Ty Watches the 2023 NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament

I have watched a ton of college basketball in my life and I think this weekend may be the wildest weekend of men's college basketball I have ever watched. There are always upsets.There is always a 12 or 13 seed that goes further than any of us expected. There is always a blue blood that bows out much sooner than we all predicted. But it feels like this tournament has had all of that, and then some.

The first day of March Madness gave us a 15 over a 2 seed. Princeton took down Arizona. I was a believer in Arizona. I had them going to the title game in most of my brackets. I had them in the final four in every bracket I filled out. Princeton beat them and did it pretty handily considering the background of each team. My brackets were busted on day one.

But that wasn't it. Virginia got bounced by 13 seed Furman on day one. This seems to be Virginia's new MO. They had the one title season, and no one can take that away from them, but the three other tournaments they have been to they have been knocked out by a double digit seed. That was more than enough to make day one crazy.

Day two came even harder. I was travelling with my dad and son, more on that to come this week, and Friday night had some wild outcomes. Florida Atlantic beat Memphis on a last second shot and Penny Hardaway chucked a water bottle. I would have done the exact same thing. That had to be wildly frustrating. Creighton and NC State traded buckets and played a very entertaining game. Oscar Tshibewe had 25 rebounds in Kentucky's win. Xavier had to make a furious comeback against Kennesaw State, and just barely did. Pitt held Iowa State to 41 total points.

Yet the upset to end all upsets came at the hands of Fairleigh Dickinson. I'm so sorry for RD's wife, but Purdue blew that game. FDU's average height is 6'1. Purdue has two 7 footers. One of which is 7'4 Zach Edey. He did his job, but Purdue couldn't hit a three to save their lives. FDU also ran and ran and ran all game long. They also made the plays when they needed to be made. They did the scrappy stuff and for the second time ever, a 16 seed beat a 1 seed, and they deserved the win. Purdue showed up like they were going to win by just walking on the floor. FDU had other ideas and shocked the world.

If that wasn't enough, the weekend gave us games just as wild as the first two days. Princeton came out and cruised over Mizzou. Again, sorry to RD, but those "nerds" did beat Mizzou's ass. They earned the sweet sixteen birth. Creighton also came out and smoked Baylor last night. Creighton looks like a sleeping giant right now. Florida Atlantic ended FDU's run, but it was a good, close game. FDU came out and played well again, FAU just played better. Tennessee beat Duke, and I loved it. Anytime Duke gets beat that is a good day for me as a basketball fan. Kansas State beat up on Kentucky. Maybe Coach Cal isn't the genius some think he is. He is a great recruiter, but his X's and O's need a lot of work. Michigan State came out and dominated the team I was rooting for, Marquette, yesterday. I despise that team and their coach, but they are made for March. Miami continued, for the most part, the downfall of the Big 10. Outside of MSU, the Big 10 has been wildly underwhelming and Miami crushed the Big 10 preseason favorite, Indiana. Penn State gave Texas a game, but in the end, Texas' talent won out. That was a fun game though. Gonzaga actually won a close game against a power five team. I was pulling for the Zags, but I thought they were going to blow it. This time they figured it out. Kansas is not going to repeat as champs. Arkansas played a better game and pulled out a close win. It was a sight to behold after the game too. Their coach went shirtless in the cheering crowd and their star player gave a phenomenal postgame interview. I'm not an Arkansas fan, but it was dope to see them win and how excited they were afterward. And try as they might, Northwestern couldn't knock off UCLA. The Bruins would build a lead, but the Wildcats kept climbing back in it. This game was in doubt with a minute left, but UCLA, namely Tyger Campbell, made their free throws, and may be one of the main favorites going forward.

All in all this weekend was wild and incredible. It helps that Michigan is not in the tourney. I'd be a lot more uptight if they were. This way I get to watch with no real rooting interest. And this weekend gave me some fun basketball to watch. Hopefully the rest of the tournament is half as fun as this past weekend was. But it is going to be a tough act to follow. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ty's 2022 - 2023 College Basketball Preview

Wrapping up all of my basketball previews, today I am coming to you all with my men's NCAA basketball preview. Full disclosure, I do not really pay attention to college basketball until the college football season is over. I will watch games on nights that college football is not on, but I do not focus on any team except Michigan. So take this preview with a humongous grain of salt. I did look at the preseason polls, which are totally useless, but that is what I'm going to go off of to do this preview.

With all that, UNC is preseason number 1. They have a ton of returning talent. They were in the title game last year, they maybe should have won it and they appear to be absolutely loaded. They have a very, very good team with great experience.

Gonzaga is number 2, but I am done with that team. They are always ranked in the top 5, they always win a ton of regular season games, they get a 1 seed in the tourney and they get beat much earlier than they should. I wrote about it a while ago, but I'm done with Gonzaga. They are paper champs.

Rounding out the top 5 we have Houston, who will play tremendous defense, Kentucky, who has reloaded, has a great returning star in Oscar Tishbiwe and will be much better this season than last and Baylor is 5. They play very good defense, they have shooters and they have experience.

From there on out in the top 25 we have a ton of blue bloods. KU is in the top 10. They are always great. Duke has a new coach, but it is much the same. They have a great group of freshmen coming in and they are extremely talented. UCLA may not have Johnny Juzang, they still have a great core of dudes that have played together for more than two years now. Creighton is in the top 10 and I cannot name one single player. But this seems to be the case every year. There is always one team in the non power 5 other than Gonzaga that are always highly rated. It must be due to the camaraderie and the years of playing together. Teams like Creighton have so much depth and familiarity with each other and that pays dividends in the long run. Creighton will win a game in the tourney against a much more talented team simply due to the fact that they know how to play off one another. And then there is Arkansas. Arkansas is fast, athletic, plays awesome defense and I'm sure they have some dope transfers coming in. Then we have teams like Tennessee, who is getting great recruits every year, Texas, who recruits college basketball transfers like USC does with college football transfers, TCU, who is loaded with experience and Auburn, who gets elite talent seemingly every season now.

From the Big Ten we have Indiana, loaded with depth, experience, a great coach and solid recruits, Illinois, who has a tough coach and tough players, Michigan State, who play an elite style of basketball and always peak at the right time, The University of Ohio State, who is a solid 20 win team and Michigan, who has Hunter Dickinson, an elite point guard transfer and a solid recruiting class coming in. The Big Ten should be a bloodbath yet again.

Rounding it out we have teams like Oregon, always a threat, San Diego State, maybe the best defense in college basketball, Arizona, who is getting better and better every season lately, Villanova, who has some elite recruits coming in, Texas Tech, who play an old school style of basketball and Dayton, who has Obi Toppin's little brother and an up and coming head coach.

Men's college basketball is very wide open this season. Last year we did have UNC and KU in the title game, which is as blue blood as it gets, but it was still a surprise, a fun one at that, to get a title game like that. It was a blast.

As for my picks for the Final Four this year, I do not know. What I do know, I'm not picking Gonzaga again. Never, ever again. If I had to pick a Final Four right at this moment I'd say, UNC, Houston, Kentucky and Creighton. I'd put UNC and Houston in the title game. And I'm picking UNC to win it all this year. They are stacked. I do think Tishbiwe from Kentucky is going to win Player of the Year. As for the top pick in the NBA draft, well he will not be playing in college this season. Victor Webayama will be the first pick and he is playing professionally in France. And the second pick, Scoot Henderson will be playing in the G League. So who knows who will be the stud from college basketball. But I'm sure there are some incoming freshmen who will blow up this season and I will learn about them halfway through the season.

Okay there it is, there is my men's NCAA basketball preview for the 2022-23 season. And that wraps up all of my 22-23 basketball previews. Enjoy the season everyone.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty's 2022 Men's College Basketball Tournament Preview

The men's and women's NCAA basketball brackets are out now. I am going to do my men's preview today, but I do want it to be known that I am super stoked and ready to root for Michigan's women's team, who got a 3 seed and host two games. Go Blue! But how I will do my preview today, I will pick the four winners of each region, a surprise team in each region, the title game matchup, winner and the player of the tournament. As for "snubs" or whatever, I do think Texas A&M deserved to get in after they made a run to the SEC title game and I do think Tennessee should have been a 2 and not a 3. Other than that, it seems like the committee got something right for once in their lives. You can disagree with me, but this definitely seems like the proper 68 teams to have in the tourney this season. Anyway, let's get to it.

I'll start in the West, which has the overall number 1 seed, Gonzaga. The Zags are no longer Cinderella. They are the best team in college basketball. They have been all year. They have two guys that could win player of the year. They played a tougher out of conference schedule. They are built for March. And I do think they will roll to the final four in this region. The only real threat I could see is maybe Duke or Texas Tech. Duke is very good, they have beaten Gonzaga once already this year, but they are young and they have yet to put together a real full game. Tech is old and rugged, but they will not be able to slow down the Zgas, or even if they do, the Zags can run their offense in the half court through Drew Timme, and they will be just fine. The Zags will also have a tough second round matchup with either Boise State or Memphis, but they should get through that pretty unscathed. As far as my "sleeper" team, I have to go with Davidson. They can score in bunches, are older and are a pretty well oiled machine. I think they will get by Michigan State in round one, give Duke a scare, and if they win that game, I could see them play Gonzaga in the Elite Eight before their season ends.

Onto the East. Baylor is the number 1 seed here. While not the elite level team they were last year, they are still very good and play very good defense. Unfortunately their lack of outside shooting will be the downfall in their effort to win back to back titles. I love Saint Mary's here. They are so solid, play very well on both ends of the floor and beat Gonzaga once and took them to the wire a second time. I also really like Kentucky. John Calipari has a great collection of older and younger talent. Oscar Tshibewe is going to win player of the year, and he deserves it. TyTy Washington is a very good floor general. They have shooting and play good defense. But I think this is where the Big 10 gets a final four team. I have faith, maybe too much, in Purdue. They seemingly have everything you could want in a college team. Depth, size, scoring from everywhere. Purdue is good, and I have them making it out of the East. As for my "sleeper", I like Murray State to win their opener, and put a very real scare into Kentucky before bowing out.

Now let's go to the Midwest. Kansas is the 1, and they should get to the final four with almost as much ease as I expect Gonzaga to out West. Kansas is so good, so deep, so talented, they have it all. They also have an awesome coaching staff. This KU team, on paper, is too good to sabotage itself. I do like Auburn, although I despise their coach. Jabari Smith could be the number one pick in the upcoming draft, and Walker Kessler may be the best transfer in the nation. They also have good guards on this team. Iowa is red hot coming into the tourney, and Keegan Murray is playing like a lottery pick. Wisconsin has kind of fluttered near the end, but Johnny Davis is amazing. And USC has size and length everywhere on the floor. But KU is the team to beat here. They should coast to the final four. As for my "sleeper" here, I have South Dakota State. They lead the country in scoring, they make a ton of threes and they have incredible camaraderie. They are a very, very good mid-major, and they can make a push to the Sweet Sixteen and it would not surprise me.

Finally, we have the South. Arizona is the 1 here, and they have come out of nowhere to win 31 games and coast into the tournament. They also won the Pac 12 tourney. They also have a few pros on their team. They are really, really good. They also got a very tough draw. Villanova is the 2, and they are as solid as they come. Tennessee is the 3, and they had a shot to be a number 1 seed in some brackets. Illinois is the 4 and they have one of the biggest, and most skilled big men I have ever watched. And Houston is a 5, and they are so, so, so good. I'd love to pick another Big 10 team, but I do not have that much faith in Illinois unfortunately. But, kind of out of the box, but not really, I like Houston to make a run to the final four. They just seem due. Kelvin Sampson has rebuilt that program and they have been knocking on the door the past couple of years. As for my "sleeper", I have Chattanooga. They are built like a power 5 team that just happens to play in a mid-major conference. I do think they will beat Illinois in round one and they will be the only real scare Houston gets before they make their run. And, I would be remiss if I did not talk about Michigan getting the 11 seed here. I am stunned they got in. I am even more shocked they do not have to play a first four game. They have been wildly consistent all season, yet they are in the dance. And I could even see them winning their first game against Colorado State. They actually kind of matchup well with that team. I think they will get hammered by Tennessee if they win that first game. But it would be exactly how their up and down season should, and most likely will end.

So, my final four is Gonzaga, Purdue, Kansas and Houston. That is two power 5 teams and two mid-majors, although I think we all can agree that Gonzaga is a legit title contender. They should be the favorites. As for my title game, I am going with Gonzaga and Kansas. They have just looked and felt like the two best teams all year. As for the winner, this is the year that the Zags will finally break through and win it all. They are too talented and too well coached not to. I also think they learned a lot from getting annihilated by Baylor last season. As for the player of the tournament, I will go with presumed number 1 pick Chet Holmgen. I have a feeling he will bust out in a big way.

There you have it, my NCAA men's basketball tournament preview. As I say every year, take this with a big grain of salt. The games start in a few days, and I cannot wait. Happy March Madness everyone.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

The SeedSing 2017 Wild Guesses about Men's College Basketball

Due to my NCAA football mid season redo, and the horror that was the Arby's "venison" sandwich, I forgot to do my men's NCAA basketball preview. I usually like to finish off my NBA countdown and predictions with a quick look at the upcoming NCAA men's basketball season. Other things got in the way, but I am here today to, as I have done the last 2 years a wild shot in the dark at who will be the best in men's college basketball.

Two things real quick before I get into it though. First, UCONN women's team will rebound from that shocking defeat to Mississippi State in last year's final four, and destroy everyone on their way back to being the preeminent women's NCAA basketball program. Second, I still very much dislike the "one and done" culture that has taken over men's college basketball. I have to take wild shots because I do not know the majority of the players that are on the big time teams. Every year, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, they all have 4 or 5 new guys that I have never heard of, I do not watch high school sports because I am an adult, yet they are all at the top of the rankings. There is also this FBI investigation that is currently going on has put an even bigger wrench in my knowledge of men's college basketball. Had this not been let out to the public, Louisville would be one of the teams I expect to make a deep tournament run. Now, they are going to be trash and not do anything of note this year. Arizona is involved in this case. I'm sure Kansas and any other Adidas school may have to come forth and admit some kind of wrong doing. Also, UNC got very, very, very lucky that they did not get in any trouble for academic fraud. I still do not buy the fact that the investigation found no real wrong doings, but for now, they are out of trouble. Had they gotten in trouble, it would have made my preseason preview that much more difficult. Okay, all the house cleaning is out of the way, lets get to my 2017-18 men's college basketball preseason preview.

I'm not going to go conference by conference, instead I'm going to use the preseason USA Today Top 25 and talk about the teams on their list, and some possible surprises. I will also, as I always do, talk the most about the Big Ten. At the end I will have my final four team, my title game matchup and my national title winner. I will also take a guess at Player of the Year.

At number one, USA Today has Duke. Surprise surprise. I guess they got the number one overall high school player to commit there, and that pushed them to number one overall. I do not know who else they have, with one exception, Grayson Allen. Screw Grayson Allen and any fan of his. The kid is not that good at basketball, and he is a dirty jerk of a player. I'm sure Duke will be very good, they always are, but I will continue to root actively against them.

The rest of the top 10 has Michigan State, Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona, Villanova, Florida, Wichita State, UNC and West Virginia. I'll give one or 2 quick observations on each team. Michigan State had a "down" year for them last year going 20-15, but Miles Bridges, one player I do know, is back, and this team looks to be loaded again. Tom Izzo has a very good team this year. Kansas has a slew of great freshman coming in, but they also have a few upperclassmen that will be their most important players, and they will most likely blow a tournament game like they do every year. Kentucky is reloaded with 5 or 6 new freshman that will run this team and they will continue to be a top seed and may make a final four push this year. Arizona has some returning key players and some great incoming freshman. The problem, they are coached by Sean Miller. He will inevitably screw this team up in important games. I know next to nothing about Villanova, with the exception that they won the title 2 years ago. I believe all those guys are gone, but maybe they have some good to great players that have been waiting their turn and they will shine. Florida had a great tourney run last year, won some good games and they return a good amount of those kids. The Gators could be a "threat" to Kentucky in the SEC. Wichita State always has upperclassmen, and they play great team basketball. Their coach is a total dickhead, but he knows how to coach college basketball. UNC is the defending champs, but they lost a good amount of key players, but I am sure they have someone ready to take their spots. They also skated away from further NCAA sanctions, so I am sure they will continue to reload every year. Finishing up the top 10 we have West Virginia. West Virginia plays tremendous defense. They frustrate you with their press and they have some upperclassmen that are crucial. Unfortunately, Bobby Huggins is a known choker, and I do not see that changing this year.

The rest of the poll has, from 11-25, USC, Miami, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Louisville, Xavier, UCLA, Gonzaga, Northwestern, Purdue, Saint Mary's, Seton Hall, Baylor and Alabama. Okay, first off, why is USC so high? Is it because to the coach from that Florida school that had one decent tournament run? Also, they will be getting in major trouble from this FBI investigation. Miami is always competent and always competitive. I get this ranking. Cincinnati has a good coach and they play good, sound defense. They should be in the top 10 in my opinion. Notre Dame has a decent basketball program, but this feels like a year they may be down. They lost some good players last season. Minnesota was a revelation last year. Will they continue to be good, or will they look like the team that Middle Tennessee beat in the first round of the tournament? Time will tell. Why is Louisville ranked? Pitino is gone, Donovan Mitchell is gone, and anyone that wants to be scouted and play deep into March will probably transfer. This team is a mess. Xavier is another team that always plays tough and deserves to be in the top 25. They will be good. UCLA lost pretty much everyone of note from last year, and I think Steve Alford is incredibly overrated as a coach. Gonzaga was in the title game last year, and I know they lost 3 guys that were crucial to their success, but this seems to low for them. They are a legit contender now, and to have them in the low teens is a slap in the face. Please stop with all the Northwestern basketball love. I swear if they become a "Darling" like their football team, I'm going to lose my god damn mind. They played great last year, won a tournament game in their first ever tournament appearance, but that is as good as it will get for them. Northwestern is okay, but not preseason ranked good. Purdue feels like they should be higher than this. They should be ahead of Northwestern and UCLA at least. I know they lost Caleb Swanigan, but this team has been pretty decent under Matt Painter, and I think they will be good again this year. I don't know anything about Saint Mary's except that they play in the same conference as  Gonzaga. I'm sure they are good, but I'm also sure Gonzaga will own them. I had to double check when I saw Seton Hall in the preseason rankings. They haven't had expectations since I was a kid. I know they have some good big guy, but lets see how they do now that people expect them to win. Screw Baylor sports. I hope they lose every game just like their football team. And Alabama? Really? I did not know they had a team that was preseason ranking worthy. Maybe they got some good recruit or something, I don't know.

A few teams I was surprised to not see ranked are Missouri, Wisconsin, Butler, Virginia and Texas A&M. Missouri has a new coach, a monster recruiting class and could be very good. I know they have been bad for a few years, but a change at the top and the kids they have coming in, it wouldn't shock me to see them win 20 plus games this year. Wisconsin is always good. I know that Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes are gone, but, as much as I may dislike this team, do not ever count out the Badgers. Butler isn't the same as they were with Brad Stevens, but they are still a quality team that won a tournament game last year if I'm not mistaken. Virginia has been very solid and a lock top 25 team the past few years. I guess they lost some guys and they bowed out of the tournament quick last year. And Texas A&M, while not great, has a few good guys on that team, and they are big. Also, where the hell is South Carolina? Didn't they make the final four last year? Who cares that Sindarius Thornwell is gone. Kentucky loses guys every year, and every year they are a preseason top 10 team. Maybe South Carolina deserves that attention. I know DJ Wilson went pro and Mark Donnal left, and Zak Irvin and Derrick Walton Jr graduated, but I think Michigan will still be scrappy this year. They got Mo Wagner back. Muhammed Ali Abdur Rahkman is going to be running the show. Duncan Robinson can shoot threes. The grad transfer from Ohio is supposed to be good and Charles Matthews, the transfer from Kentucky, has supposedly been the best player in practice. It may take some time, but I'm done counting out a John Beilein coached team. Also, where is Oregon? Are Dillon Brooks and Jordan Bell that big of departures that this team can't regroup and put up a fight in the Pac 12? What about Maryland? They have a good team. Why is everyone so up on the ACC and SEC, but down on the Big Ten? Some of these unranked teams could surprise people this year. If I had to pick one, and you're welcome RD and Ross, I think Missouri has a shot to be really, really good this year.

As far as my final four in the preseason, lets go with, Duke, Kentucky, Wichita State and Michigan State. They all seem to be pretty good. As far as the title game, lets say Duke and Michigan State. And for the champs, I have the Big Ten ending their very long drought, with Michigan State winning it all. They also have my preseason player of the year, Miles Bridges. A bunch of people knocked him for coming back, but I think it will do him a world of good, and he will be a much better basketball player for it.

That's it for my 2017-18 men's college basketball preseason preview. Again, most of this is wild guesses, but I am excited to watch how the season unfolds.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet. 

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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