The second round saw three of my final four and my champion go down, as well as a little more than half of my sweet 16 picks. My loan bright spot was picking Tennessee to go as far as they did. This seems to happen to me every year. As much as I prepare for the tournament brackets, the games beyond the first round are an elusive mystery because so many of these games are very close at the end.
Just take a look at the Michigan State vs Butler game in the final four. The game being played almost looked like two of the same all-Defense no-offense teams that the Detroit Pistons used to have. That 5 point lead for Butler almost looked like a 15 point lead if you didn't know any better. Variables like that are always going to be that winning that bracket tournament a tough one.
However, over this past year's games, I have found it necessary to change the way I prepare for the brackets. The most important thing you need is to get the final 4 and elite 8 teams right, as well as the champion of course. The first couple of rounds don't matter that much.
That being said, how many of us could have filled out 100 brackets and not put Michigan State or Butler in the Final Four. Well, there was one person in a pool of 150 that I played in. That person is going to win easily. Goes to show you it's better to be lucky than good.
NCAA Championship Game - Butler vs Duke
Now the obvious story has been and will continue to be the emergence of Butler from the Horizon league into the Championship game. This would be truly memorable if the small college can win it all on their home soil. I would like to believe that Butler can pull off the shocker, but it just doesn't look like it is going to happen.
The two teams that I saw on Saturday night looked like they were on opposite ends of the spectrum. Duke knew they had to play a great game in order to beat West Virginia and they played about the best game of the tournament so far. Butler and Michigan State got so tight that it didn't look like either team wanted to win.
One thing is for certain, if Butler goes on a scoring drought like they did against MSU, they will be looking at a large deficit. Duke will be ready and they know that this opportunity doesn't always present themselves.
I imagine that this will look a lot like last year's championship game. Butler fans better be ready very early in this game because that is the most likely time for Duke to try to get the fans out of the game early. This is exactly what North Carolina did last year to Michigan State in front of what essentially was the Spartan's home court in Detroit.
The most important thing that I think will be too much for Butler to handle will be the size of Duke's players. Duke has three players that are 6 foot 8 or taller. These large bodies may make offensive rebounding too much for Butler to handle on the box outs.
The only way that Butler can win tonight is if they keep the pace of the game super slow like they have done all tournament long. They completely shut down MSU in the closing 10 minutes. They will have to find a way to do something similar tonight to win.
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