Editor’s note: This week’s edition of “Hello. My name is …” was written Wednesday prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
Every year around this time, I take time to fill out a bracket for the NCAA Tournament. When I say time, I don’t mean a whole lot of time.
I don’t follow every single college basketball game throughout the season, but I do have a slight idea of who’s been good during the year.
So, when it’s time to make my picks, I truthfully just go by gut-feeling.
There’s no rhyme or reason. There’s no method in the madness. For most if not all these picks, I’m just going on a hunch.
But the reason I take the five minutes or so to fill one out every year may be the same reason some of you do also: just for fun, and to see how messed up my bracket is by the end of the first round.
If any of you have a perfect bracket by the end of the tournament, please email me the winning numbers for the California lotto.
As for the women’s tournament, as much as I’d like Stanford to win because I’ll rep for the school from the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ll just fast forward and say UConn is going to win. Seriously, the Huskies are so dominant, there’s no point.
Full-disclosure, I’m not a bracket-filling professional. But here are a couple of my predictions for this year’s tournament.
Enjoy the Madness everybody:
No. 12 Davidson upsets No. 5 Kentucky in South Regional first round
It seems every year there’s a team seeded 10th or below that upsets the higher seed that has no business getting booted in the first round. This is the game I’m choosing for such occasion.
I know. John Calipari is a great coach and a recruiting machine. But this year’s Wildcats doesn’t feel like previous teams.
This doesn’t feel like a Kentucky team that’s surefire to reach the Final 4 and has three or four first-round draft picks in their starting five. I feel this team can be beat early in the tournament.
Perhaps I’m just nostalgic, and I want Davidson to recreate their magical run to the Elite 8 from 2008. On that roster was one Stephen Curry.
From what I’ve read, Davidson can rain three- pointers, which could equal first-round upset.
Side note: Kentucky Wildcats. Davidson Wildcats. Arizona Wildcats. How many other teams in this tournament are named Wildcats?
Gonzaga, Arizona, Villanona, Duke reach Final 4
This is probably because there’s a couple of Gonzaga fans in this newsroom, and I’ve been hearing all year about how great this team is and that the school should move to a more competitive conference.
But, here it is. After filling up my bracket, here’s who I got in the Final 4: No. 4 Arizona (South) vs. No. 4 Gonzaga (West), and No. 1 Villanova (East) vs. No. 2 Duke (Midwest).
Gonzaga was last year’s NCAA runner-up and were slightly edged by North Carolina in the championship game, so picking the Zags here isn’t exactly a stretch.
But the real reason I want Gonzaga to make a deep tourney run: Rui Hachimura, a biracial native of Japan who I’ve heard has become Bulldogs crowd favorite.
According to a feature by Fox Sports last year, Hachimura is the first Japan native to play in the NCAA tournament and is believed to be just the fifth player from Japan to play for a Division I school in the U.S.
It would be very cool if he added to that list that he’s the first Japanese player to win an NCAA Division I championship. As far as what I’ve found researching online, it hasn’t happened yet.
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Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
