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March Madness is officially here and RotoBaller will be giving a full breakdown on each tournament region, including some potential sleepers and busts. Here we'll be taking a look at the South Region.
I'm here to tell you some teams that I believe in - this should help you make the right tournament bracket decisions. Below I analyze the top four seeds, a potential bust, and a potential final four candidate. Hopefully my college basketball predictions can help you win your March Madness brackets. Now let's get to it.
Editor's Note: Be sure to check out the rest of our NCAA tournament columns and advice. Tournament winners/picks, sleepers, busts and breakdowns of each region.
March Madness Picks for the South Region
Top Four Seeds: #1 North Carolina, #2 Kentucky, #3 UCLA, #4 Butler
This region is filled with stars and big name schools. I am so mad the committee put Carolina, Kentucky and UCLA in this region together. It's awful only one of these teams can make it to the Final Four. It's an abomination only UCLA or Kentucky can make it the Elite Eight. I really wish UCLA would've been placed in the Midwest Region in Oregon's spot and Oregon in UCLA's position. Oh well.
This Carolina team seems a bit un-Carolina like this year. I can't figure out what it is, but they don't seem to play with that edge like in recent years. They don't scare me. Carolina may have a battle with Seton Hall in the second round. Hall took Villanova to the wire on Friday night, losing on a put back and-one with 10 seconds left. Seton Hall was 10 seconds away from beating the number- one overall seed Friday night. They are are capable of playing with the best of the best.
Kentucky may face Wichita State in the second round, a rematch from the 2014 game where Kentucky defeated undefeated Wichita State. Wichita State loves to embrace the underdog, nobody believes in us, role. No one is giving any team in this region besides the top three seeds any respect. If Wichita State beats Dayton in the first round, the second round game between Wichita State and Kentucky would be epic.
UCLA is my pick to come out of this region. More on them below.
Butler is a good gritty team, but when I watched them this year, nothing spectacular stood out. They fill the lanes correctly, play good team basketball, but I'm not sure they could beat Carolina if they played them in the Sweet 16. If Butler were to play Seton Hall, that would be the rubber match. Both teams beat each other on the road this year in Big East play.
Most Intriguing Matchup: No. 7 Dayton vs. No. 10 Wichita State
The Shockers are six point favorites over Dayton. What a great job the selection committee. If you care about analytics, Wichita State is the eight best team according to kenpom.com. Dayton is 36th. Dayton won the Atlantic- 10 regular season, but was knocked out by ninth- seeded Davidson in the tournament quarterfinals. Wichita State were the regular season and conference tournament champions of the Missouri Valley Conference. Best of yet, they played their championship game on March 5th. They would have had 12 days off by the time they tip off Friday evening. I have no clue how Wichita State is a 10- seed, but they will prove the committee wrong.
Bust of the Region
Every year since the NCAA expanded the field from 65 to 68, one of the First Four teams have always won multiple games in the tournament. The play-in-game in this region is among 11-seeds Kansas State and Wake Forest. The winner would face Cincinnati. Both K- State and Wake played in much more formidable conferences, Big 12 and ACC, than Cincinnati did, the AAC. It will happen again this year.
Cincinnati isn't a scary team. They have been knocked out the first weekend each of the past four years. Kansas State is a good team, led by NCAA Tournament veteran coach, Bruce Webber. K- State played in a much tougher conference, the Big 12, than Cincinnati did, the AAC. If Wake Forest wins, I'd still take my chances with them over Cincinnati.
Final Four Pick
UCLA. The Bruins have the best player in the country, Lonzo Ball, one of the best shooters, Bryce Alford, incredible mid- range knock down shooter, T.J. Leaf, and they have Aaron Holiday off the bench. They are 18- point favorites over Kent State in the first round, then would have to face Cincinnati, Kansas State, or Wake Forest. None of those teams can keep pace with UCLA. The Sweet 16 would square off UCLA and Kentucky in a rematch of their December game in Lexington, where UCLA won. Don't sleep on Wichita State against Kentucky though. A UCLA- North Carolina potential Elite Eight awaits, if Carolina gets by Seton Hall in the second round.
UCLA has the most fluid offense I've seen all season. All they need is one of their star players to get hot and that can carry them to a win. Most importantly, they can outscore anybody.
