writing: Justin Blevins
design: Mackenna Miller
March Madness is known to fans across America as one of the best times of year. The tournament ranks up there with Christmas and Leprechaun’s Day. Watching basketball on computers during school, game winning buzzer beaters, and one’s favorite team staying alive for the next round, it honestly is the best time of year.
The only downside is Ohio State being horrendous this year, held back by the awful coaching of Chris Holtmann. It really has been disappointing this year for the Buckeyes and a disappointing five-year stint at Ohio State for Holtmann.
It was nice seeing a Columbus product in Malaki Branham come to college here and now is a rising star in the NBA. Malaki played middle school basketball in Columbus and then moved to Akron to play for Lebron James alma mater Saint Vincent- Saint Mary.
He earned scholarship offers from Alabama, Michigan State, and Xavier along with the Buckeyes, but chose his hometown team in the Buckeyes. It’s easy to say that Branham would be averaging 30 points per game at Ohio State right now, but normally that’s true about any first round draft pick in the NBA draft.
Some dark horse teams to possibly win the National Championship are Miami, Texas, and San Diego State. Central Ohio representative Sean Jones is coming off the bench for Marquette making impressive appearances as a freshman. He will be a potential NBA draft prospect in the few coming years. Marquette will be a tough team to beat, but they will be poised for a good matchup with Kentucky in the Sweet 16.
The Miami Hurricanes might be one of the sleeper teams to win the whole NCAA tournament. Junior Isaiah Wong leads the Canes with 16.2 points per game and is looking to take them on a run deep in the tournament run.
Alabama star forward Brandon Miller made headlines a few weeks ago for supplying the gun to teammate Darius Miles used to kill 23 year-old Jamea Jonae Harris, after Miles texted him and asked him to do so. Miller then responded by dropping a career high 41 points with a game-tying layup at the end of regulation, along with notching six of Alabama’s 10 points in the overtime period.
He’s projected to be a top 5 draft pick in the 2023 NBA Draft along with that Wembanyama kid and Scoot Henderson. Miller was recently named SEC Player of the year, and Freshman of the Year.
However, Alabama is not in my bracket to go super far considering they’re very young and upset prone. The Tide took a brutal loss on the road to Oklahoma by 24 along with a blowout loss to Uconn early in the year.
