Like I have been saying all year, this has been the most competitive year of D3 basketball in a long time, maybe ever. This year's NCAA bracket is no joke, with a myriad of teams with the ability to win the whole thing.
Seriously considered flipping a coin for the majority of these...
BEST FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
The committee did a really great job at pairing up first round games for the most part. These 7 games are all games that I will be tuning into. I'll go out on a limb and guess that at least 2 of these go to OT.
Babson VS. Ithaca
St. Thomas VS. St. Norbert
Centre VS. Pomona-Pitzer
Wash U. VS. Bethany Lutheran
Colby VS. Christopher Newport
Yeshiva VS. WPI
Randolph Macon VS. Wesley
TEAMS THAT COULD WIN IT
After looking at the field for way longer than is probably healthy, I came up with this list of teams that I think are the legitimate contenders for this year's title. 9 teams. NINE teams. When looking at past brackets and thinking back to prior years of filling them out, on average I could come up with four to five teams that I thought could legitimately win the whole thing. This year's field is deep, and best bet is one of these nine teams will win it:
Swarthmore
Randolph Macon
Mount Union
Springfield
Nebraska Wesleyan
UW-Oshkosh
Saint Johns (MN)
St. Thomas (MN)
UW-Platteville
MOST LIKELY "CINDERELLAS"
Every March, we have cinderella stories throughout college basketball. Teams that overachieve in crunch time and win more games than anyone would expect them winning. This year, there are a few teams that I believe could make some serious noise early on.
Webster
St. Joseph (CT)
Penn St. Harrisburg
TCNJ
St. John Fisher
BEST PLAYERS TO WATCH
Aston Francis, Joey Flannery, Ben Strong, Jeff Gibbs. There are certain guys who thrive in the NCAA tournament and leave a legacy of greatness in their wake. There are a number of players who could will their team to win and carry them to multiple weekends:
Brian Cameron (Wesley)
Fenton Bradley (Western Connecticut)
Nate West (LeTourneau)
Jake Ross (Springfield)
Randall Walko (TCNJ)
Ben College (Whitworth)
Josh Johnson (Webster)
Micah Elan (Pomona-Pitzer)
SOME INTERESTING NUMBERS
I like numbers ok?
Since 2012, there have been 32 teams in the Final Four. Only 4 of those teams entered the NCAA Tournament with only 1 loss: Christopher Newport (2016), St. Thomas (2013), MIT (2012), and Cabrini (2012). The two teams with 1 loss this year: Swarthmore and Yeshiva.
Since 2012 the team that wins the National Championship has an average of 3.25 losses.
Over the last three Final Fours, there has been at least one team with 8 of more losses. Team that could fit that description this year? UW-Oshkosh seems the most likely.
EXPERT PICKS
I asked a number of D3 "experts" (are any of us really experts? I doubt it) about their brackets and who they selected to win the whole thing. Guys I asked and their picks
Bob Quillman - Mt. Union
Ryan Whitnable - RMC
Michael Rejniak - Springfield
Matt Snyder - Mt. Union
Drew Pasteur - Mt. Union
Everyone can speculate as much as we want, but at the end of the day...the games have to be played!!!
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