Author: Victor Olorunfemi
Your 2018 NCAA Division 1 Basketball Champion: The Purdue Boilermakers
Now I am not a big fan of the nickname 'boilermaker' but I am willing to look past that when it comes to picking the 2018 NCAA Champion.
I could spew out all the numbers and analysis of why the 2-seeded 28-6 team with 4 senior starters should be a tournament favorite because of their immense size and experience but that would be boring and I'm sure you have probably seen it somewhere else. No, I have another reason why Purdue will be the national champions and it's all in the numbers . . . well sort of.
The sporting world seems to work in sequences and that is
why Purdue is due for a national championship.
There are two reasons why Purdue will win the national championship.
The last 4 champions have been UCONN, Duke, Villanova and North Carolina. The 2014 Champion was the (31-8) Huskies, 2015 was Duke (34-4), 2016 saw the (34-5) Villanova Wildcats and last year saw the (32-7) North Carolina Tar Heels lift the championship.
Notice anything in that sequence? 8,4,5,7 or 4,5,7,8? The only number missing in that sequence is 6. The last four NCAA champions have had a total of 8,4,5,7 losses respectively. This means the 2018 champion will be a 6-loss team.
There are other 6-loss teams like South Dakota State and Louisiana but Purdue is the only 6 loss team ranked in the AP Top 25, which eliminates the other 6 loss teams.
The second reason is that Purdue lost in the Big Ten Championship Game. Yeah, Purdue is going to win the NCAA tournament because they lost their conference championship. Neither of the last 4 champions in the sequence won their conference tournament. And to further that point the loss came in the conference final for UCONN, semifinal for Duke, final for Villanova, semi-final for North Carolina and final for Purdue. Final-semifinal-final-semifinal-final.
This could all be completely wrong but at the same time there is no sure way to predict the college basketball champion. So, why not the Purdue Boilermakers, the numbers suggest so . . . well sort of.
Let us know who you have winning the tournament in the comments below!
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