Men’s NCAA Tournament Preview: The Beauty of Picking the Ducks to Win it All
Let's look at the Ducks' first round match up against VCU, and also find out how you can win a Ditch Rich shirt just by filling out a bracket.
In my last piece, the Tinkle Guys and I asked the very condescending question:
“If everybody quit, could the Beavers still make the NCAA Tournament?”
And as it turns out, nobody had to quit after all.
The Beavs knocked off a wilted Ducks squad, and then went on to hold off a good CU team to become one of the hottest twelve-seeds in the tourney. Just their second Big Dance appearance since 1990. As we say in Beaverton, hats off to them.
Dana’s squad drew up an interesting region with their seven-seed (even though they’re still a Four-Seed) and an opening round matchup against VCU.
VCU is a historic Cinderella in TourneyLand. They finished second in the Atlantic 10 in both the regular season and tournament, and this year they’re unquestionably lead by sophomore guard, Nah’Shon Hyland.
Hyland averages 19.5 ppg along with almost 2 steals per game. He was A10 All-Freshman last season, and at the 2021 conference Player of the Year.
The Ducks haven’t exactly struggled with “single guard-lead team” since losing to CU and McKinley Wright back in January. But we can chalk some of that up to the Boulder Bust, too.
The real fear the Ducks have is when they get cold shooting, and when their opponents get hot. That’s what happened in their last two losses to USC and OSU, and that’s the kind of perfect storm you have to hope doesn’t follow them to Indy.
Only one other VCU player averages double digits scoring this year, forward Vince Williams (10.6 ppg), but the biggest threat the Ducks face is in trying to match anyone down low.
Forward Hason Ward seems to be the Rams’ biggest threat under the rim. With 61 blocks on the season and just over 5 boards per game, Ward is a long 6-9, 210, and he reminds me of an early-career Jordan Bell/Kenny Wooten type.
And we all know how valuable a guy like that can be in March.
That’s what to expect from VCU. I won’t expend a bunch of energy thinking about how the Ducks match up against a team like Iowa, or Kansas, or Gonzaga, or Oregon State. This is March, and we gotta take this one game at a time.
Plus, I’m physically incapable of ever picking against the Ducks in my yearly bracket anyway, so I already know they’re going all the way.
But what does your bracket look like?
I mentioned it last week, but I’m going to host Ditch Rich Men’s and Women’s Bracket Challenges this year. It’ll be run through ESPN, and the winner of the Men’s challenge will get their very own, first-of-its-kind: Ditch Rich T-Shirt.
Challenge Rules:
One (1) bracket entry per person
Bracket must be submitted through ESPN at this link (you will need an ESPN account): SUBMISSION LINK
Brackets will be locked and must be submitted BEFORE the First Tip-off of Round of 64 on Friday morning ~9:15 AM PST.
If Covid ends up cancelling the whole tournament somehow, I’ll find some other way to give away a free shirt.
My bracket is called “Scary Jalen Terry” and if you must know, my Final Four is: Oregon, Michigan, Arkansas, Oklahoma State.
I’ll be previewing the Women’s Tourney and the winner of that bracket challenge will get $50 Visa gift card.
Best of luck to you all, and Go Ducks.