This team won’t be playing in the tournament, but if I had to pick a squad from the remaining pool of players, coaches, and arenas I’d roll with this group. I’m shocked that Boatright and Pangos didn’t get picked. Things are more subjective in the frontcourt, but it seems that many of us have forgotten how highly skilled Myles Turner is. Brice Johnson and Branden Dawson are personal picks.

I value length defense and athleticism at the forward spots. Marcus Paige was a noticeable absentee. Certain players would have been perfect fits for particular coaches. Pat Connaughton could be a better fit over Sam Dekker. Team Rude could have replaced Quinn Cook with a more defensive minded guard like Shaka Smart’s actual point man, Briante Weber. Daniel Ochefu and Amida Brimah were also quality rim protectors that were left on the board. Second guessing is always the easiest job in the world, but someone’s got to do it. I’m sure a redraft would probably look a little bit different for most of these teams.

Next: Round 1

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