I don't hate it!!!!!!
SEE SUBJECT LINE. If KU can find something—a huge if!—a this is a pretty nice draw. Here’s the whole bracket if you’re still looking.
On paper, SoCon champion Samford seems like a bad pull. It’s a team that plays at tempo and flings threes, a style named “Buckyball” after their head coach Bucky McMillan. They have all the “upset narrative” juice you could ever ask for, and Seth Davis immediately picked them to advance over KU on the bracket reveal broadcast. KenPom likes them. Many casuals will throw them over into the Round of 32. This energy is an asset, I think, even though I can’t really articulate that.
I am skeptical. I ask myself—am I afraid of the SoCon like that?! KU opens at -8.5. That tells me something about some advantages KU might have in this game. KU is not playing good ball, but this is a new season. If KU advances, they’ll play the winner of a high profile 5/12, Will Wade’s talented McNeese State against a slight down-year Gonzaga (who the analytics love, just saying). I don’t trust the 1 and 2 seeds, Purdue and Tennessee.
When you look around the other regions, they’re deeper than the Midwest. KU is not playing on their front foot, exactly. But I’ll take it. One weekend at a time.
Anyway already filled out my bracket. May the Madness begin!
