Madness in March?

christian PhilliPs THE SOUTHERN DIGEST

With March Madness being a week away, everyone is wondering who will win the men’s tournament this year. Will a top-ranked team come out on top, or will an underdog emerge from the shadows? In 2022 based on fivethirtyeight.com, a team outside of the top 4 has about a 32.2 percent chance of winning march madness. This leaves just enough room for the impossible to happen.

The NCAA tournament started in 1932 when the Oregon Ducks beat Ohio State 46-33. As the years went on, the tournament expanded four times! The expansion happened in 1951, 1975, 1985, and 2011 to its current 68-team competition. The University of Kansas was the most recent team to win, with a 72-69 score against The University of North Carolina. The tournament selections aren’t final until March 12th, but we can still predict which teams are most likely to make it into the tournament.

Based on the NCAA, the qualifying tournament rules state that every conference champion will automatically qualify for March Madness resulting in 32 teams getting in. The other 36 teams will have to be selected at large. Some of the teams seeded high as of the publishing of this article include Alabama, Kansas, Purdue, Huston, UCLA, Baylor, Texas, and Marquette, cracking into the top eight. They say defense wins championships, so it shouldn’t surprise us that Huston currently has the number-one defense. Huston allowed an average of fewer than

56 points scored against them per game. Purdue is 18th with 62.2 points allowed. Alabama is seeded 3rd. UCLA is seeded 6th. Marquette is seeded 20th, and Texas is seeded 30th in scoring offense. What is March Madness without an upset? A low-ranked team that I believe will do well is Saint Mary. They are currently ranked 17th in the nation, but they could go further. They played Huston back on December 3rd and lost 48-53. However, a 5-point loss against a current number-one-ranked team is not as terrible as it seems. They beat Gonzaga (#10) once this year and beat San Diego St. (#18).

There are a lot of good teams this year that could make it into the tournament. One of those teams, located in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, is Grambling. They are currently #17 in the nation for the fewest points allowed. Who knows, they might start March with madness.

MARATHON from page 4 went out as the campus experienced a power outage. With the game having severe implications for the standings, officials did everything in their power to get the lights back on. Eventually, the power would be restored, and the game took place at around 7 p.m. The Jags, however, would struggle throughout most of the game. For the majority of the first half, Alabama A&M looked phenomenal and did a great job of creating shot opportunities for their teammates. On the other hand, the Jags did not get a lot of separation from the defenders, causing a lot of contested shots, on top of not getting stops on the defensive end.

In the second half, the Jaguars regrouped and then went on a run knocking down the Bulldog’s lead one possession at a time. Graduate guard Brion Whitley would overcome a terrible shooting slump scoring 13 of his 17 points in the second half, assisting the Jags in the comeback. In the winding moments of the game, with the score being 64-61, redshirt senior guard/forward Tyrone Lyons glided to the goal making a dunk and getting fouled in the process. He went on to attempt the free throw but heartbreakingly missed. However, Southern was given another opportunity to go to overtime, but could not get the shot off, falling short 66-63. The Jags shot an abysmal 3-23 from three-point range and were outscored on the bench 27-12. When asked about the game, Coach Woods was honest and modest. “This was very, very, strange, that’s all I could say, this was strange. I don’t want to judge my team off of this because this was a strange day.” With the loss, the Jags are going into the SWAC tournament in fourth place and may have to play Alabama A&M again. Coach Woods left saying, “We’ll be ready. We’ll be ready to play.”

The SWAC tournament is coming up, so let’s continue to support our teams as they try to bring back glory on the hardwood. Fun fact, Southern has not won the SWAC tournament since 2016. Jag Nation hopes that will change. Southern will be the 4th seed and will face Alabama A&M on March 9th at 8:30 P.M.