Chuck Hamilton

Chuck Hamilton

With the 2023 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament in progress this week, the timing for this column isn’t ideal. This runs in the paper on Saturdays, but is emailed on Thursday evening.

By the time this appears online or in the newspaper, there will be 32 teams remaining in the Big Dance.

That means that y’all will have to trust me when I say that all of this was written and the picks were made before the games were played this past week.

Against my better judgment, I thought I’d go out on a limb to make these predictions, even though I realize these picks will be laughable by the time this is printed and seen online on Saturday.

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MARCH MADNESS—The feeling here is that this may be the wildest, most unpredictable NCAA tournament in history, with no truly great teams, but plenty of very good ones.

After the bracket was announced Sunday evening, there was the usual squabbling about who was snubbed, who got a higher or lower seed that wasn’t deserved, or who may have the easiest path to the Final Four.

Lots of folks were saying Texas A&M deserved a higher seed than 7, that Alabama has an easy road to advance, that Xavier shouldn’t have gotten a 3 seed, and that Rutgers, Clemson and Vanderbilt were unfairly left out, etc., etc., etc.

All the talk and conjecture means little when the games get underway, and the only certainty is that more than a few surprises are in store.

Attempting to fill out a bracket is an exercise in futility, and picking the right upsets is the key to having any success at all.

With that in mind, here goes nothing:

We’ll begin with the East Region, where 6th-seeded Kentucky will be facing 11th-seeded Providence on Friday night. The Friars have struggled down the stretch and come into the game sporting the same 21-11 record as the Cats.

Most of the pregame chatter has centered on sophomore forward Bryce Hopkins, who transferred from UK to play at Providence, after being buried on the Kentucky bench for the majority of his freshman season.

Hopkins leads the Friars in both scoring and rebounding, with averages of 16.1 and 8.5. He will likely play an integral role, but the game may come down to which team gets better guard play, as so often happens in March.

Providence starts a trio of guards, led by sophomore Devin Carter, who puts in 13.1 ppg. Senior Noah Locke is the team’s best 3-point shooter (38.9%) and scores 11.1 ppg. The point guard is senior Jared Bynum, who leads the Friars in assists with 4.3 per game, and tosses in 10 ppg as well.

Another important inside player is senior forward Ed Croswell, who averages 13.2 ppg and grabs 7.6 rebounds per game.

If Kentucky gets solid performances from freshman point guard Cason Wallace, sharpshooter Antonio Reeves, wing Jacob Toppin and post player Oscar Tshiebwe, they should move on to face Kansas State on Sunday.

You may remember the purple-clad Wildcats upsetting UK in a regional final 61-58 in 2018, before meeting their own demise in the Elite 8, falling to Loyola-Chicago, 78-62.

Kansas State is seeded third in the region, but they have also endured a few ups and downs this season while playing in the formidable Big 12.

The Cats will have to deal with former Florida star Keyontae Johnson, who leads Kansas State in scoring and rebounding with averages of 17.7 ppg and seven boards per game.

Another key player that UK will have to slow down is 5-8 senior point guard Markquis Nowell, who is dropping in 16.8 points and dishing out 7.6 assists per game.

Just have a feeling Kentucky will be able to get past Providence and Kansas State and move on to face Marquette in the Sweet 16, and the Big East champions will end UK’s season.

But who knows?

Kentucky may fall to the Friars in the opening round, or to those other Wildcats in the second round. Their season has been inconsistent and unpredictable, and if they aren’t able to survive and advance, UK fans will be more than a little upset.

The rest of my picks for the NCAA Sweet 16:

In the East, along with UK and Marquette, I’m going with Purdue and Duke, with the Blue Devils moving on to the Final Four.

I’m taking Houston, Drake, Xavier and Texas in the Midwest Region, with the Longhorns advancing to the Final Four in Houston after wins over Xavier and Houston.

The West Region appears to be the strongest of the four regions this year, and my choices to move on are Kansas, Connecticut, Gonzaga and UCLA. The Zags have flown under the radar this season, but I’m picking them to advance after defeating UCLA and UConn.

The South Region is where I have my upset pick to make it to the Sweet 16, but don’t ask me why. I’m going with Charleston, but their Cinderella run ends against Alabama.

In the other matchup, I’ll take Arizona to get past Creighton in a high-scoring game. That sets up a game featuring a lot of talent and length, and I’m going with Arizona to knock off the Crimson Tide.

In the Final Four, Arizona upends Texas, and Gonzaga topples Duke.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few gets his first NCAA title with the Zags outscoring Arizona in the championship game.

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RUPP MADNESS—The previous explanation about this week’s unfortunate timing applies here as well, with the picks being made before the games got underway.

By the time this appears in print or online, the 2023 UK HealthCare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 Tournament will be getting ready for the Saturday semifinals.

This year’s event, much like the aforementioned NCAA event, is wide open.

There are several teams that could take home the title, including defending state champion George Rogers Clark.

There is also plenty of star power on display in Rupp Arena this week, and GRC finds that out in the final game of the opening round, when they meet 25-10 North Laurel, led by Kentucky commit Reed Sheppard. The 27-5 Cardinals have a few standouts as well, led by Morehead State-bound Jerone Morton.

That game looks to be a toss-up, but I’m taking GRC in a nailbiter. If the 10th Region champions prevail, they will have an interesting matchup in the quarterfinals. That would be the winner of Lyon County and Newport.

The 30-5 Lyons, the champs of Region 2, are led by junior guard Travis Perry, who came into the tournament needing 21 points to pass King Kelly Coleman to become the all-time leading career scorer in Kentucky high school history.

To reach that 4,338-point mark in the first round, Perry will have to do it against one of the top defensive teams in the state.

Newport came out of the always loaded 9th Region, defeating Cooper 44-42 in the final. The 28-6 Wildcats feature an athletic, albeit young squad, led by their lone senior, Marquez Miller, and freshman point guard Taylen Kinney.

Lyon County’s more experienced bunch will pull out the win, with Perry leading the way and passing Coleman in the process.

That will set up a titanic struggle in the quarterfinals, with GRC winning a close one over the Lyons and advancing to Saturday’s semifinals.

Says here that the other three semifinalists will include Region 8 champions Woodford County (20-12 heading into the Sweet 16), 32-1 Warren Central from Region 4, and a first time Sweet 16 team, Frederick Douglass, which emerged from the 11th Region with a 31-2 record.

I’ll take Warren Central to defeat Woodford and advance to the championship game against Frederick Douglass, after the Broncos get past GRC for the second time this season.

My foggy crystal ball says the Warren Central Dragons take the big trophy back to Bowling Green after defeating Frederick Douglass in the title game.

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FROZEN MADNESS—The high school baseball and softball schedules in the opening week have been disrupted by our miserable, chilly, and blustery weather.

It’s always a challenge to get games played this time of year with our wonderful weather.

The coldest sporting event I ever covered was not a football game, but rather a softball game in Brooksville. I usually enjoyed covering the Lady Bears softball team back in those days, the people there always took care of me, and they had a good program.

I recall it being maybe 28 degrees and overcast, with a brisk wind blowing in at Taylor Elementary School, where Bracken County played their games. It was a difficult chore just to keep score and take notes with numb fingers.

Brrrr.

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SEC BASEBALL MADNESS—On the other hand, the UK baseball season is well underway, and the Cats are off to a tremendous start, sporting a 15-2 record in the early part of their schedule.

That’s the good news; the bad news is Southeastern Conference play begins this weekend, and as usual, the SEC is loaded.

The three highest ranked teams in the country are SEC members, with LSU, Tennessee and Ole Miss leading the way. Florida, Vanderbilt and Arkansas are ranked fifth, sixth and

seventh, and three more SEC teams (Texas A&M, South Carolina and Alabama) are in the top 25. The Cats host Mississippi State this weekend.

Kentucky does have a local connection, with pitcher Darren Williams still on the team for his seventh season of college baseball after being injured early last season.

He was well on his way to a superlative season on the mound a year ago with an impressive win against eventual national champion Mississippi, before suffering the arm injury. He finished 3-0 with a 0.93 ERA in 29 innings.

The 25-year-old Williams, who gets razzed by his younger teammates because of his age, played baseball and basketball at Mason County, graduating in 2016. He began his collegiate career at Eastern Kentucky before transferring to UK.

Williams has pitched out of the bullpen for the Wildcats in the early going, and has a 1.06 ERA in four games. He’s 1-0 and has 17 strikeouts in 17 innings on the hill.

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MARK TWAIN QUOTE OF THE WEEK—“Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from making bad decisions.”

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SPORTS QUOTE OF THE WEEK—“I hope I can coach another 12 years, but I’ll take six or seven.”—70-year-old Iona coach Rick Pitino, who is rumored to be heading to St. John’s next season.