NCAA Tournament 2019 - Pick'Em or Skip'Em

Every year there are dozens of articles out there and experts who attempt to know how the tournament is going to unfold and which teams to choose over others. Of course, a lot of them can be wrong and cause your bracket to completely flop to the point where you're stuck at the bottom of your friend and work leagues. I am here to help you end that cycle so listen up and pick and skip on these teams:

Pick’Em

Florida State

Florida State is returning their top two scorers and rebounders from 2018: senior forward Phil Cofer and Senior Guard Terance Mann. They are also returning other important pieces including Junior Guard Trent Forrest and now leading scorer Sophomore Guard Mfiondu Kabengele. Last season, they were the 9th seed entering the tournament and defeated 1 seeded Xavier in the Round of 32 followed by Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 before losing to National Runner-Up Michigan by 4. They’re 16-2 in their last 18 games including wins again Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia and Virginia Tech twice with those two losses coming from Duke and North Carolina, both 1 seeds in this years tournament.

Nevada

Nevada has an all-senior starting lineup and are returning their top three scorers from last season: senior forward Caleb Martin, senior forward Jordan Caroline whom is the son of former NFL defensive end Simeon Rice and senior forward Cody Martin, twin brother of Caleb. Last season, they entered the tournament as a 7 seed and beat Texas in overtime and followed up with a miraculous 22-point comeback against #2 seed Cincinnati before losing to Final Four contender Loyola-Chicago by 1. They lost their Mountain West Conference Semi-final game to San Diego State without Caroline, a guy who had 30 in a half against a team earlier this year. They would have to get through Florida and most likely Michigan to make it to the sweet 16 which will be a tall task but I think their experience last season and domination again this year will give them a great chance. Its a Wolfpack Party.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin finished two games behind Big 10 Regular Season and Tournament Champion Michigan State and just one game behind 2018 National Runner-Up Michigan. They may have the best player in the region, senior forward Ethan Happ who leads the team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. Wisconsin holds opponents to 61 points a game, 9th lowest in the country. If they can get past Oregon who comes out of a very weak Pac-12, they would likely face Kansas State who is without their second leading scorer Dean Wade and potentially face Virginia after that who are notorious for underachieving in the tournament. Even though they missed last year’s tournament, they have an obvious track record of going deep when in it. They’ve easily been one of the most consistent teams in recent history having gone 13-4 in the tournament since 2014 with one National Championship game and two Final Four appearances.

Skip Em

Virginia

I think this one is self-explanatory at this point. Virginia became the first ever 1 seed to lose to a 16 in 2018. Prior to this, 16th seeded teams were 0-135 against 1s. The thing is though, it was already a thing to not pick Virginia because of their known underachieving in this tournament. In 2017 they were the 5 seed and lost to the 4th seeded Florida Gators by 26 in the Round of 32, lost to 10th seeded Syracuse in the Elite 8 in 2016 and got smashed by Kentucky by 39 in 2015. They are a 1 seed again this year but of course it's going to be hard to trust them.

Purdue

Purdue hasn't made the Elite 8 in over 10 years. Even though they have the most Big-10 Championships, they have only been able to make the Final Four twice which is tied with NYU, Dartmouth and numerous other schools. It just seems as if you always seem to put Purdue going deeper than where they actually end up.

Marquette

The reason I have them here is because they’ve lost 5 out of their last 6 games including losses to Georgetown and Creighton and a single win against St. Johns who barely made it in and were just bounced earlier tonight by Arizona State. Their leading scorer Markus Howard who does the majority of scoring for them and averages 25 points per game has been dealing with a wrist injury and shot just 1 for 15 in their Big East Semi-Final loss to Seton Hall. On top of that, they will have to face Ja Morant in the first round, a sure top 3 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. It’s just hard for me to pick them to go deep when it seems as if the single most important player to their offense is dealing with this type of injury.

That's all for this year. Goodluck on your brackets fam.