For the record I am in three pools: Sierra Club, Joey Pillow's alumni and the king of them all, the PIRG/Drumtra pool. And as many of you know, I usually pick who I want to win rather than who I think will win. But even with that 'system' in place, other than picking the Heels to win it all, I had some trouble with each of my brackets.
The South is the easiest to fill out; I see Carolina advancing to the Final Four after beating Oklahoma in the regional final, avenging a loss to Gonzaga two years ago along the way. I have WKU beating Illinois, and Temple upsetting Arizona State and Syracuse. I think both the 'Cuse and UConn will tank in the tournament. I've already seen some folks predict a Clemson win over Oklahoma but the Tigers are 7-7 in their last fortnight of games. Though I generally blindly root for ACC teams I've lost my faith in the Tigers.
My picks in the East are pretty conventional - Pitt beating Duke in the regional final. Duke has a good draw with a chance for a rematch against VCU in the sweet 16. I have the Rams beating UCLA and Villanova; beating Nova may be a stretch. I want to pick local school American University to beat Nova in the first round, but that will be tough too. I've lost any good feeling for FSU but have them making the 16 and losing to Pitt. But Pitt always chokes and the Noles match up pretty well with the Panthers with lots of bigs. I've seen the Panthers play a few times, and just don't think their back court is that good. Toney Douglas - who is that good - could lead the Noles to an upset but I doubt it. Anyway, I have Pitt beating both FSU and Duke which stinks for the Big East-ACC thing.
For me the Midwest, featuring teams I either don't like such as Louisville or teams that seem overrated such was Wake, is the toughest bracket to prognosticate. Rick Pitino's Cardinals squad is good but has been bad on the road this year, and you know I hate picking a Pitino-coached team. But Wake looked so bad against Maryland I have no faith in them, so by default the Cardinals make the regional final. The other half of that draw is the toughest one for me to predict. I'm intrigued by Dayton and Kansas, and expect BC to defeat Michigan State in a battle of lackluster teams. In the end I have Louisville defeating Wake Forest, Kansas defeating Boston College, then Louisville making the final four. Then again, my first draft had Kansas in the four.
When I first made my picks for the West, I realized I had three of last year's Final Four teams returning after picking Memphis to advance. A gassed UConn makes this a very weak bracket in my opinion. If Washington gets past Purdue I see them taking down a tired UConn team in the sweet 16. On the other half of that bracket I guess Missouri could beat Memphis but I doubt it. So I have Memphis defeating Washington in the regional final.
That means Carolina beating Pitt in one semi-final, Louisville beating Memphis in the other. In a rematch of last year's regional final Carolina, led by Wayne Ellington, wins another national championship.
A Few Random Thoughts
- I think the tournament will be a redemption tour of sorts for Hansbrough. Gonzaga held him under 10 points in that loss two years ago, so Hansbrough will get his revenge if the Bulldogs advance. But I also expect Hansbrough to outplay Blake Griffin and DeJuan Blair if Carolina plays Oklahoma and Pitt. Psycho T wants to go out with a championship, and his will is Jordanesque. Don't be surprised if he outplays everyone - even Ellington or Lawson.
- Though I love political underdogs, I'm no fan of Cinderellas. I like watching good basket, not a less than talented team get lucky and eliminate a better team.
- This year I'm picking two double-digit seeds, Temple and Virginia Commonwealth, to make the sweet 16. Both are 11 seeds. VCU is led by Fayetteville native Eric Maynor (Westover High School).
- I have some other double-digit seeds winning one game, but picking Western Kentucky over Illinois is NOT an upset. Neither is Utah State over Marquette. Both the Illini and Golden Eagles are missing key players due to injuries.
- My one semi-legit upset is Dayton over a very strong West Virginia team. Dayton is my one destiny pick (at least for one round).
- In my opinion, there are only two teams in the field that did not deserve a bid. Arizona is about as worthy as Virginia Tech but some how made it in. Ditto Wisconsin, who stinks and has no good wins outside of the Big 10. There are too many Big 10 teams in. I would have taken Minnesota or Michigan, but not both and kept Wisconsin at home.
- In there stead I would have taken San Diego, St. Marys, and an ACC team.
- Finally, most folks have probably heard that President Obama has Carolina winning the national championship in his bracket. Obama made the same pick last year, which may have owed more to the looming North Carolina primary than anything else. But this year it's pure hoops.
World Baseball Classic
While watching the NCAA tournament I'll keep one eye on the World Baseball Classic. It's too bad these two events overlap since both deserve undivided attention.
The WBC is getting to crunch time, and last night's come from behind win for the USA over Puerto Rico was a great game. Not only that, but it felt like a big game. The Americans won thanks to a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth. The big hit was David Wright's two-run double, but Tar Heel Brian Roberts had a big hit and great at bat in the ninth. His single, after being down 0-2 in the count, kept the rally going and Roberts eventually scored the tying run.
The win put the US in the final four along with Venezuela, Korea, and the winner of tomorrow night's game between defending WBC champ Japan and long-time world power Cuba, a game so big I'm planning to TiVO it and watch it between college basketball games.
GO HEELS!
Please, no wagering (at least based on these picks).
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