Ok, let's take a look-see at the brackets. We usually do that earlier, but we
haven't had much time to do it yet. Our caveats: since everyone's picks
are blown after the first two hours, we always go round by round. For fun, we'll
predict, so we can look stupid early Friday afternoon. But it's futile.
Second caveat: we always place an emphasis on good coaching, defense,
excellent guard play, and the ability to play in the halfcourt.
Third caveat: some things you can be sure of. One is Purdue is not going to
the Final Four. Syracuse is almost always in the same boat, but this year you
have to keep an eye on them.
So:
West
- Arizona should beat Jackson State and whoever wins Wisconsin/Fresno. Bear
in mind, though, the animosity between Olson and Tark. It goes back to Long
Beach State in the 70s, where Olson took over after Tark got them in
trouble. - Texas and LSU should play in the lower half of that bracket. Both
teams present Arizona with some tremendous challenges, but from here, Jason
Gardner looks like the real deal. - We'll take Dayton to knock off Purdue.
- Wouldn't shock us at all to see Winthrop knock off Oklahoma. A lot
of the Charleston magic seems to have transferred (the coach is a former
Charleston assistant) - Louisville and St. John's seem locks to play.
- If Loren Woods plays, Arizona should win the regional. If not, we'll take
St. John's.
Midwest
- MSU is a powerful team, and potentially a superb team. Nonetheless,
Valpo is a scary 1st round matchup. They're focused, disciplined, and
capable. But MSU should win. - We like what St. Lous has done, so we'll take them in a mild upset.
- UK over the Bonnies
- Syracuse over Samford.
- Utah could beat Michigan State, but St. Louis won't.
- We'd rate UCLA-Ball State as a toss-up. UCLA is too inconsistent.
- The Terps should take Iona
- Let's take Creighton! Auburn has Cliff Ellis - and they don't have Porter.
- Iowa State, no doubt.
- We'll take UK over Syracuse.
- Maryland can take ISU, but will they? Or will they do their normal tourney
meltdown? - MSU should win, but Kentucky and Maryland have potentially sweet draws.
East
- Duke should advance, but gettting past the second game - much less the
third - is tough. But Duke has an advantage with K which is hard to
equal. - Kansas & DePaul - we'll go with our theory that you should bet on the
better coached team, so we'll take Kansas, but not by much. - Florida-Butler...Hmm....should be easy, but Butler has a huge basketball
tradition...they're not coming into this like UNCW. The story Hoosiers
was based on was filmed in their gym, which is a legend (ask Eric Montross).
We'll say Florida, but only because we know them and don't know anything
about Butler. But that tradition is gorgeous. - Illinois over Penn
- Indiana vs. Pepperdine...another interesting game. Will the CNNSI story
distract IU? Will Knight self-destruct? Pepperdine is coached by Jan
Van Breda Koff, meaning they are disciplined. Not sure on this one. - Oklahoma State. We'll be surprised if they don't see Temple in the Sweet
16. - We'll take Seton Hall over Oregon.
- Now here's what everyone overlooks in the East Regional: everyone is
betting on Temple. However, in the first game of the Sweet 16, Temple will
likely have to play Indiana's classic game, with a heavy pressure on
defense, or, worse, the Iba-esque Cowboys of Oklahoma State. If Duke makes
it, they'll likely play Florida or Illinois. Temple vs. either Indiana
or OSU will be a hard, physical, game, and the winner will be sorely
tested. That's not to say the Duke (if Duke makes it matchup with
either Illinois or Florida won't be, but whoever wins the other game will
likely not shoot well in the second game.
South
- Stanford is mighty tough, too tough for any 16 seed.
- UNC-Mizzou - we'll go with Quin out of Duke loyalty, but it ain't going to
be easy. On the other hand, he knows UNC inside out. - UConn should take Utah State.
- Tennessee over La-Lafayette
- We'll take Arkansas over Miami.
- Ohio State over App State.
- Tulsa over UNLV
- Cincy over UNCW.
- We respect Stanford a lot, but we're going to be highly contrary here and
take Tennessee. We like their athletic ability, and at times they are
brilliant. Ohio State we respect immensely. But until they blow
our brackets up, we'll stick with the Vols.
As soon as our faulty logic or lack of knowledge is cruelly exposed, we'll
revisit the later rounds.