Bracketology: Predicting the 2025 NCAA Tournament field – Scenes from Hinkle Fieldhouse
12/23/2024 08:32 AM
Allow me to potentially be the first to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as I welcome you to the final edition of Bracketology at ClutchPoints in the year 2024! Before we get into the most updated Bracketology projections, I want to share some rapid-fire, bullet-point observations from a day in which I made the trip from Cleveland to Indianapolis and back in order to watch my favorite college basketball team, the UConn Huskies, face the Butler Bulldogs at the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.
-I’m fortunate to have a number of incredible in-person sports experiences to look back on. I’ve been to the NBA Finals, the Orange Bowl, multiple rounds of the NCAA Tournament, and I’ve somehow managed to see my Chicago Bears lose all five times I’ve seen them play in person. I’ve even been to mainstay WWE events WrestleMania and the Royal Rumble. And yet a visit to Hinkle Fieldhouse managed to feel completely unique from the rest of them.
That’s not to say it was any better or any worse than any of those previous events attended. However, I came into the afternoon underestimating a few things:
- I underestimated just how different Hinkle Fieldhouse was going to feel from your typical basketball arena. To say that Hinkle has character is a vast understatement. It is like the coolest, biggest, oldest high school gymnasium that you could imagine, and I mean that as nothing but a compliment. It is absolutely dripping with history and I would recommend that every basketball fan sees a game there.
- I underestimated how great our seats were going to be. We were on the baseline in the second level right above the UConn bench. More on this in a second.
- I underestimated how incredible the Butler crowd was going to be. Part of this surely has to do with the fact that the Bulldogs gave my Huskies all they could handle, but that’s an A-plus home court advantage, and I’m not even factoring in the sun shining down on parts of the court.
-I made this all-day trip with my girlfriend’s brother-in-law Matt and his father Chad, a pair of life-long Clevelanders and Ohio State Buckeye alums who had a trip to Hinkle on their respective basketball bucket lists. They came into the day hoping for a competitive game between UConn and Butler (CHECK!), and a pair of Buckeye victories in the College Football Playoff (CHECK!) and on the hardwood against Kentucky (CHECK!). All around, it was a good day for the three of us. Had Clemson covered, it would’ve been a really good day.
-I came away from the game feeling slightly better about UConn’s chances to three-peat than I did going in, despite the fact that the Huskies let an early double-digit lead slip away. Yes, there are still all of the problems I addressed immediately following an 0-3 run at the Maui Invitational. But at this point, the disaster in Hawaii feels like it was four years ago, not four weeks ago.
-Alex Karaban reached some sort of new level for me during this game, in terms of players I trust taking a big shot. Karaban hit not one, but two super-clutch, high-pressure three-pointers in spots where the Butler crowd was ready to will the Bulldogs to a late-game lead, but the three-year starter wasn’t going to stand for it.
Alex. Karaban. pic.twitter.com/xznmarbS9n
— UConn Men’s Basketball (@UConnMBB) December 21, 2024
-There is a town in Indiana called Uranus, and thanks to dozens of highway billboards, I learned that there is a Fudge Factory in Uranus. Hand to God, it’s the truth. Just had to throw this in here.
-Dan Hurley is every bit the sideline presence as you expect him to be. Numerous times, I caught myself missing bits of game action because I was just watching him. One particular moment perfectly defined the experience:
Late in the 2nd half, UConn was leading by three and after a missed basket, the Huskies were called for a loose ball foul 90 feet away from the Butler basket, sending the Bulldogs to the line for two free throws. Was it a foul? Probably. Should it have been called at that moment in the game. Probably not, and that’s how Dan Hurley felt to.
In the seconds immediately after the whistle blew, I expected to see Hurley’s head explode. But instead, with half a smirk on his face, he yelled to the baseline official, “You’ve gotta be forking kidding me!”
It was a perfect afternoon of hoops.
Bracketology Bracket
Bracketology Breakdown
Top Seeds: Auburn Tigers (South Region), Tennessee Volunteers (Midwest Region), Iowa State Cyclones (West Region), Duke Blue Devils (East Region)
Multi-Bid Leagues: ACC (4), Big 12 (9), Big East (3), Big Ten (10), Mountain West (3), SEC (13), WCC (2)
Bracketology Bubble Watch
Last Four Byes: North Carolina, Texas, Nebraska, Ohio State
Last Four In: BYU, Arizona State, Missouri, Boise State
First Four Out: Creighton, Penn State, SMU, Indiana
Next Four Out: St. Bonaventure, Vanderbilt, Nevada, Washington State
Five Most Intriguing Games of theRest of the Year
It’s an admittedly light slate of games over the course of the next week or so, as College Football, NFL and NBA take center stage around Christmastime, but since the next edition of Bracketology at ClutchPoints won’t be coming your way until January 2nd, we’ll expand the window slightly and take a look at the five most intriguing games of the rest of 2024.
Saturday December 28th (ESPN2, 2 PM ET) – Ole Miss at Memphis
Saturday December 28th (FOX, 4 PM ET) – UCLA vs. Gonzaga
Saturday December 28th (FOX, 6 PM ET) – Utah State at San Diego State
Tuesday December 31st (ESPN+, 2 PM ET) – West Virginia at Kansas
Tuesday December 31st (ESPN2, 4 PM ET) – Arizona State at BYU
And One!
Would you believe me if I told you that over the first four editions of Bracketology this season, I’m a perfect 4-0 in my And One! Predictions. And honestly, putting it this way is me attempting to be modest. Because, if you’ll notice the past predictions below, some of them involved multiple legs, like last week, when I went a perfect 4-for-4 picking the winners of the College Football Playoff games this past weekend.
As for my final And One! prediction of 2024, I’m going to return to the CFP and make four more predictions, attempting to go 8-for-8. And unlike last week, I won’t be going entirely with chalk. I’ll take a pair of favorites (Texas and Penn State), along with two underdogs (Oregon and Notre Dame) to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
I promise, in 2025, my predictions will relate entirely to college basketball. Consider that my New Year’s resolution.
Past And One! Predictions
11/24/24 – I’ll eat way too much food on Thanksgiving (CORRECT)
12/2/24 – The Big 12 will win the Big East-Big 12 Battle (CORRECT) and the SEC will win the ACC-SEC Challenge (CORRECT)
12/12/24 – At least nine of those 12 SEC teams in the December 12th Bracketology field will be victorious over the weekend (CORRECT)
12/16/24 – Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas and Ohio State will win in the opening round of the College Football Playoff (CORRECT)
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