March Madness is a basketball tournament that happens every year in late March. The
tournament has very high expectations with people thinking about it every year even people
who don’t watch basketball tune in. One of the many reasons March Madness is very popular is because there is a bracket that you can make.
There are 68 teams in the tournament and only one winner. About 85 million brackets are made per year and there has never been a perfect bracket. You have a better chance of going to the dunes, placing a grain of sand down and someone picking up that exact grain then filling out a perfect bracket.
There are so many upsets every year, and players are breaking out who you may have never heard of, making it entertaining to watch. Now here are some players to look out for in this year's March Madness tournament.
Cooper Flagg: Freshman Cooper Flagg is one of the best recruiters that we have seen in a long time people have even said since Lebron James.
Flagg is on a very talented Duke team who are a #1 seed going into the tournament. Cooper is a 6 '9 lengthy big who can handle the ball well, shoot the 3 finish at the rim, and is one of the best defense players in the country he can do it all which makes him such a highly rated recruit.
Most experts say Duke is the safest team to take to win March Madness. Cooper Flagg had a very scary injury during his final regular season game vs North Carolina. Cooper was cleared to be good for the tournament so he should still be the same player as he was in the regular season. Duke enters as a number 1 seed in the tournament so the first games should be pretty easy for Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils but it is March and anything can happen!
Mark Sears: He is one of the country's best players and can shoot the ball from three and anywhere else on the floor. Sears started at The University of Ohio and later then transferred to Alabama. Alabama has never really been known for basketball but has been on the come up and has been doing very well with the help of Sears.
Sears is one of the top scores averaging just under 20 points on the regular season. Mark Sears and the Alabama Crimson Tide come in as a two-seed and in my opinion, have a very easy road to the elite eight. Sears has a great resume in big games including March Madness. Mark averaged just over 24 points per game in last year's tournament. With more experience and more of a desire to win you should watch out for Mark Sears this year.
Johni Broome: Auburn's veteran star John Broome who is one of the oldest players in the is also one of the best players in the country he is in the running for player of the year.
Broome is a 6'10 big who is unstoppable in the paint with great defiance as well. Broome still has a lot to prove with his past in March Madness. In last year's tournament, his very talented Auburn team (#4 seed) got booted in the first round by #13 Yale, one of the biggest upsets.
He should lead Auburn very far in the tournament this year and could maybe even with their very expensive Auburn team with an average age of 23 which is very old for college hoops. Auburn is the number 1 seed overall in this year's tournament but they don't have the easiest schedule with their second game against the winner of Louisville and Creighton. Not really anyone can guard Broome so Auburn should not have to worry that much.
Tavari Johnson: He is a very skilled player who is one of the most underrated players in the country. He is from La Grange Park, Illinois and went to Lyons Township High School.
Johnson is an undersized guard who can do it all. He can shoot from anywhere on the floor, finish at the rim, is a good defender, and his best attribute, in my opinion, is his playmaking ability and making his teammates around him better and allowing them to have a great shot.
Johnson and the Akron Zips should be a team to watch out for with upsetting some top teams. Akron comes as a 13 seed this year after winning the MAC conference and making history having the most conference wins in Akron history. Akron is matched up against the University of Arizona in the first round.
Johnson will most likely guard star Caleb Love who has years of being in the tournament. Johnson is a player who can get on a heat check is is very capable of leading the Akron Zips to take down Arizona.
Tre Johnson: Freshman Tre Johnson is a 6’6 long guard at the University of Texas. He is projected to be a top 5 pick in the NBA draft for his scoring ability. He is a pure scorer and has a very high competitive nature.
Johnson averages just over 20 points for a good Texas team but they have not shown that with a 17-14 record for the regular season. But I think that Texas as a bubble team for the March Madness tournament has a very good chance at taking down whoever they are matched up against with Tre Johnson leading them.
In this year's tournament, Texas was one of the last four in the tournament so they will have a play-in game to even make the tournament against Xavier. Tre Johnson performs very well in big games and I think Texas will beat Xavior then they will be matched up against a poor defensive team in Illinois.
Listen to the Tuesday Night Power Hour on Tuesdays at 7pm and the Thursday Night Throwdown on Thursdays at 7pm for complete coverage and analysis of all of the March Madness games. Tune in on 88.1 FM, online by clicking here, or on the free WLTL app for your phone!
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