NCAA tournament

Welcome to March! – Walk on Fan’s NCAA Bracket Challenge

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The First Four

Let’s get started with the First Four games and the biggest controversy of Selection Sunday. North Carolina should not be in the NCAA tournament plain and simple. Indiana and West Virginia have vastly superior wins and also less harmful losses. The only thing that North Carolina has going for it is the fact they have a lot of non-conference quality losses. But only one quality win. In fact, they have 2 wins over other teams in the tournament: UCLA (7 seed) and American (16 seed.) In comparison, Indiana has 4 and West Virginia has 5. However, there’s commonly one team that plays in the first four that makes the Sweet Sixteen. And UNC is my bet to make that run. They have been playing good basketball recently, only losing to Duke twice in their past 10 games. On top of that, they get to play a weak San Diego State team, an over seeded Ole Miss, and either Iowa State without their second-best player or 14 seed Lipscomb. Good thing UNC’s athletic director, also the NCAA …

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Welcome to Selection Sunday! Walk on Fan’s Final Bracket Update

We’re keeping it simple today. Just seeds and no analysis. We’ll have a breakdown of the actual bracket tomorrow.

1 Seeds:

Duke, Houston, Auburn, Florida

2 Seeds:

Tennessee, St. Johns, Alabama, Michigan State

3 Seeds:

Wisconsin, Texas Tech, Michigan, Iowa State

4 Seeds:

Maryland, Texas A&M, Clemson, Kentucky

5 Seeds:

Purdue, Marquette, Arizona, Louisville

6 Seeds:

St. Mary’s, Gonzaga, Kansas, Oregon

7 Seeds:

Mizzou, UCLA, BYU, Ole Miss

8 Seeds:

Illinois, Memphis, Creighton, Miss State

9 Seeds:

UConn, VCU, New Mexico, Vanderbilt

10 Seeds:

Baylor, Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma

11 Seeds:

Xavier, Colorado State, West Virginia, Utah St, San Diego St, Indiana

12 Seeds:

UC San Diego, Drake, McNeese, Yale

13 Seeds:

Liberty, Akron, Grand Canyon, High Point

14 Seeds:

Lipscomb, Troy, UNCW, Robert Morris

15 Seeds:

Montana, Wofford, Bryant, Omaha

16 Seeds:

Norfolk State, American, Mt. St. Mary’s, SIUE, Alabama State, St Francis PA

First 4 out:

North Carolina, Boise State, Texas, Ohio State

Next 4 out:

North Texas, George Mason, UC Irvine, Cincinnati

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This article was written by Jordan Longseth and edited by Hayden Breene.

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We have a new number one! Walk on Fan’s March 10th Bracket Update

1 Seeds:

Duke (2-0), Auburn (0-2), Houston (2-0), Florida (2-0)

2 Seeds:

Tennessee (1-1), Michigan State (2-0), St. Johns (2-0), Alabama (1-1)

It turns out that Auburn is mortal, after all. Losing twice in one week only drops them to number two overall, with how stacked their resume is at the moment. Duke benefits from the dip and is currently sitting as the number one overall seed. The rest of the one and two seeds are sitting relatively comfortable going into the conference tournaments. Even if there are upsets, expect these teams to stay steady.

3 Seeds:

Texas Tech (2-0), Iowa State (1-1), Maryland (2-0), Clemson (2-0)

4 Seeds:

Wisconsin (1-1), Texas A&M (2-0), Purdue (1-1), Kentucky (2-0)

Wisconsin losing to Penn State sucks. Obviously, there were concerns with fouls and injuries related to the game, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to lose to a Big Ten team that didn’t even make the conference tournament. Greg Gard better hope his team can rebound in the postseason, otherwise, we might be hearing some “Fire Gard” chants coming soon. Elsewhere, Maryland and Clemson are two hot teams going into their respective tournaments and could move up with a good showing. Texas …

We have a new number one! Walk on Fan’s March 10th Bracket Update Read More »

Walk on Fan’s Mid-Major Check in

Who doesn’t love Cinderella stories? No Cinderella has actually won the NCAA basketball tournament, but damn is it fun to watch them win in the first round of the tournament.

Off the top of my head, I can recall teams like 2013’s Florida Gulf Coast, 2018’s Loyola Chicago, 2022’s Saint Peter’s, and 2023’s Princeton more so than the teams that won the national title every year. The best Cinderellas populate the Mid Majors, so that’s where I want to focus your attention today. We’ll keep the analysis short today. I’ll be giving you the betting favorite, my pick, and a team that could surprise from the field. Odds are taken from sources when available. Some tournament seeds aren’t set yet, so official odds aren’t available yet. Without further ado, let’s get into the 4 Mid Major Conferences that could see more than one invitee.

Atlantic 10

The Favorite: VCU
Jordan’s Pick: VCU
Team to watch: George Mason

Mountain West

The Favorite: New Mexico
Jordan’s Pick: San Diego State
Team to watch: Colorado State

The American

The Favorite: Memphis
Jordan’s Pick: Memphis
Team to watch: North Texas

West Coast

The Favorite: Gonzaga (-130)
Jordan’s Pick: St. Mary’s (+135)
Team to watch: …

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Top Four Shake-Up: Walk on Fan’s March 3rd Bracket Update

1 Seeds:

Auburn (2-0), Duke (2-0), Houston (2-0), Tennessee (2-0)

2 Seeds:

Florida (1-1), Michigan State (2-0), St. Johns (2-0), Alabama (1-1)

Finally! A shake-up in the top four seeds. Florida lost an easily winnable game against Georgia, moving them down to a two seed. Tennessee’s buzzer-beater against Alabama moves them up to the one seed line. Otherwise, Auburn, Duke, Houston, Michigan State, and St. John’s had great weeks. The field is starting to get finalized, so expect little movement from here on out.

3 Seeds:

Texas Tech (1-1), Wisconsin (1-1), Iowa State (1-1), Michigan (1-1)

4 Seeds:

 Maryland (1-1), Clemson (2-0), Texas A&M (0-2), Purdue (1-0)

The three seed line had little movement, with all four projected teams going 1-1 with no real outliers. Michigan’s buzzer beater against Maryland moves them up even though they lost to Illinois. Clemson is hot, while Texas A&M is in freefall. Purdue finally stopped their skid, notching a solid win against UCLA. If there is any volatility from this grouping going forward, it’ll be from the conference tournaments that start next week.

5 Seeds:

Kentucky (1-1), Mizzou (1-1), Marquette (2-0), St. Marys (2-0)

6 Seeds:

Arizona (1-1), Louisville (2-0), Kansas (1-1), Oregon (1-0)

Top Four Shake-Up: Walk on Fan’s March 3rd Bracket Update Read More »

Wisconsin might not be good: Walk on Fan’s February 24th Bracket Update

1 Seeds:

Auburn (2-0), Duke (2-0), Florida (2-0), Houston (2-0)

2 Seeds:

Tennessee (1-0), Alabama (1-1), St Johns (2-0), Michigan St (2-0)

Auburn, Duke, Florida, and Houston together went 8-0 and outscored their opponents by 145 points. The teams they beat? 5 of them are teams currently in the tournament or on the bubble. At this point, the top four teams in the country have quite a large cushion after Alabama had a 1-1 week. St Johns and Michigan St are both riding hot weeks and upsets to move up the bracket seed line.

3 Seeds:

Texas Tech (1-1), Wisconsin (1-1), Iowa State (1-1), Texas A&M (0-2)

4 Seeds:

Michigan (0-1), Kentucky (1-1), Maryland (1-0), Mizzou (1-1)

I might have jumped the gun a tiny bit when it comes to Wisconsin. A pitiful loss to Oregon drops them only one seed thanks to a beat down of Illinois early in the week. Texas Tech and Iowa State sink a little bit after 1-1 weeks while Texas A&M is teetering on becoming a 4 seed after a rough week. Kentucky and Maryland did what they were supposed to do this week while Mizzou did just the opposite. An upset of Alabama …

Wisconsin might not be good: Walk on Fan’s February 24th Bracket Update Read More »

Is Wisconsin good? Walk on Fan’s February 17th Bracket Update

1 Seeds:

Auburn (2-0), Duke (2-0), Florida (2-0), Houston (2-0)

2 Seeds:

Alabama (1-1), Tennessee (1-1), Wisconsin (1-0), Texas Tech (2-0)

How about that Wisconsin offense? Pretty damn good right? Wisconsin proved they belong at the top of the Big Ten with a trouncing at Purdue without their best bench player. Unfortunately, the best in the Big Ten is still worse than the top four SEC teams. As a whole, the SEC might be .500 in conference play, but an upper echelon has separated themselves from the pack. Auburn is hands down the best basketball team in the country while Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee are fighting for second. Duke had a rebound week much to my chagrin. And I am still high on Houston after an impressive win at Arizona. I expect them to win out while the SEC will stack a couple of losses, pushing Houston up from the 8 the NCAA Basketball Committee put them at.

** As a side note, I am nervous about Wisconsin going into this week. Greg Gard has had teams this well-regarded before, only to collapse at the end of the season. Please god let this team be different **

3 Seeds:

Texas

Is Wisconsin good? Walk on Fan’s February 17th Bracket Update Read More »

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