NCAA Basketball: Busting Brackets Bracketology
By Doug Winkey
2 Seeds: Virginia, Texas A&M, Iowa, Kansas
Texas A&M. The Aggies look to be in the driver seat for the SEC regular season title. They are one game up on South Carolina, Kentucky, and LSU. They also have a fairly easy schedule left, hosting UK and at LSU as the hardest remaining games. TA&M is playing great defense while also being unselfish and efficient on offense. They are the hottest team contender for a number 1 spot from this group.
Kansas Jayhawks
Virginia is a quality team that is among the toughest to score against for yet another year. My issues with the Cavaliers are they don’t rebound well, assist much, or score at a consistent enough rate for my taste. They also have weird losses to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech that could bite them if any more stumbles occur.
Iowa is the Big Ten’s biggest shock this year. The have no bad losses and a ton of quality wins over opponents in the Big Ten and a few in nonconference play. Any other year without someone like Buddy Hield and you have Jarrod Uthoff as the likely player of the year. The Hawkeyes have a very favorable schedule, but they could still lose a couple games at Indiana and at Michigan before winning the conference regular season.
Kansas has fallen victim to the one-and-done trend harder than most other teams this year. Potential first-round picks Cheick Diallo and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk barely contribute in a meaningful way, leaving Perry Ellis and Wayne Seldon to carry much of the load. This is the year the Jayhawks lose the Big 12 regular season, as I don’t see them beating Okahoma, Baylor, or Texas on the road to keep up.
Next: 1 Seeds