Arguably the best sporting event of the year is just a few days away as March Madness will get started on Tuesday night with the First Four, and then the first round will get started on Thursday. Conference tournaments are wrapping up on Saturday and Sunday, and after the conclusion of the final game, the selection show will take place and we will have a March Madness bracket. It's the most wonderful time of the year.
There is so much to love about March Madness, and the first week of the tournament is one of the best stretches in all of sports. Basketball begins at noon and there are countless good games all day and into the night. College basketball fans will be setting up multiple TVs to be able to take in as much March Madness action at once as humanly possible.
The upsets are always special as well. It seems like every season there is at least one underdog team that captures America's heart and makes a surprise deep run in March Madness. For example, #16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson took down #1 seed Purdue last year and ended up putting up a good fight in the second round too. They lost to Florida Atlantic, however. Then, #9 said Florida Atlantic turned into the cinderella team as they marched all the way to the Final Four. Upsets are one of the best parts of college basketball, and something about March Madness brings them out. We will likely have a cinderella team to root for in the next week.
Another great part of March Madness are the historic performances put on by individual players. Every so often we will see a player completely take over a game and put their team on their back, and they sometimes carry their squad all the way to a national title. It's always fun to watch. When it gets to the later stages of the tournament, everyone knows that player is getting the ball, and still, no one can stop him. Those kind of take overs are always extremely fun to watch in March Madness, and one of the best examples is Kemba Walker and his historic performances for UConn.
In 2011, Kemba Walker went on one of the most insane runs that we have ever seen in college basketball. It started before March Madness officially got going with the NCAA Tournament as he also led the Huskies to a Big East title that season, and his insane run began then. UConn rattled off 11 straight elimination game wins to go all the way to the national title game, and they won it. Walker put the team on his back, and it was incredible to watch.
Here is what Kemba Walker did in all of those 11 games:
- 26 points, seven rebounds, five assists against DePaul
- 28 points, six rebounds, three assists against No. 22 Georgetown
- 24 points, five rebounds, five assists against No. 3 Pitt
- 33 points, 12 rebounds, five assists (with six steals!) against No. 11 Syracuse
- 19 points, two rebounds, three assists against No. 14 Louisville
- 18 points, eight rebounds, 12 assists against No. 14 seed Bucknell
- 33 points, six rebounds, five assists against No. 6 seed Cincinnati
- 36 points, three rebounds, three assists against No. 2 seed San Diego State
- 20 points, four rebounds, seven assists against No. 5 seed Arizona
- 18 points, six rebounds, seven assists against No. 4 seed Kentucky
- 16 points, nine rebounds against No. 8 seed Butler
We haven't seen anything quite like it since, but there have been some good examples in March Madness that have been close. It's something that people always look for, and there are some players in college basketball this season that have the potential to put their team on their back and go on a crazy run like Kemba Walker did. Here are a few players with that potential.
Dalton Knecht, Tennessee
Dalton Knecht may have been the best transfer portal pickup for any team this season. He came to Tennessee from Northern Colorado, and he has been a star this season. He is averaging 21.1 PPG and he has been a big help for the Volunteers this season and he is a big reason why they have been able to find so much success.
Tennessee won the regular season SEC title, but they did drop their first game in the SEC Tournament. Rick Barnes and the Volunteers are known for their March Madness shortcomings, but Dalton Knecht is a player that can get them over the hump. He has shown the ability to score in bunches as he has scored over 30 points four times this season. Knecht can take over a game, and Tennessee is going to need that player to come out of him if they are going to make a deep run in the tournament.
Boo Buie, Northwestern
Boo Buie and Northwestern lost to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday, but Buie showed exactly why he has the ability to completely take over a game and lead his team past anyone. He was on fire to start the game and had 16 points in the first nine minutes of the game. Unfortunately for Buie and the Wildcats, he went down awkwardly shortly after that and he never looked quite the same. Northwestern had an early 11-point lead, but once Buie slowed down, things started to go in Wisconsin's favor.
The Wildcats lost the game, but if Buie hadn't had his awkward fall, it could've been different. He had absolutely zero help in that game and he didn't look like he was at 100% for a lot of it. If he can stay healthy during the NCAA Tournament and play like he did before he got banged up on Friday, he and Northwestern can surprise some people in March Madness.
Caleb Love, Arizona
Arizona has been highly ranked all season long and they should end up as a two or a three seed in March Madness. However, they haven't looked great as of late as they lost as big favorites to Oregon and USC in the past week, and we have to remember that while they have a lot of wins this season, they did play in the Pac-12. They aren't as battle tested as the other top teams in college basketball.
If Arizona is going to make a run, they need Caleb Love to be special, and he has the ability to do so. He is another transfer player that worked out well, and he ended up winning Pac-12 player of the year. Love has a ton of confidence, and when he is on, he is very hard to stop. Arizona's March Madness fate could very well fall on the shoulders of Love and how is able to perform throughout the tournament.
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