RADIO
Filling out brackets is hardly an exact science.
In the early rounds, even the best among us guess. Some of us more than others, in fact. Sometimes, even your intrepid reporter takes a few stabs in the dark, as the first draft of this article proved.
However, one thing is for certain: Not all of the top teams will make it past the first weekend. Otherwise, they wouldn't call it Madness. RotoBaller picks five teams to avoid when filling out your brackets this time around.
NCAA East Regional
Wichita State, (25-7; Seed: 4th)
The Shockers spent most of the season in the national rankings—and in our weekly RotoBaller Top 10. But: We don’t think much of the AAC. Wichita State deserves to be here, for sure, but we’re not sure they can—or will—compete with the big boys from the ACC, Big East and Big Ten, even with Landry Shamet (15.0 PPG/3.1 RPG/5.1 APG) running the show.
NCAA Midwest Regional
Auburn, (25-7; Seed: 4th)
The Tigers were the best team in the SEC for most of the regular season, but they stumbled in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, and that doesn’t augur well. We don’t see them hanging around all that long in this tournament either.
NCAA West Regional
Michigan, (28-7; Seed: 3rd)
The Wolverines are among the nation’s hottest teams, coming into the Big Dance riding a nine-game winning streak, which includes four straight victories to clinch the Big Ten Championship. Still, we’re not sold on them. Junior forward Moritz Wagner is a beast inside (14.5 PPG/7.1 RPG), but stop him and you stop the Maize and Blue.
NCAA South Regional
Cincinatti, (30-4; Seed: 2nd)
We know. We had the Bearcats in our rankings for most of the season, and yet we’re trashing them here. What gives? Well, Cincy doesn’t have that star player that always seems to come to the fore in March, and while it has a solid starting five, roster depth is lacking. They'll get out of the first round; after that, all bets are off.
Tennessee, (25-8; Seed: 3rd)
The Vols made it all the way to the SEC championship game (which they lost to Kentucky), but this was a down season for the SEC—at least in hoops. Nobody really jumps off the statsheet for Tennessee, except for Admiral Schofield (on the strength of his name alone). Schofield is built like Barkley (13.6 PPG/6.2 RPG), but he doesn’t play like him—yet. He won’t be enough to take Tennessee on a run.
