NCAA Tourney Time

It's that time of year when people that never follow college sports suddenly think that they are experts. I am one of those people. This year is very different than in years past. I actually am on quite the role. I have missed only one game so far...I really should have bet the farm. But I am not really the betting type. So while we are in the middle of the Sweet Sixteen I thought that I would do my bracket review.

Starting with the South:

It is in the South that I made my one mistake. I picked VCU over Wichita State (the state of Kansas is only allotted so many tourney wins in one year and they get used up elsewhere); I even had Colorado over UNLV but really who honestly guessed Lehigh over Duke?

But all is well that ends well. I had Xavier beating Duke anyway. It's just really fun to write Xavier. My brother wants to name his kid Xavier–at least for a middle name. I mean how cool is having X as your middle initial. It can turn the most mundane name into the coolest name. Just think about "John X. Smith." Now that is cool. As you can see I have Kentucky making it to the Final Four.

 

Moving to the West:

Yes I had Norfolk over Missouri. It hasn't been a good spring for the state of Missouri. The only other "upset" for the region was St. Louis over Memphis but is a 9 beating an 8 really an upset?

Norfolk's win opened the door for Florida to make it to the Elite Eight but that is it. I figured Michigan State to win a couple of games but let's be honest...how often does a Big Ten team actually do well? Especially when they are a number one seed. I almost picked LIU-Brooklyn to win but that would have been silly to pick a 16 over a 1. So I resisted. The confidence that Louisville picked up from their win will help.

 

Over to the East:

The first round in this one was fairly easy. Everyone held chalk. The first upset was Cincy over Florida State which set up the intrastate rival with Ohio State. Although I don't know how much Ohio State thought it was a rivalry.

The Big Ten does fairly well in the East. But just like Big Ten teams are wont to do they can't get past the big game. They end up playing like the Small Ten.

Syracuse knocks off two of those Small Ten teams on their way to the Final Four. They are the second number 1 to make it to the Final Four.

 

The Great Midwest:

Here is the second great pick that I made: South Florida over Temple. I figured one play in team had to win a game and couple of 12 seeds win their first game as well. So this was the logical pick.

I have not been impressed with Michigan this year so I figured they would come up short.

I am thinking that a North Carolina vs. NC State battle to get into the Final Four is going to be the game to watch in the Elite Eight. It might not be the best game from a basketball standpoint but it will be filled with bad blood.

 

And the Final Four:

So the Final Four ends up with three number 1 seeds. That seems almost impossible but it will happen. The Louisville vs. Kentucky game will be just as compelling as the NC/NC St. game.

I figure that two number 1 teams are not going to make it to the finals so that only leaves Louisville. Their win over MSU and then Kentucky will have them riding high. This coupled with the fact that I actually rooted for Syracuse back when Dwayne "Pearl" Washington was playing means that Louisville will end up winning.

And there you have it.

 

All picks are for entertainment purposes only which means don't use any of my insight to bet because I filled in my bracket this morning and still picked the Duke/Lehigh game wrong.