Marshall Henderson and Ole Miss are in the tournament. This could spell trouble for second-round opponent Wisconsin. The Badgers earned a No. 5 seed in the West Region while the Rebels come storming in after taking the automatic bid from the SEC. Against a shooter like Henderson, Bo Ryan and his Badgers can be one of several teams to get bounced early.
This is a wide-open field, one where the No. 1 seeds were tough to decide upon. This is also a year removed from a tournament that saw a pair of No. 15 seeds — Norfolk State and Lehigh — defeating a pair of No. 2 seeds — Missouri and Duke — on the same day.
In the South Region, No. 13 South Dakota State has No. 4 Michigan on upset alert. The Jackrabbits have one of the nation’s top scorers in Nate Wolters going against Michigan’s player of the year candidate, Trey Burke. Butler, who knows a thing or two about upsets, is the No. 6 seed in the East Region. However, Brad Stevens and Co. got a tough draw with Patriot League power Bucknell, led by 6-foot-11 senior center Mike Muscala.
Teams like Memphis will try to prove they belong in the NCAA tournament after struggling in non-conference play while teams like UCLA limp into the tournament having lost second-leading scorer Jordan Adams to a broken right foot.
They call it March Madness for a reason, and it officially commences this week.
