NCAA men's basketball Final Four predictions

March is right around the corner, and that means two things. Baseball is back, and College basketball takes center stage. 68 teams in a single-game elimination tournament fighting for a chance to win a championship. Barring injury, these are the teams I see making it to the Final Four.

Michigan

Last season, every single one-seed made the final four. Though I don't think that will happen this year, with a record of 25-1 and top-10 finishes in almost every major offensive statistic, this Michigan team is too good to fail.

Led by forward Yaxel Lendeborg, the Wolverines have almost beaten everyone they have played in dominating fashion. Culminating in their most recent win against No. 7 Purdue, whom they outscored 48 to 32 in the first half.

Michigan is a full-blown juggernaut of a team, and they will either show up in March or not. Other than a three-point loss to a good Wisconsin team in early January, there have been no blemishes on their record.

This, along with having the highest strength of schedule, is why they could make a run to the Final Four.

Duke

Duke is two double-digit blown leads away from being undefeated. They are very similar to Michigan, as both are dominant teams with a bona fide star leading the way.

For the Blue Devils, it's Cameron Boozer, who's a Freshman forward averaging 22.8 points and 10 rebounds a game. Boozer is the catalyst of the offense, but what stands out is that they are third in the league on points allowed.

Duke plays amazing defense and makes few mistakes under head coach Jon Scherey. That style of play, along with a superstar freshman in Boozer, plays very well in the NCAA tournament.

Duke was a Final Four team last year, and I see them back there this year. What they do after that is to be determined, as Duke has a recent history of choking.

Iowa State

For this spot, I was between Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech. My pick was originally Tech until Tuesday night, when JT Toppin, the Red Raiders' best player, suffered a season-ending injury, so I had to pivot to the Cyclones.

Iowa State is the most well-rounded team in the Big 12, and in that stacked conference, they are the ones I trust to make a run.

The Cyclones were a very good team in out-of-conference play, which is a good sign for the tournament.

With Milan Momcilovic shooting 50 percent from three as a 6’8” forward, and Joshua Jefferson being an all-around stud as a 6'9” forward, this team has the star power needed for a Final Four appearance.

The thing that scares me about this team is their average guard play. Yes, it's not the most important thing to have amazing guard play, but this team cannot create, and that shows with the lack of assists per game.

Wisconsin
The Badgers are a very strange squad. They're the only team to beat Michigan, and yet they lost to middling Ohio State. Wisconsin is very streaky, which is not always a bad thing if they can get hot at the right time, but they live and die by the three-ball.

Wisconsin has extremely good guard play in Nick Boyd and John Blackwell, who both average over 18 points a game, along with Nolan Winters, who's a 7-foot forward, who's a beast in the paint.

If this team wants to make it to the Final Four, they need to trust their guards and outscore their opponents, and that favors Wisconsin in a tournament setting, as they can beat anybody. This is backed up by the fact that you can't scout your opponents in the first three rounds of the quick-turnaround games.

This team plays a lot like the 2023 Miami Hurricanes, who made the final four with the ability to outscore opponents with the three-ball and a dominant center.

Michael Fechter is a first-year journalism major. To contact him, please email maf6740@psu.edu