The nine teams with a great opportunity to win their first NCAA men’s tournament

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament promises to be the most unpredictable and wide-open version of March Madness in recent memory. Simply put, there appear to be a lot of good teams this year but no great ones. Every squad in Division I in the six biggest conferences have at least five losses and Houston has three, so clearly no one is invincible. This means it is unlikely there will be an odds-on favorite to be cutting down the nets in Houston when the bracket is unveiled.

Somebody has to win it, of course, and given the struggles of several of the sport’s blue-blood programs and the high number of teams capable of getting hot at the right time, there’s a strong possibility a first-time champion will be crowned at the tournament’s conclusion. Three of the field’s No. 1 seeds have never won a national title.

Should one break through, it would continue a recent trend of newcomers joining the champions club as Virginia did in 2019 and Baylor did two years later. Prior to those two, however, the club had gained no new members since Florida won its first of back-to-back titles in 2006.

But if a new champion does emerge, here are the most likely candidates.

Purdue (No. 1 seed in East)

Came closest: The Boilermakers have been to two Final Fours, most recently in 1980. But perhaps their best shot at the title was in 2019 when they lost in overtime to eventual champion Virginia in an Elite Eight classic.

Reasons to believe: Quite literally, Zach Edey presents the biggest case that this Purdue squad has tournament staying power. If you didn’t see him developing into the game’s most dominant post player at the start of the season, don’t worry – you’re not alone. The freshman backcourt tandem of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer also developed more rapidly than expected, and Mason Gillis has provided another perimeter scoring threat off the bench.

Reasons to doubt: Teams that can apply constant ball pressure have given the Boilermakers problems. They might also eventually…


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Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2023-03-15 00:54:21

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