RESEEDING MARCH MADNESS: Power Ranking the Top 16

1 seeds

1. Kentucky Wildcats

2. Wisconsin Badgers

3. Duke Blue Devils

4. Arizona Wildcats

In simple terms: Kentucky has the talent to walk to a title. HOWEVER, all three other teams on this list have the ability to take them down. Duke’s backcourt has come up big in March-level games all season long. Jahlil Okafor has been unstoppable. He would become just unfair if he started hitting free throws down the stretch. Arizona and Wisconsin have two of the best all-around teams in the country. They both have the size, and the athletes to get it done. Arizona deserves Villanova’s spot in the 1 seed line.

 

2 seeds

5. Virginia Cavaliers

6. Gonzaga Bulldogs

7. Villanova Wildcats

8. Kansas Jayhawks

 

Virginia is the forgotten contender in college basketball. All of a sudden, with the loss of Justin Anderson and an early ACC tourney exit and Virginia is labeled as “vulnerable”. They play the best defense and the country, and defense wins Championships. Gonzaga and Villanova have very impressive records, but their strength of schedule makes us a little nervous. Kansas is also going a bit unnoticed, but they have a very tough road to the Final 4, with potential match ups against Wichita State, Notre Dame, and Kentucky looming.

 

3 seeds

9. Iowa State Cyclones

10. Notre Dame Irish

11. Maryland Terrapins

12. Northern Iowa Panthers

 

Iowa State is the true dark horse contender of the NCAA tournament. Their Big 12 tournament Championship showed that they are the real deal. Notre Dame also has an impressive Conference Championship under it’s belt, and when they are making shots they are hard to stop. Maryland plays scrappy and will be Kentucky’s first real challenge in this tournament. UNI was heavily under seeded, and they could bring a fight to Villanova in the Sweet 16, if Nova doesn’t get knocked off by NC State in the round of 32. All of these seeds have the chance to make it to the Final 4. No question.

 

4 seeds

13. North Carolina Tar Heels

14. Arkansas Razorbacks

15. Utah Utes

16. Wichita State Shockers

 

Wichita State being a 7 seed is a joke. The Shockers and the Tar Heels are very dangerous teams in this tournament. Arkansas showed it’s potential in the SEC tournament. Everyone expects SF Austin to upset Utah, and that is exactly the kind of thing that can get a good team fired up.