2019 NCAA Tournament: Knuckle dusters and bracket busters

2019 NCAA Tournament: Knuckle dusters and bracket busters

The 2019 NCAA Tournament brackets are out! The brackets are out! The NCAA tournament is the single greatest spectacle in American Sports. Yeah, the World Series is fun to watch, but it rarely has the chaos involved in the NCAA tournament. Daytona 500? Yeah, it’s a historic event, but they are still driving in a circle. The Super Bowl? Don’t even get me started on what a farce that is. The first four days of the NCAA tournament are better than any drama anywhere for the rest of the year! Enjoy it! brackets are out! The brackets are out! The NCAA tournament is the single greatest spectacle in American Sports. Yeah, the World Series is fun to watch, but it rarely has the chaos involved in the NCAA tournament. Daytona 500? Yeah, it’s a historic event, but they are still driving in a circle. The Super Bowl? Don’t even get me started on what a farce that is. The first four days of the NCAA tournament are better than any drama anywhere for the rest of the year! Enjoy it!

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For those of you that do the bracket games, I will unveil all of my picks by Wednesday night. For those of you that play the round by round games, I will also put my picks out there after every round as well. There will be something for everyone!

In the preview, I will give you a favorite, and dark horse team (which would be a four seed or higher than could win the region), a team to watch for, overseeded and underseeded teams, and of course, a double digit seed most likely to win one or more games.

If you want to try to take down the writers at Fantasy CPR, come join the bracket pool on ESPN! Here is the link: http://fantasy.espn.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/2019/en/group?groupID=3375193

We will get started with the East regional!

2019 NCAA Tournament: East region capsule

Favorite: Duke. The number one overall seed is once again in the East, and it looks like an easy road for Duke with Zion Williamson back. Of course, in March nothing is easy. Duke is riding a streak of only one Final Four since 2011. That was the championship team of 2015. Duke is the odds on favorite to win this year, and it’s easy to see why. However, we also saw what happened when this team was without Williamson.

Watch out for: Michigan State. Teams with outstanding guard play can go far in the tournament. Michigan State has that. They are also a well rounded team and possibly the most dangerous two seed. However, the looming second round matchup with Louisville scares me. If the Spartans get past that, it’s gravy. They have a puncher’s chance at Duke and get the winner of the weak West region.

Dark Horse: Virginia Tech. The Hokies beat Duke a couple of weeks ago without Zion Williamson, but their blueprint in winning that game holds true. They rattled Duke in that game with smothering defense. The Hokies have the best chance to beat Duke in this region. Hey, I didn’t say it was a good chance…..

Begging To Be Upset: Maryland. This is a bad draw for Maryland. Bruno Fernandez is going to cause issues for Belmont, but we just saw the Bruins win the most important game in school history with their best player scoring only five points. Maryland is an enigmatic team. Belmont is the opposite. They are well rounded and great shooters.

Overseeded: Mississippi State. I can’t really argue with much of the seeding here, but I kind of think the SEC got breaks all over the seeding lines. I can’t really disagree with LSU as a three, but Mississippi State feels overvalued as a five. Well, it’s good TV to place a five out there to be upset. Everyone loves the 12-5 upset.

Underseeded: Louisville. The Cardinals played nine games against teams with a 1 or 2 seed in the tournament. That’s where a lot of those losses came from. It’s also skewing their record a bit. Get them out of the ACC, and they could break a bracket. After all, this team already beat Michigan State once this year. The Spartans can’t be happy to see them as a first weekend opponent.

Cinderella: Belmont. This team isn’t just Windler. They proved that last night. I do like Liberty’s matchup in the first round, but even if they beat the Bulldogs, they aren’t getting past Virginia Tech. Belmont should probably be favored against Maryland and has a good shot at LSU that could get more than they bargain for in a good Yale team.

On to the West regional!

2019 NCAA Tournament: West region capsule

Favorite: Gonzaga. This is the team that always goes unnoticed on the west coast. However, Gonzaga took down college heavyweight Duke earlier this year, and continues to dominate a solid WCC conference. This could be better than the 2017 team that made it all the way to the National Final. I would say they probably have less holes.

Watch out for: Texas Tech. The co-Big 12 regular season champs ended Kansas’ reign of terror over the conference. They didn’t do it by accident. Texas Tech made the elite eight last year led by Jarrett Culver. He’s still there. The Red Raiders have a much better draw this year than last year as well.

Dark Horse: Florida State. The Seminoles were an elite eight team last year as well. Their size on the inside is going to be an issue for most teams. The exception to that is their first round opponent in Vermont. If FSU is able to survive that, the Seminoles could make a run trough this region.

Begging To Be Upset: Marquette. The Eagles enter the tournament on a skid, losing five of the last six games. They have the best 12 seed as their matchup and are far from Milwaukee. This is not shaping up well for Marquette. This is a talented team that is slumping and got a bad draw because of it.

Overseeded: Marquette. Usually teams that enter on a slide like this don’t get this favorable of a seed. However, it’s a minor gripe. The seeding seems to be pretty spot on this year. I do think that the committee likes put struggling teams on the five seed just to feed that 12-5 motif.

Underseeded: Nevada. You could argue Buffalo, and I would listen to that argument as well. Both Buffalo and Nevada got terrible draws here and could be out before they get a chance to bust a bracket. Florida is a really bad draw for the Wolfpack, but Nevada is the only elite scoring team in the bottom half of this bracket. If they get going, Nevada could wind up in the elite eight.

Cinderella: Murray State. Ja Morant is one of the more exciting players in the entire tournament, and this grand spectacle is one of the few places where an elite guard can carry a team. Danny Manning and Kansas. Steph Curry and Davidson. Will it be Ja Morant and Murray State? It sure could be.

Next up is the South regional!

2019 NCAA Tournament: South region capsule

Favorite: Virginia. I almost want to pick the Cavs to win the whole thing again. If you are looking for the most well rounded team, Virginia is in that discussion. They are a great defensive team and possibly have their best scoring bunch of this recent run. I don’t really see a poor matchup in this region for Virginia.

Watch out for: Tennessee. Any team that sits at number one during a season is going to be a tough out. Tennessee beat Gonzaga earlier this year, but a couple of losses to Auburn dropped them to the two line. Make no mistake though. This is a good team. The Vols beat fellow two seed Kentucky by 19 earlier this year.

Dark Horse: Villanova. The weakest middle seeds are in this region. So much so that you would think Virginia is the top overall seed. Villanova had a rough stretch through the Big East, but they still are the conference champs and won the conference tournament. This is an experienced team. Not as much as last year, but many of these guys were on that championship run as well. They know what it takes come tournament time.

Begging To Be Upset: Kansas State. The Wildcats made an elite eight run last year without Dean Wade. They were also in Virginia’s region. The bad news for K-State is they will either draw a Wisconsin team that will bully them or an Oregon team that will run them into the ground. If Wade was able to play, I could see Kansas State winning this region. Now, this looks like a bad draw.

Overseeded: Oklahoma. The Sooners are lucky to be in at all. They beat a watered down Kansas team and lost to Big 12 bottom feeder West Virginia twice. With Jamauni McNease this was a really good team. Without McNease at full strength, Oklahoma is a team with some talent, but they are mostly average.

Underseeded: Villanova. They won the Big East and the Big East tourney. You could argue that St. Mary’s is underseeded as well. Nova got a bad draw and a bad seen. However, if they can sneak past St. Mary’s, this draw really isn’t terrible. Purdue is overseeded again as well and the Wildcats are good enough to beat Tennessee on a good day.

Cinderella: Oregon. The Ducks are the hottest team running right now. Their reward for winning the Pac 12 tourney is a good draw. The Badgers are slow and plodding, which could work against Oregon, but this team isn’t as undersized as they usually are. Oregon hit their stride at the right time.How long can this hot streak last?

2019 NCAA Tournament: Midwest region capsule

Favorite: North Carolina. Teams really started paying attention to the Tarheels after they routed Duke, but they were good even before then. I don’t know that I agree with three ACC teams getting number once seeds. Carolina may be the weakest of the three, but they also have a pretty tough region.

Watch out for: Kentucky. The Wildcats are always dangerous no matter what the seeding or what their record. This team is a bit inconsistent, but when they are on, they can play with anyone. Few teams can match the athletes that Kentucky has. If the shots are falling, look out.

Dark Horse: Iowa State. On the surface, not much looks special about the Cyclones. However, any team that wins a tournament like the Big 12 tournament is a force to be reckoned with. The Cyclones beat both Kansas teams twice and Texas Tech in Lubbock. Marial Shayok can take over a game on his own.

Begging To Be Upset: Kansas. Without Udoka Azubuike, Kansas is a pretty average team. They are also missing deSousa, who was a huge part of their tournament run last year. Lagerald Vick still hasn’t been reinstated. That’s a lot missing from a team to have them seeded this high. Add to that the fact that Northeastern is one of the best shooting teams in the country, and you have a recipe for a big upset.

Overseeded: Kansas. I get that this is for the body of work for the whole season. However, Kansas is just 10-7 since January 19th. There is no reason for them to be seeded this high, especially after getting blown out by Iowa State in the Big12 tournament.

Underseeded: Wofford. The Terriers are ranked 19th in the country and they got a seven seed. On top of that, they get Kentucky as the two seed in their bracket. Ouch.

Cinderella: Northeastern. It’s going to be all or nothing with Northeastern here. Teams that live by just shooting the ball will die the same way. That means Northeastern could take down Kansas, Auburn, or even UNC. Or they could lose by 30 in the first round.

Stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all of the DFS you can handle. We will also have the round by round picks just in case your brackets are burned by Friday!