Taking a look at the pre season AP poll, the writers did a pretty good job of prognosticating the season at least as the top 15 is concerned. Let’s take a look:
1. North Carolina
2. Kentucky
3. Ohio State
4. Connecticut
5. Syracuse
6. Duke
7. Vanderbilt
8. Florida
9 Louisville
10. Pitt
11. Memphis
12. Baylor
13. Kansas
14. Xavier
15. Wisconsin
photo credit: ibtimes.com
All of the Elite 8 teams were ranked in the top 15 pre season. The only real flops were Pittsburgh and Connecticut. Ohio State punched their ticket to the Final Four. Louisville is a little bit of a surprise, but according to the thoughts before the season began, they were a Final Four contender. If Kansas wins, that would be considered a shock by this poll’s standards, but not in general terms. The only real so called sleeper would be Baylor, because they have to go through Kentucky in order to earn a trip to New Orleans. That said it wouldn’t be a complete shock since the writers thought they were the 12th best team in the nation going into the season.
This was not the Tournament of the Cinderella, but it wasn’t expected to be. There were a lot of strong teams coming into the season and most of the really good ones made it pretty deep into the tournament. Sure there were some huge upsets this year, like two 15 seeds winning, but overall a lot of chalk advanced. This could bode well for a competitive Final Four.
Ari Russell
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