Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Lincoln County Record-Times. The opinions expressed in this column don’t necessarily reflect those of the Record-Times’ staff or those of Free Press Publishing.
In this same sports section at this same time of year in 2022, I bragged about my boldness in picking Kentucky, a No. 2 seed, to win the Men’s NCAA Tournament.
Not surprisingly after such a statement, the Wildcats proceeded to be shocked by No. 15 seeded St. Peter’s on the first Thursday of the tournament… meaning Kentucky’s season was over before most readers even read the column.
Egg on my face, I suppose.
Did I learn my lesson this year?
No, I did not.
This has been a strange season in college basketball. There were no clear cut top seeds, like the Gonzagas, Dukes or Kentuckys of years past.
A traditional football school, Alabama, got the top overall seed with five losses and is by no means guaranteed to even advance past the Round of 32. Blue bloods like Duke and Kentucky weren’t on the top line (though Kansas is), and others, like North Carolina, didn’t even make the field.
And there are no clear-cut favorites. Any number of teams…Houston, UCLA, Purdue, Arizona, and yes, maybe even Gonzaga in a “down year,” have a chance to cut down the nets in early April.
So, who am I putting my hopes and about $20 in bets on? Another No. 2 seed: the Texas Longhorns, who are in the Midwest region and will likely have to fight off the likes of Texas A&M, Houston, Indiana and Xavier to reach the Final Four.
I have the Longhorns, who have a strong backcourt (a huge key for the way basketball is played today), defeating the aforementioned Arizona Wildcats in the national title. I have Texas beating Gonzaga in the Final Four, and Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats knocking off Alabama on the other side.
And I am relatively convinced that Furman, Charleston, Kent State, Drake and Oral Roberts will all get upset wins over Power 5 schools.
We’ll see if this blows up in my face as much as it did last year.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
Reader Comments(0)