The brackets are out and the SU data analytics team has been hard at work. As always, for SU, the hardest part of picking the NCAA Tournament games is creating new passwords that are considered strong enough for the various sports sites, and then somehow remembering them after 12 minutes.

There was a great article in the New York Times sports section yesterday about how to pick the games – or better said how to not pick the games. (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/sports/ncaabasketball/ncaa-bracket-pool-advice.html) I must say that many of the things not to do are things that I historically do. SU has decided to put less thought into this vs. other years and fearlessly move forward. Things I have considered:

1. The Big Ten is terrible. SU has watched many a Big Ten game this year. I know they have 8 – 9 teams in the tournament but that must say something about the rest of the field. I do have Northwestern winning in the first round (great story this year) and Purdue advancing a couple of rounds but that is it. Of course, 2 of the Big Ten teams will now make the Final Four but this is a mediocre conference.
2. Rick Pitino at Iona is always one to watch. SU is going with the first round upset over UConn.
3. According to the New York Times article, you don’t go with the hot team. You don’t go with the conference tournament winners. I get that, and in fact, I think it’s better for teams to lose early in their conference tournaments so they don’t get tired. But… SU is high on Duke and Texas this year. I like the fire of the Texas coach and Duke has been on a sustained role.
4. UCLA is good but they are banged up. A lot to overcome.
5. SU is feeling love for Gonzaga – always in the mix. They are not as good as prior years but neither is the field quite frankly.
6. I am no fan of Bill Self at Kansas – his teams always seem to have the most talent but fall short (except last year of course). I think he is worth -3 points every game he coaches. And yet…. despite that, I am predicting Kansas to repeat and win it all. They have great talent but just don’t play well every game.

OK, the official SU Final Four picks: Arizona; Duke; Kansas; and Texas. I have Kansas winning it all but am still very high on Texas this year and would not be surprised to see them emerge on top. I acknowledge that my track record on NCAA picks is historically awful but at least SU is brave enough to put its picks out there. Feel free to weigh in with yours and we will see who is the smartest this year.

SU is watching the Yankee starting pitching injuries pile up. It’s not a good sign. Their Spring Training play has been pretty lackluster but you don’t put any stock in these games. It’s a mostly veteran team – which is also concerning. The youngsters light the fire under the veterans, and competition for starting positions is a good thing. Now that Harrison Bader has the oblique injury (those last forever), no doubt Aaron Hicks is feeling much more comfortable. Also not a good thing. SU would put the youngsters on the roster (let Volpe play right out of the gate) but it will never happen. Things have been very quiet in Mets Land. SU says they are will be the main story in New York this summer. Great things will happen at CitiField.

You have to love going from the NCAAs right into baseball season and the new rules. The OCD players better be coming up with new OCD things to do in between pitches or they are going to have automatic strikes called on them.

OK, NCAA gurus. What you got?