My Underwhelming NCAA Tournament Bracket

Prepare to see my underwhelming NCAA Tournament Bracket! As I was going through it wasn't until I got to the National Championship that I realized I went pretty much all chalk. I was a bit disappointed, but then remembered last year was anything but chalk... the sports gods will adjust.

In the 2023 Final Four there were no one seeds, two seeds, or three seeds. There were two fives, a four and a nine! That's just not going to happen two years in a row. So as I went through my NCAA Tournament Bracket for this year's games I realized that I haven't really watched much college basketball this year. With no Philadelphia teams making much noise at all, plus life just getting in the way, I've been checked out.

We joked with Cindy Graham, who does our traffic reports, that she'll probably do the best out of the 3 of us in the mornings. It's because she watches zero sports, cares nothing about the tournament and picked her winner because she has auburn hair.

In my round of 64 I have some lower seeds knocking off higher seeds. A nine seed Northwestern upsetting eighth seed Florida Atlantic isn't much to talk about, but Drake over Washington State gives you a bit of a thrill if you're looking for the next NCAA Tournament Cinderella. My bigger 1st round upsets are 12 seed James Madison over five seed Wisconsin, because a 12/5 matchup is always prime for an upset. Then 11 seeded NC State beating six seeded Texas Tech. Why not!

After the first round I've got it pretty chalky the rest of the way through. In the sweet 16 I still have the top four seeds in the East, West and South all surviving. In the Midwest it's one, five, six and two. From their the eight gets even more chalk, the top two seeds in every bracket. Next year I'll just borrow some of my kids chalk and fill it out that way. UConn, Arizona, Houston and Purdue in the Final Four. That's three #1 seeds and a #2!

Finally it's what most people want to see outside of the round of 64, the best teams playing for a championship. It's UConn over Purdue, making UConn the first back-to-back champions since the Florida Gators did it in 2006 and 2007.

To get you started for the best four days in sports, here it is, in all it's underwhelming glory... Steve NCAA Tournament Bracket.

We're into March, and it's official championship time in the 2024 men's college basketball season. Right now, games are being played that will help determine which teams will make it into the much-coveted NCAA tournament and March Madness. So, which teams should top your bracket?

The No. 1 seeds are no surprise, for the most part. There's no way any other teams will be able to top Purdue, Houston and Connecticut. But, the rest is up for grabs.

Before we get into the rankings, let's learn some fun facts about the NCAA Tournament. The very first March Madness started on March 17, 1939, according to BleacherNation.com. They also note that the first tournament in college basketball history had only eight teams. Oregon won the NCAA Division I Championship that year, with a 46-33 win over Ohio State. As for huge upsets, and I remember this one, during the 2018 NCAA Tournament, UMBC beat No. 1 seed Virginia 74-54. That marked the first time in NCAA history a No. 16 seed beat a number 1.

What are the odds of you getting a perfect bracket? Not good. Not good at all. According to the NCAA, you have a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (9 quintillion) chance to make a perfect bracket. If you really know nothing about college basketball knowledge, your odds become 1 in 120.2 billion. So, don't bet the house or first born on your bracket. That's so crazy. For years, I was really good at doing brackets and even won in some bracket pools with coworkers and friends. But, then I stopped doing brackets for a few years, because I wanted to enjoy the game. Now, I'm back and ready to do a bracket again this year. My team, the Michigan State Spartans, have not been doing well lately. But, there's time, and hopefully they can turn things around. Fingers crossed.

Let's get into our March Madness 2024 power rankings.

Marquette has performed consistently well all season, and they have been falling around the No. 10 mark when ranked against the other NCAA teams. When their defense is weak, their offense is strong, and you can flip that, too. Now, if they can get both going at once, we'll have something extra special.

I remember the Coach K era of the Duke Blue Devils, so it's definitely not the same watching Duke without him in action. But, they're still a solid team with legacy. They're especially strong this year.

The Creighton Bluejays have some star players in Trey Alexander, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Baylor Scheierman. What's even better is that these players seem to be getting better as the season progresses. That's especially true of the latter.

The Iowa State Cyclones have been strong all season, and they're not letting up now. They also have a star player in Demarion Watson, who kind of broke out of nowhere later in the season.

While the North Carolina Tar Heels aren't quite at the level of Purdue, UConn and Houston, meaning they aren't a No. 1 seed, they're close. They have great stats and when they shine, they really shine. They could surprise everyone in the tourney.

The Tennessee Volunteers are having a great season, and star player Jonas Aidoo is largely to thank. But, Aidoo has fallen a bit short lately. Hopefully he's just resting up for a big tourney season.

The Arizona Wildcats are one of the big teams to beat in 2024. They've been dominating both in offense and defense. There's no question that the Cats should be contenders for the Final Four.

The Houston Cougars will be a No. 1 seed, and they've earned it. They have an incredible record and are very difficult to trip up. Will they go all the way? Time will tell. But, their most recent wins were all close, so there's that.

The UConn Huskies have a solid coach in Dan Hurley, and he's really helped shape this team into champions. The Huskies have a legacy, and he's carrying that forward. They could absolutely go all the way this year.

Okay, so Purdue has some weaknesses. But, I follow the Big Ten closely (since Michigan State is in there), and they just always seem to pull off a win. The Boilermakers could really make this their year. Fletcher Loyer and Zach Edey are some of their stars.