Bracketology: The top 4 seeds

Zack’s Picks

#2 Kansas (24-4)

The top 4 seeds are going to be tricky this year for the committee, but Kansas will certainly be one if they keep the winning up. They get the ball down low and they shoot from downtown with great accuracy. The guards always seem to get one touch in the paint per possession which opens up the wings for them to shoot. If Kansas keeps on passing well, that will give them the best assist into the final four.

#3 Virginia (21-6)

The Cavaliers haven’t been playing as well as they did last year, but the way they played last year was incredible and difficult to repeat. UVA has had some tough losses late to Miami and Duke but the Cavaliers have bounced back before. Anthony Gill and Malcom Brogdon have both had amazing years with gill down low battling for rebounds and Brogdon lighting up the scoreboard on the wing. This has been the third year in a row where Virginia has a real chance of going to the final four, which gives them one of my #1 nods.

#5 Xavier (25-3)

Last night Xavier got the best kind of revenge when they beat the #1 Villanova Wildcats. Now they have a complete resume for the tournament, seeing that they win their last two games. Edmond Sumner had 19 points and nine assist to lead the Musketeers and J.P. Macura had 19 points of the bench to get the team rolling. If their point guard can get them that much production every night they won’t have a problem rolling through the tournament.

 #7 North Carolina (23-5)

The Tar Heels still have the best talent team in the country, even though they lost to Duke. Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige have been lightning it up since the beginning of the season. If those guys can get rolling right before the tournament, they might be unstoppable.

Daniel’s Picks:

#2 Kansas Jayhawks

Kansas has come back from a dip earlier this season and has reclaimed the number one spot on the list. The Jayhawks are playing very tough teams this season and continue to come out on top. With three of their four losses against ranked teams, they deserve the number one position way more than the current AP number one, Villanova. Kansas is averaging 82.1 points per game, and play two more ranked teams. If Kansas can beat Texas and Iowa State, they will have made an impressive recovery and land back on top for good.

#3 Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma and Kansas are both very similar teams. They play the same teams, they both have impressive rosters, and they both average 82.1 points per game. The Sooners have lost one more game than Jayhawks, but the biggest reason I have them in second is because they lost two games to Kansas. It’s hard to argue that you deserve number one when you’ve lost two games to the number one team. However, Oklahoma is set to finish the season in the number two spot which is still impressive none the less.

#5 Xavier Musketeers

Xavier came out with a major victory last night with a win over Villanova. Xavier destroyed Villanova’s defense and beat the number one AP team. Zack pointed out that it could be argued that they deserve to be higher up in the rankings, but two of their three losses were against unranked teams. Those teams are pretty good, but still unranked regardless. Their remaining two games are against unranked teams again, but they could still manage to creep up one more spot in the rankings.

#3 Virginia Cavaliers

Virginia isn’t averaging anywhere near the same amount of points per game as the other three teams, but are playing very tough teams. I originally had them at number three, but with a loss against Miami I had to drop them down a spot. However, the Cavaliers have a tough game coming up against North Carolina, which could very much launch them back into the number three spot.