The case for these 10 men’s college basketball teams to

8:00 AM ET Kyle SoppeESPN Who states we need to await March for a bit of insanity?

Saturday has not

one, not two, however 5 matches pairing teams with genuine championship game hopes in what might be the finest day of men’s college hoops this regular season: Indiana at Kansas, Alabama at Gonzaga, Houston at Virginia, UCLA at Kentucky and Tennessee at Arizona. The action pointers at noon and won’t cover until after midnight on the East Coast, so lock in and prepare yourself for a huge day!Curious about what these groups bring to the table and if they can be successful in March? Let’s have a look at some current comparisons, and why each these 10 groups could be the one that ends the 2022-23 season with a W.

12:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2

play 0:21 Trayce Jackson-Davis with the massive block at the rim Indiana: The 2005 Tar Heels won everything behind a skilled 6-foot-9 interior leading scorer in Sean May(13.4 rebounds-plus-assists-plus-blocks per game). The 6-9 Trayce Jackson-Davis (13.4 rebounds-plus-assists-plus-blocks per game) is the clear go-to person on this Hoosiers team, but he’s far from the lone choice. Easily UNC team, Indiana has another 4 players balancing north of 8.5 PPG. And much like the Tar Heels 18 years earlier, the Hoosiers also rank in the leading 15% of Department I in eFG% and defensive eFG%. Also coincidental: That North Carolina group beat Indiana at Assembly Hall on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 by 7 points. This Indiana team beat North Carolina at Assembly Hall on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 by eight points.2 Related

Kansas: Jalen Wilson and Gradey Penis provide the Jayhawks a vibrant duo that is as great as any in the country (37.5 combined PPG). Back in 2004, UConn, helmed by Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor (36.1 combined PPG), won a championship game. That Huskies group peaked at the correct time (they won each of their first 4 March Madness games by a minimum of 16 points). We undoubtedly don’t know if this 2023 Kansas team will do that, but with 2 foundational offending pieces locked in, they have a scoring ceiling that ranks amongst the very best in the nation.

1:00 p.m. ET, CBS play 0:16 Drew Timme drops in smooth layup Alabama: Nate Oats’squad has beaten a No. 1 group not once but two times this season. The Crimson Tide push tempo while both scoring and safeguarding at an elite level, much like how the 2017 Tar Heels tackled things. That UNC team was able to make it through a handful of scares throughout its go to magnificence (won the last 3 games of the 2016-17 season by an overall of nine points) thanks to myriad strengths, and a capability to win in a range of game scripts. ‘Bama is a young group, but the returns thus far profile like a group that’s in it for the long haul.Gonzaga: Tyler Hansbrough led North Carolina to a title in 2009 by averaging north of 20 points, thanks to offensive imagination acquired from over 100 collegiate games on his résumé. Drew Timme is aiming to do the exact same thing for the Zags. And while the Bulldogs lost 3 games in the first month of this season, they’re quite a hazard to run through brackets in March. Gonzaga ranks as a top-10 offense in terms of effectiveness– a box the last two champs have examined.

2:00 p.m. ET, ESPN2 play 0:21 Marcus Sasser splits 2 defenders and Eurosteps his way to an and-1 for the Cougars.Houston: The Cougars were a top 10 defense last season, and they are a leading 10 defense again this season. Could Marcus Sasser be the next Ochai Agbaji– who developed his offending game over the course of a four-year college profession that ended with a title in 2015 for Kansas? Sasser is attacking the rim more this season than ever before (47.1% of his shots in 2022-23 are from inside the arc, up from 32.2% throughout his very first three seasons), providing Kelvin Sampson a stable offending base to go along with Houston’s consistently stingy defense.Virginia: The 2019

champ version of the Cavaliers got 57.3 points a night from its top-five scorers, with their 3 main guards making 41.9%of their 3-point attempts. So far, the 2022-23 Cavaliers are getting 53.3 points from their top 5, with their three primary guards transforming 42.5 %of their 3s. Another year, another bottom-10 team in the nation in speed that counts on top-20 effectiveness on both ends of the flooring.

5:15 p.m. ET, CBS play 1:44 Denver Pioneers vs. UCLA Bruins: Complete Emphasizes UCLA: With a trio of guards averaging much better than 13 PPG, UCLA’s profile this season looks very much like that of Baylor’s in 2021. The Bruins have gotten their pace a bit from 2021-22– a modify the Bears also made the season prior to winning the 2021 title. The increase in rate allows this UCLA team, similar to 2020-21 Baylor, to rank in the leading 50 in the country in 2-point portion, something that seems sustainable, provided the quality of appearance created by their skilled backcourt.Kentucky: A group led by a dominant interior existence flanked by a sharp-shooting guard … the Wildcats are partying like it’s 2012 with Anthony Davis again. They lack the depth of star power, but they rank leading 20 in the country in assist rate, which is appealing when it comes to the consistency required to make a deep March run. 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2 play 0:19 Tennessee takes a 21-point lead over Maryland after a 3-ball by

Santiago Vescovi.Tennessee: In this period of scoring, I stress over a team with some offending weak points.

However these Vols are the leading defense in all the land, and their protective production is most likely to sustain. We are as familiar with the worth of the 3-point shot now as ever, which’s often only viewed through an offensive lens. Tennessee is top-50 in terms of( most affordable)percentage of points allowed by means of the 3-ball. That suggests that Rick Barnes ‘group excels at taking away what every challenger wishes to do. The same defensive approach worked for the Jayhawks last year, and could function as a blueprint progressing, as our game moves further far from the rim.Arizona: Recent champions have had an offense that ranked ahead of their defense, and that appears destined to be the case for a Wildcats group that presently boasts the most

efficient offense in the nation. They are a top-30 team in the country in both typical height and 3-point portion, making them the poster kid for the instructions in which this sport is headed. Yes, Tommy Lloyd lost his leading scorer from a year ago. Yes, Arizona is as unsafe now as it was then, as one of the wagering favorites come Selection Sunday. Both things can be real.