by Brayden Laslo
Sports Editor
The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.
Thirty-two NCAA Division I men's basketball conferences will crown champions over a nine-day stretch that begins Saturday. The Ohio Valley Conference tournament final and comes to an end with five leagues the Ivy League, Atlantic 10, SEC, American and Big Ten all determining their champions on March 13.
The Jaguar Times will give predictions for the power five conferences and get others opinions on each team and predicted winner in each tournament. Starting the list we have the Big Ten. Our consensus pick for the conference is Purdue. They are led by guard Jaden Ivey and have size in the paint. “Purdue is well coached and they play hard all the time”, says (Max Hockman 11). They would be a top contender in this year's March Madness tournament.
For the Pac 12 we have to go with Arizona. They are top five in the country right now and are looking forward to making a huge run in March and hopefully April. Bennedict Mathurin has been propelling this team to the next level and is a contender for player of the year. The team to lookout for in the Pac 12 is Oregon they have been sneakily a top team in the conference and have solid quad one wins.
In the ACC we have Duke taking the crown. In coach K’s last season the Blue Devils are looking to send him out on top of the college basketball world one more time. They have great size and play well as a team. They have had a few hiccups on the way but sit in the top five of the country. The team to watch out for is Notre Dame the Irish sit second behind Duke and could be their toughest opponent in the path to victory.
With the NCAA tournament on the horizon we will find out who will bring the madness this month. Conference tournaments are just an appetizer to the main course but hold as much if not more significant value. Who do you have this year winning it?