Come join our Golden State of Mind NCAA tournament bracket challenge!

Come one, come all! It’s that special time of year where we NBA fans take wild, uneducated guesses at who will win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament! Have you watched a single college game in its entirety this season? Nope? Good, me neither. So, that being said, let’s all fill out brackets together! Come join our group, aptly titled “GSOM’S fantastic bracket,” which is a stupid name that doesn’t even make sense because there is no actual GSOM bracket, there’s just our individual brackets, but whatever, that’s what I named it.

The winner will get ... uh ... the eternal goodwill and respect of the GSOM family? Sounds good to me!

So, again, having only watched a handful of games (and mostly just following along out of curiosity about the NBA prospects like Marvin Bagley III, DeAndre Ayton, and others), here’s who I have going to the Final Four.

Yup, that’s right. Alabama.

I like Alabama. I like Avery Johnson as a college coach. I like the star freshman, Collin Sexton. I mean, what’s not to like about the kid? Did you hear about how he scored 40 points against Minnesota in Brooklyn, while basically playing 3-5 for a bunch of the game?

Yo, check this out (skip to 4:15 or so to see him going off with only two other teammates on the court):

From an SB Nation article about that game:

Alabama basketball was forced to play 3-on-5 for the final 10 minutes of its game against Minnesota after the Crimson Tide’s entire bench was ejected, a player fouled out, and another sprained his ankle. Bama was trailing by 10 at the time. This game should have been over.

Somehow, it wasn’t. Alabama would eventually fall, 89-84, but not before a Herculean effort from their three players against a Gophers team ranked No. 14 in the country.

Alabama outscored Minnesota 30-22 while playing 3-on-5. Most of the credit belongs to top freshman Collin Sexton, who dropped 40 points in the loss.

Sexton was already considered the best recruit in program history. Now he’s officially a legend.

So, there you go. I’m stoked to watch Sexton in the tournament, and I’m excited for a number of other highly touted players.

Michigan State’s combo of Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson Jr. are both going to be lottery picks. The aforementioned Ayton and Bagley are both capable of carrying teams deep into the tournament (assuming Ayton doesn’t get disqualified or whatever the further this FBI probe goes. Side Note: If the players were able to get paid, none of this would be a damn issue. Further side note: The NCAA is so f’ing corrupt. Get the hell out of here with all that nonsense). Mo Bamba could be a factor for Texas, and also has a fricking great name.

Anyways, JOIN OUR BRACKET. COME SHOW ME HOW DUMB MY PICKS WERE! DO IT. DOOOOOOOOOOO IT!

Fwiw, I have Arizona winning it all. I’m bucking the trend. Whatever. I think Ayton is that special, and I think they have an “F YOU, IT’S US VS. EVERYBODY” mentality. Also, Coach Kerr would be happy. I’m all in. Let’s do this.