Duke Garden party, then title
All right folks, mark it down: Duke will beat Villanova for the national championship at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, March 26. I know, I know. The Blue Devils would still need to finish business with two wins at the Final Four in Arizona.
But in two of the last three years, the national champion had to play its way through New York before taking the title — UConn at the Garden East Regional in 2014 and Villanova in the first weekend at Barclays Center last year.
What better way to anoint the national champs than to have the New York conference tournament winners — who also happen to own the most recent national championship hardware — square off in a deciding finale at the Garden?
Sure, Duke will have its hands full with Villanova’s Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson, but the Wildcats don’t really have an answer for Duke 6-8 freshman forward Jayson Tatum. Tatum seems to have the confidence and determination we saw in Anthony Davis five years back when the NBA star made sure to have an impact in his one-and-done season at Kentucky by taking home the national title.
And Duke can score on you in multiple ways. The Blue Devils look every bit the part of the No. 1 team in the preseason. We said they were worthy of a No. 1 seed and the selection committee scoffed at us, saying it didn’t consider Duke for the 1-seed line. That just makes this potential East Regional final matchup that much more appetizing.
The Garden will be rocking and it will be a classic, just like every Duke game during the ACC tournament in Brooklyn last week.
OK, Guru, but if ev- eryone picks the same East Regional final that you have, how else will we win our bracket?
I’ll tell you. No. 4 Florida.
Loving an underseeded Michigan at No. 7 upsetting a tough-as-nails No. 2 Louisville team, in a rematch of the 2013 national final here and riding that to the Elite Eight, where the post-plane accident magic will finally come to an end. There is something in the assured way John Beilein talks about this team right now that makes me think there is more in store the next two weeks.
Watch out for No. 12 Nevada squeaking into the Sweet 16 here. Really digging the 12-seeds in the field this year.