College Hoops Breakdown: 3/15/21

Riley Saxon

By Riley Saxon

With the first round just four days a way, our Top 25 shifts it’s focus to who can win the National Championship. Using a complicated algorithm of the Analytics, Potential Path to the Final Four and the good ol’ fashion eye test, College Hoops Breakdown ranks the teams based on their chances of winning the NCAA Tournament:

    1. Gonzaga Bulldogs – My personal pick to win it all

    2. Illinois Fighting Illini – Peaking at the right time… an Illini-Zags final would be electric

    3. Michigan Wolverines – Recent losses means people are sleeping on them

    4.  Baylor Bears – Not invincible, but still a force. Seemed to be thrown off by Covid Pause; won’t be a concern in the tourney

    5. Alabama Crimson Tide – A joy to watch in the SEC Championship; have the Championship makeup

    6. Texas Longhorns – Undefeated in tournaments this year

    7. Oklahoma State Cowboys – Cunningham completes his best Carmelo impression

    8. USC Trojans – Evan Mobley is more than capable of taking over 6 games straight l

    9. UConn Huskies – Bouknight follows the footsteps of Kemba and Napier

    10. West Virginia Mountaineers – Players make sure Huggins isn’t snubbed from the Hall of Fame again 

    11. Ohio State Buckeyes – They’ve beaten everyone on their schedule and are capable of playing with any team in the nation

    12. Arkansas Razorbacks – Faltered in the SEC Tourney, but their peak is higher than most teams in the tourney

    13. Houston Cougars – Meet the typical requirements: veteran-laden, dealt with adversity, top 20 KenPom O and D

    14. Florida State Seminoles – Hamilton always has them ready to play

    15. Iowa Hawkeyes – Defense has improved mightily and their Offense is only behind Gonzaga’s

    16. Wisconsin Badgers – veteran squad, flying under the radar, escapes from Big 10 schedule

    17. Texas Tech Red Raiders – uneven season, but Beard has shown he can pull it together in March 

    18. Purdue Boilermakers – Since KenPom’s inception in 2002, every Champ but one has been ranked in the Top 25 in O and D. Purdue is 23 in both 

    19. Oklahoma Sooners – Handled March-esque atmosphere: 3 straight wins vs. Top 10 teams during the season, in 3 consecutive games

    20. Virginia Cavaliers – Still the defending champs

    21. Oregon Ducks – Only the equally hot Beavers could slow Ducks down at the end of the season

    22. North Carolina Tar Heels – In the wacky season during a pandemic and blue bloods looking ordinary, it would be fitting to for a Blue Blood to win it all

    23. Michigan State Spartans – There’s usually one “play-in game” team that makes a run. Who better than Mr. March to take one to a title

    24. Georgetown Hoyas – Would be a fun story (can insert Georgia Tech or Oregon State here as well)

    25. Iona Gaels – Pitino dances, while Louisville and Kentucky watch… a championship would be the ultimate end to the Pitino Revenge Tour

College Hoops Breakdown appears every Monday at JoeTorosian.com

Riley Saxon can be reached at:
Email: rileymsaxon@gmail.com
Twitter: @CHoopsBreakdown