Salk: No knowledge, no problem for March Madness bracket success

Millions of Americans will be filling out their March Madness brackets this week, but what if you know little about college basketball?

According to 710 ESPN Seattle host Mike Salk, that’s totally fine.

Salk told KIRO Radio’s Don O’Neill that is the great thing about the NCAA tournament, it’s nearly impossible to predict what’s going to happen even if you’ve been studying the teams and players all year.

“You’ve got these teams playing in these leagues that are so different throughout the entire country. You have no idea what is going to happen when they all match up with each other, who happens to be hot that day,” Salk said.

“The parity in college basketball is enormous and that is why this thing is so beloved.”

While most of the outcomes of the tournament are hard to guess, Salk said this year you might want to take note of the team many expect to be the overall winner.

“You know that Kentucky is going to win. They are so good,” said Salk. “They haven’t lost all year. They haven’t really been tested all year and they are almost definitely going to win the NCAA tournament.”

The Wildcats (34-0) are looking to become the first undefeated men’s national champion since Indiana in 1976.

But that doesn’t prevent a lot of other variation in the bracket, Salk said.

“The cool thing about a bracket is you don’t just have to get the last one right. Everyone is going to have Kentucky, the question is how many other upsets can you call along the way,” Salk said. “That’s why the tournament has always been as a great a deal as it is and takes over March.”

To cap off other things you might want to know about this year’s bracket, a Washington team is a No. 2 seed, with Gonzaga in the NCAA South Region. No. 2 Gonzaga will play against No. 15 seed North Dakota State on Friday at KeyArena.

Salk cheered on their prospects. “Go Zags.”