NCAA says no to NU, so here’s the rest
Any predictions for the NCAA basketball tournament should start out with this: No team from Illinois will win the national championship.
OK, so that’s a gimme. No team from Illinois qualified for the 68-team field.
Two schools from New Mexico made it. One each from Montana and South Dakota made it. The borough of Brooklyn has one more representative than the state of Illinois has.
When Northwestern is your state’s last team out, something is askew. Oh, you Wildcats. You symbolize my favorite saying: Nothing is forever unless it turns out that way.
So far it has turned out that way for NU, which for the 73rd year failed to make it into the NCAA Tournament.
Just to clarify, the tournament is in its 73rd year, which raises the question of whether the Cats or the Cubs are more futile.
Does zero-for-ever trump the Cubs’ 0-for-103 since their most recent World Series championship?
I’m going with NU as more futile. At least a few current Earthlings were alive the last time the Cubs won a World Series in 1908.
Nobody was alive the last time the Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament because there wasn’t a last time, a first time or any other time.
So with Northwestern relegated to the NIT again, that leaves the rest of us to fill out our NCAA Tournament brackets.
First round
Western Kentucky over Mississippi Valley State, Brigham Young over Iona, Lamar over Vermont, South Florida over California.
Second round
South: Kentucky over Western Kentucky, UConn over Iowa State, Wichita State over VCU, Indiana over New Mexico State, UNLV over Colorado, Baylor over South Dakota State, Xavier over Notre Dame, Duke over Lehigh.
West: Michigan State over LIU, Memphis over St. Louis, New Mexico over Long Beach State, Louisville over Davidson, Murray State over Colorado State, Marquette over BYU, Florida over Virginia, Missouri over Norfolk State.
East: Syracuse over UNC-Asheville, Kansas State over Southern Mississippi, Vanderbilt over Harvard, Wisconsin over Montana, Cincinnati over Texas, Florida State over St. Bonaventure, West Virginia over Gonzaga, Ohio State over Loyola of Maryland.
Midwest: North Carolina over Lamar, Alabama over Creighton, Temple over South Florida, Michigan over Ohio, North Carolina State over San Diego State, Georgetown over Belmont, St. Mary’s over Purdue, Kansas over Detroit.
Third round
South: Kentucky over Connecticut, Wichita State over Indiana, Baylor over UNLV, Duke over Xavier. West: Michigan State over Memphis, Louisville over New Mexico, Murray State over Marquette, Missouri over Florida. East: Syracuse over Kansas State, Vanderbilt over Wisconsin, Florida State over Cincinnati, Ohio State over West Virginia. Midwest: North Carolina over Alabama, Temple over Michigan, Georgetown over North Carolina State, Kansas over St. Mary’s.
Regional semifinals
South: Kentucky over Wichita State, Baylor over Duke. West: Michigan State over Louisville, Missouri over Murray State. East: Syracuse over Vanderbilt, Florida State over Ohio State. Midwest: North Carolina over Temple, Georgetown over Kansas.
Regional finals
South: Kentucky over Baylor. West: Missouri over Michigan State. East: Florida State over Syracuse. Midwest: North Carolina over Georgetown.
Final Four
Missouri over Kentucky, North Carolina over Florida State.
Championship
Missouri over North Carolina.
mimrem@dailyherald.com