Say hello to my little bracket
Max and Kyle preview the NCAA Tournament with help from some of AFI's Top 100 Films
Citizen Kane
Let me save the trouble if you don’t already know: Rosebud is a sled. The powerful media mogul was obsessed with his childhood sled. It’s like The Dude’s rug for film snobs.
Anyway, our Citizen Kane team is the top seed we think has the easiest path to San Antonio for the Final Four.
Max: I’ve got to go with the Florida Gators here. There are some powerful names on paper in this region (UConn, Kansas, Saint John’s), but I think the Gators should be able to navigate to the Final Four pretty easily. Admittedly, this was a hard team to pick because I have three number-one seeds in my Final Four.
Kyle: Duke is the pick here. Even if White LeBron (Cooper Flagg) doesn’t play, the Blue Devils will walk to the Elite Eight, likely never trailing and winning every game by double digits. The only team in this region that could make them break a sweat is Alabama, and they would need Grant Nelson to be back fully healthy for that to happen. Max was looking for a sled, but this team is so sleigh (did I use that term correctly, kids?).
Casablanca
Sam’s rendition of “As Time Goes By” still captivates Max every time he sees it. That scene and song still influence modern film.
Our Casablanca pick is the first-round matchup with instant classic status potential.
Max: Penny Hardaway has had his best season as Memphis’s head coach by a country mile. For all his troubles, he gets a tough first-round matchup against Colorado State. By my metrics (I combined the same three I used that correctly picked Arkansas’s regular season record), Colorado State should be the favorite in this game. It’s a really hard draw for the Tigers, but I think this will be the best first-round game.
My dark horse pick would be Missouri against Drake. That’s your classic stingy defense (Drake) versus high-scoring offense (Missouri). Both teams are well-coached, so this should also be a fun one.
Kyle: Arkansas v Kansas. John Calipari v Bill Self. A rematch of the Arkansas 85-69 exhibition victory in a charity matchup game in Fayetteville back in October. “Two teams that find new ways to lose games all year.”
That last part is what my neighbor, Rick, texted me after the seeding was announced on Sunday. He’s a diehard KU fan. And yet, as we texted, we both were frustrated with our teams and thought there would be big point swings with multiple lead changes and lots of 10+ point runs. But we were each confident that at the end of the day, our team would crush the other (even if only by a small margin and late).
See that’s what Hall of Fame coaches bring to the table. It’s Prime Time on CBS on opening night of the tournament. This will be an instant classic.
Wizard of Oz
Dorothy gets a bonk on the head and slips into a mini-coma where she escapes dusty Kansas for a romp through colorful Oz. Ultimately, she clicks her heels and returns home to her loved ones (a.k.a awakens from her coma).
Our Wizard of Oz team is the lower seed we think will make a decent run before ultimately getting eliminated shy of the Final Four.
Max: This is a tough one because the lowest seed I have in the Sweet 16 is an eight. I think the team to watch here would be UC San Diego. I’m picking them to upset Michigan in the first round. I also never trust Texas A&M, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all to look up and see the Tritons squaring off against Auburn in the Sweet 16.
Kyle: I know the Popular pick will be the ever-present, darling-dandy Gonzaga who is an 8 seed somehow after finishing the seasons ranked 9th in KenPom ratings. And I would have to be Defying Gravity to think the Hogs should be mentioned here. So I’ll just be Wicked and go with Drake.
The Drake Bulldogs’ head coach, Ben McCollum, is a basketball legend, especially in the state of Missouri. He won 4 D2 National Championships at Northwest Missouri State before become the Drake coach this season. He has 7 players from the Show Me state on his roster that are fired up to beat the state school Missouri Tigers.
After that win, I think the Missouri/Kansas locals in Wichita jump on their bandwagon and help pull an upset over Texas Tech. By the time they wake up from this fever dream they’ll be in San Francisco and can literally tell Toto they aren’t in Kansas anymore.
The Godfather
We all know that Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece is the story of Michael’s evolution into a powerful crime boss. Still, the first installment in the saga is named after Vito Corleone.
All of the active head coaches in the top 30 in wins are in the tournament this year. That list is Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Rick Barnes, Bill Self, Dana Altman, Mark Few, Tom Izzo, and Kelvin Sampson.
So, The Godfather pick is the coach from this list we think will stay in the tournament the longest.
Max: I have two of these coaches making it to the Elite Eight and playing each other, with one obviously winning and heading to the Final Four. I have Few first upsetting Sampson’s Houston Cougars and then eliminating Barnes’s Tennessee Volunteers to win the region. Gonzaga is an eight seed, but my metrics have them as a top-ten team in the sport.
Kyle: Few others would do the same kind of research as Max and few less would be as brave to share their bracket secrets before the tourney pools are locked in. But I too have Mark Few selected as my Godfather. Gonzaga has a shot to move past the many, and join the…
Star Wars
The archetypal good versus evil epic. The upstart rebels rage against the evil empire for a just society. Our Star Wars pick is two-fold: the underdog we’re pulling for and the evil Blue Blood we’re rooting against.
Max: I’m taking Grand Canyon University for my Rebel Alliance pick. This is partially because their women’s coach is apparently in the running for the vacant job at the University of Arkansas. They also have a unique mascot and a March Madness legend as their head coach.
I’m copping out for my Evil Empire pick. It’s Duke. It will always be Duke. I’m picking them to win the whole thing, and I’m pissed about it. Still, I’ll hate watch to the bitter end.
Kyle: One of my favorite Star Wars quotes is when one of the random extras in The Empire Strikes Back yells, "Your tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker." and Han Solo quips back, "Then I'll see you in Hell!”
That’s probably because tauntaun is a funny word to say and hell was one of the first cuss words I was able to hear in a movie. But it really defines the resiliency a true rebel has to have.
I’m taking Lipscomb as my rebel. Jacob Ognacevic is a top-20 national scorer and they gave the Hogs hell during a regular season matchup.
For my Empire pick, I’ll go Michigan State. I don’t hate a lot of people, but I do hate Draymond Green, which makes me hate his alma mater. Tom Izzo has had this juggernaut cooking since the Hogs heyday back in the early-to-mid-90s. Let’s hope they get duped by a young farm boy with a touch of the Force.
Taxi Driver
Let’s get dark for a second. Taxi Driver is great but it is bleak and an absolute blood bath. Our Taxi Driver pick is up for interpretation. Maybe it’s two great defenses. Maybe it’s a physical, foul-heavy contest. Perhaps it’s both.
Max: There is a first-round matchup that, per KenPom, features two top 20 defenses where neither team is better than 48th offensively. It’s one that hits close to home too. It’s Ar-kansas versus their Kansas. The Razorbacks against The Jayhawks. This one counts, and it should be dirty enough to make Scorsese proud.
Kyle: There’s one match-up in the first round that features the most physical team in the tournament against a simple nightmare. Tennessee is here to pick-you-up and guard-you-when-you-get-out-of-you-car in the satellite parking lot before you get on the shuttle. Wofford has this guy:
Super-Senior Kyler Filewich is a walking double-double and is also here to turn a wedding reception into a roast. And to further mind-freak his opponents, he shoots free throws granny-style. Look for it to get nasty before it turns sexy for the Vols
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
This is a phenomenal movie adapted from a terrific novel with great acting. Still, it wouldn’t be a classic without Jack Nicholson delivering one of the greatest performances ever. Our One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest pick is the team that needs a star turn from their top player to make noise in the tournament.
Max: This one felt easy to me. New Mexico scores 80 points a game this season. Donovan Dent scores just over 20 of them. That’s a quarter of his team points every night. If the Lobos are going to have any shot against Marquette and beyond, Dent is going to have to score at a high level.
Kyle: Ryan Kalkbrenner. He posted the highest single-game scoring total of any player in the tournament this season at 49. If Creighton is going to Creighton and make a run, Ryan is going to have hoard points like a trailer park cat lady.
The Rock
Kyle: This isn’t really a top 100 film and Max didn’t know I would add it, but I did claim for a time in my life that this was the best film of all-time. And I do love that I have raised my oldest daughter to feel confident enough in the Hogs to pick them to win her bracket every year.
We rewatched a video from 2017 tonight where she picked Arkansas to win it all, right after she submitted her bracket for this year with the same result. Steadfastness must be in our DNA.
And lastly…here are our full brackets
Max
Kyle
