Connecticut Huskies are favorites to win the NCAA Tournament

“The two big favorites, as everyone has said all year long, are Connecticut and Duke,” said Mulder, “Nothing has changed there.”  But what has changed are the outlooks of the other 63 teams which will participate in the NCAA Tournament.

Before the season began, Duke, Connecticut, Texas, Villanova, and Michigan State were the top five teams in the country, according to the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.  This week, the Spartans are not even ranked nationally, although they did receive votes.

The bracket has not even been picked by the Tournament Selection Committee, but Mulder is already offering a short list of teams from which the national champion will emerge.  In addition to Duke and Connecticut, “Texas, Villanova, and Memphis are the teams with the best shot of cutting down the nets in early April,” said Mulder.

So who’s it going to be?

“There’s no denying that the [Duke] Blue Devils were the overall favorite heading into this season, but they’re not going to win this thing.  Connecticut- with Rudy Gay, Josh Boone, and Marcus Williams- this is their year, they have an incredible amount of talent and some experience to back it up.  The Huskies and Jim Calhoun are going to win the national championship.”

Why should David Mulder’s opinion be worth anything compared to the hundreds of other analysts?  For one thing, he’s correctly predicted the NCAA Tournament champion for the last seven years.

“I’ve been right a lot, and this year I feel as strongly as I ever have.”