After all of the waiting, March Madness is finally here, and there are now 68 teams left with a chance to win it all. Of course, four teams have been seen as having a better shot than the other 64, which is why they have the top seeds in each regional bracket. Let’s take a look at each of these top bettings seeds for March Madness and evaluate their chances of making it to the Final Four in Houston.
Predicting Top Four Seeds for 2016 March Madness
South Region
Kansas is the top seed here — and I would argue that they might be the only deserving top seed in the entire tournament. They get Austin Peay in the first round, and then they face the winner of Colorado and Connecticut. I think that Connecticut will knock off the Buffaloes, but even Kevin Ollie’s pesky bunch will not have enough to knock off Kansas. Then, they get the survivor of Maryland, S. Dakota State, Cal and Hawaii. Even if Cal can emerge from that group as the top seed — and getting by Hawaii will be hard enough — they don’t have the tools to handle Kansas. The best seed on the other side of the bracket is Villanova, and while I think the Big East might be a tougher basketball conference than the Big 12, I don’t think Villanova will beat Kansas — they just too many tough weapons. So I see Kansas as the only #1 seed who will appear in the Final Four.
East Region
North Carolina is the top seed in this bracket somehow, and I don’t even think they are the scariest team on their side of the bracket. #4 Kentucky and #5 Indiana have more of an upside to me, particularly in the second half of the season. It would be a shock if USC or Providence knocked the Tar Heels off in the Round of 32, but it’s a lot more believable than any of the other 1-seeds failing to make the Sweet 16. On the other side of the bracket you have at least three teams — West Virginia, Notre Dame and Xavier — who might be favorites in a regular-season matchup against North Carolina. So if the Tar Heels are still around in the Elite Eight round, I definitely see one of those other three teams (I’m picking Xavier to do it) knocking them out before the Final Four.
West Region
Yes, Oregon swept the Pac-12 conference schedule at home and then won the conference tournament. I see them knocking off their play-in foe, but St. Joe’s or Cincinnati could give them a scare in the round of 32. Then you have three scary teams in the other side of the sub-bracket in Baylor, Duke and even Yale, which swept the Ivy League and gave some ranked teams some scares during the early part of the regular season. On the other side of the bracket you have a bunch of flawed teams in Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Texas as the top seeds, but Oregon also lacks that defensive presence that makes teams think twice. I think that either Baylor or Duke will stop Oregon in the Sweet 16.
Midwest Region
Virginia is the creakiest of the four top seeds. Yes, they have built a lot of respectability in ACC play over the past few years, during the regular season, but they have not been able to turn that into tournament gold. After they polish off Hampton, they have the winner of Texas Tech and Butler, both of whom have made meals out of much better teams this season. The other side of the Elite Eight will probably have Purdue or Iowa State waiting — and I don’t see either of those teams beating Virginia’s stolid style. However, Seton Hall, Utah, or Syracuse could provide trouble in the regional final — and that’s assuming that the #2 seed, Michigan State, doesn’t make it to the regional final. I think that the Spartans would have enough resentment at not getting the top seed to beat Virginia by 15 in that regional final if they meet.
