NCAA Basketball: UNC’s title hopes, to-do list for bubble teams and more weekly takeaways

7) Are you ready for a wide-open NCAA Tournament?

If you can’t tell by all the questions asked in this article, this year’s NCAA Tournament is going to be wild and absolutely unpredictable (we will try, though).

A big part of the reason for this is the parity that has dominated the sport all year. Outside of the top six or seven teams nationally, everyone has been hot and cold at different points in the season, and has been unable to maintain any momentum.

Now there’s even a question about that top group and who the national title favorite should be, as we touched before. I still think a healthy Duke team will be the favorite, but there’s no guarantee they get healthy. Kentucky needs Reid Travis in my opinion, Tennessee has faltered down the stretch, and Gonzaga hasn’t played a top quality team since December.

There are also mid-majors in the mix. Nevada, Buffalo, Wofford, and VCU are all firmly in the field as higher than normal seeds. Yet, while they’ve proven they are better than the teams in their respective conferences, they haven’t proved they can beat high quality teams on a consistent basis. That doesn’t mean they can’t, of course, and is one of the reasons why seeding will be so important this year.

Matchups always matter in determining how far a team can go in the NCAA Tournament, but that will take on even more importance this year because of how even teams seeded No. 3-10 really are.

Anyone will be able to beat anyone and should make for an extremely compelling first weekend.