Top takeaways from the NCAA Men’s Tournament bracket

Yahoo Sports' Jason Fitz and Krysten Peek react to the 2024 Men's tournament field debating biggest winners, toughest draws and wildest region.

Video Transcript

JASON FITZ: The brackets are out, and that means we have tons to react to. Krysten Peek-- all right, KP. Answer this for me first. Simplest one. Biggest winner when you look at the way the brackets came out?

KRYSTEN PEEK: It has to be Purdue. They got a very, very favorable draw, I think. And we have to remember this is a team last year who lost to a 16 seed in Fairleigh Dickinson, and they returned a lot of their star players. Zach Edey, player of the year, front runner. He's going to be almost impossible to stop in the paint. So just looking in the Midwest region, I think they got as the number one seed the most favorable draw out of all the four regions.

JASON FITZ: So I agree with you, but I also don't believe in Purdue. I know-- and it's not just because of last year. You'll figure this out, the more we work together on this stuff. I'm very risk averse with a one-man team. And I know that you could argue Purdue was really a 1 and a 1A. I get that. But I've watched so much over the course of the last month-- Michigan State, a really good example.

Twice, they had Purdue all the way down to the wire on nights where Zach Edey was really good. I feel like if Zach Edey is just a little bit off, Purdue is done. So I'm with you. I think the bracket really won for them, but I also understand why the whole country, I think, is a little skeptical when it comes to Purdue. Not just from last year, but combine that with the big man, combine that with being one-dimensional.

I don't know. I'm out on Purdue. So from the biggest winner, let's take a look-- instead of-- I don't want to go biggest loser here. So let's instead take a look at who you think got the worst draw out of this thing.

KRYSTEN PEEK: The toughest draw has to be the UConn Huskies. Fitz, it is unbelievable who they're going to be facing. Not only they were the number one overall seed, overall team, but to even get out of the East region, they're going to have to go through Auburn, who looks super tough, just won the SEC tournament; Illinois, who just won the Big Ten Tournament; and Iowa State, who completely demolished Houston last week.

So I think we're going to see a different team from the UConn team last year, where they just steamrolled and beat every opponent by 20-plus points all the way to the championship. And if they have any hope at a repeat, they're going to have to play their best basketball of the season.

JASON FITZ: Now, I know you and I agree that Connecticut is the most balanced team in the country. And that's a big reason why everybody loves them. But man, you mentioned Iowa State, and it's not just what they did with Houston. It's just the way Iowa State's played all year. They have a way of making ugly basketball work for them. It's very much like Virginia was a few years ago. Slow it down, make everything ugly, make you work really hard for every bucket, but they can still score. I think when you get-- if this thing plays out in a way where we get Connecticut versus Iowa State, that feels so much like styles make fights. You've got this offense with Connecticut that can easily put up 95 points. They just did a few games ago taking on an Iowa State team.

That limits everything. That, to me-- if I'm just looking in the crystal ball, it's one of the more interesting matchups. So now that we've given you the best and the weirdest, let's continue the weirdest. Let's go with the craziest bracket. When you look at each region, give me which region you think is just the craziest region to try and figure out.

KRYSTEN PEEK: I think it's the West region. We have North Carolina with the number one seed. North Carolina, one of the best defensive teams in the country. Arizona, they're going to be favored in the West. Their fans travel magnificently during tournament time. So they're going to have a little bit of a home court advantage in the West region with Caleb Love, the former North Carolina Tar Heel, in the backcourt, and Kylan Boswell as well. And so when you look at teams in the tournament that make deep runs, it's coaching, and it's also guard play. And Arizona has a lot of that, but so does North Carolina with RJ Davis and the tandem with Armando Bacot and the point forward pick and roll, pick and pop situation.

JASON FITZ: Yeah, 1,000% right. By the way, North Carolina is just sitting back there saying it's going to be wild. But I think they like a lot of their draw. I was a little-- we mentioned earlier Purdue's struggles against Michigan State. I thought there was a moment when they were announcing the brackets and Michigan State was just going to be left out of this thing, and a 25-year run was just going to go [IMITATES SPLAT]. But now I'm looking at Michigan State as a good example of one of these nine seeds sitting there. You mentioned coaching and guard play. Their guard play has been a little inconsistent. Their coaching never is. And when you talk about coaches that win consistently when they're the lower seed, it feels sneaky to me. It just feels like one of those years where Michigan State's going to come out, and just Izzo's going to find some magic in this thing in an unpredictable year.

I looked at so many of these matchups and thought, man, this chaos is going to be great for the sport, and we're going to have you covered every single step of the way on Yahoo Sports. Be sure to get in on the action with Yahoo's Bracket Madness game for both the men's and the women's tournaments. You could win $25,000 in our best bracket contest. It's free to play, so head to yahoo.com/tourney. That's yahoo.com/tourney to sign up.