by Adam Masiky ‘24

West Region

The West Region is arguably the most talented one in the tournament. The top four seeds of Gonzaga, Duke, Texas Tech, and Arkansas are the only top four seeds to make it to the Sweet Sixteen in a single region. Gonzaga, Duke, and Texas Tech blew by the competition in the first round all beating the competition by more than fifteen points. Arkansas beat Vermont by only four thanks to two clutch free throws to ice the game by guard JD Notae. In the second round, all four of these teams had thrilling games. Gonzaga hung on to beat Memphis 82-78. Forward Drew Timme had 25 points in the win while guard Andrew Nembhard had 23 points including two free throws to ice the game. Duke had an instant classic with powerhouse Michigan State, winning 85-76. The scoring for Duke was well balanced with three players scoring 15 points. Texas Tech pulled away from Notre Dame in a 59-53 win and Arkansas hung on to beat 12 seed New Mexico State 53-48. My predictions for the Sweet Sixteen is for Duke to beat Texas Tech and a big day from forward Pablo Banchero.

I have Gonzaga beating Arkansas thanks to their star forward Drew Timme. In the Elite Eight for the championship for the West Region, Duke will upset Gonzaga in a classic. Banchero and Timmie will have a big man battle, but ultimately Duke forward Wendell Moore and guard Jermery Roach will push Duke past Gonzaga.

South Region

The teams advancing to the sweet sixteen in the South Region are Arizona, Houston, Michigan, and Villinova. While Arizona and Villinova are the top two seeds,  Houston is the five seed and Michigan is the eleventh. Villinova blew past the competition, beating fifteen seed Delaware by twenty and seventh seed Ohio State by ten. They are led by senior guard Collin Gillespie. Arizona had no problem beating sixteen seed Wright State by seventeen. They had a thrilling second-round game against TCU. Down by three with twelve seconds left, guard Bennedict Mathurin hit a three-point shot to tie the game. On the following possession with four seconds to go and the game tied, guard Dalen Terry got a steal and had a game-winning dunk that was made when the clock expired which did not count. Arizona took over in overtime and won by five. Michigan has been a surprise team because they had a mediocre regular season and many thought they did not deserve to be in the tournament. They proved everyone wrong. They beat six seed Colorado State by twelve and three seed Tennessee by eight. They are led in scoring by Hunter Dickinson who had 21 points against Colorado State and twenty-seven against Tennessee. Houston has had no problems at all in the tournament so far. They beat UAB by fourteen and Illinois by fifteen. Houston is matched up with Arizona and Michigan plays Villinova in the Sweet sixteen.

I’m taking Arizona and Villinova. In the Elite Eight I have Arizona beating Villinova thanks to the dynamic duo of Mathurin and center Christian Koloko.

Midwest Region

The Midwest Region has some teams no one would expect to be in the Sweet Sixteen. The teams left standing are Kansas, Providence, Miami, and Iowa State. Iowa State is an eleven seed that survived six-seed LSU with a five-point win in round one. Guard Tyrese Hunter hit a deep three up two to ice the game.  In the second round, they upset three-seed Wisconsin by five, thanks to the outstanding defense. Matching up with Iowa State is ten seed Miami. Miami barely got past seven seed USC with a two-point win. After that, they embarrassed two-seed Auburn with an eighteen-point win, led by guard Isaiah Wong who had twenty-one points. One seed Kansas rolled past Texas Southern in round one and beat Creighton by seven in round two. They are led by their star guard Remy Martin. Playing Kansas is four-seed Providence. Providence beat South Dakota State in rounds one by nine. In round two they steamrolled a hot Richmond team who upset Big Ten champion Iowa by twenty-eight.

In the Providence Kansas game, I am going to have to go with Kansas because of their high-powered offense. In the Iowa State Miami game, I am going with Iowa state because of their gritty defense. In the Elite Eight battle of a great offense versus a great defense, I am rolling with Kansas to outplay Iowa State and advance to the Final Four.

East Region

The East Region contains the Cinderella story of the 2022 March Madness Tournament. The four left standing are eight seed UNC, four seed UCLA, three seed Purdue, and the Cinderella team Saint Peter’s. Even though UNC is only an eight seed they came into this tournament with his expectations. In round one they killed Marquette by 32 points with stud forward Brady Manek scoring 28. In round two UNC faced one seed Baylor. They got out to a blazing hot start and found themselves up by twenty-five in the second half. Baylor played amazing defense with an unbeatable press that cut that lead and tied the game to send it into overtime. In overtime, UNC took control by playing good defense and making clutch shots which saved them the game in a five-point win upsetting number one seed Baylor. UCLA came out to a shaky start in the tournament. They almost got upset by fourteen-seed Akron but managed to pull out the win after star guard Johnny Juzang hit two clutch free throws to get them out to that four-point lead. After that first-round scare, UCLA had no problem knocking out five seed Saint Mary’s by sixteen. Purdue has not had any trouble in this year’s tournament so far. They started it off by beating fourteen seed Yale by twenty-two. Then they went on to beat six seed Texas by ten. Purdue is led by their star guard Jaden Ivey who had 22 points in the win against Yale and forward Trevion Williams who had 20 points against Texas. Saint Peter’s has had a magical run in this year’s tournament which they started off by completely stunning two-seed Kentucky who was one of the Final Four favorites coming into the tournament. They beat them in overtime by six. In the second round they played another team who was highly praised, Murray State, beat them by ten. Saint Peter’s run is led by guard Doug Edert who is now an icon in the College Basketball world.

In the Sweet Sixteen, I have UCLA taking down UNC and Purdue putting an end to the magical run of Saint Peter’s. In the Elite Eight for this region, I am going to take UCLA over Purdue thanks to a big day from guard Johnny Juzang who is out for revenge after last year’s heartbreaking Final Four loss to Gonzaga.