I know many of you are going down to the wire with your picks, so I won’t waste any time telling you what yours should look like… just make sure you check back with us for the unveiling of the incredible field of 64 in our first-ever Tournament of Hotties!
EAST REGION
Upset Special(s): (9) Arkansas over (8) Indiana– sure, a 9 over an 8 isn’t much of an upset, but purely from a rankings standpoint it is. Indiana’s been in full crash-and-burn mode since Kelvin Sampson’s dismissal, and they’ll complete the flame-out in the first round; (11) St. Joe’s over (6) Oklahoma– the only reason OU is ranked this high is because the committee has a bias for teams from major conferences. They struggled the entire season in a mediocre Big-12, and a balanced St. Joe’s attack will do them in; (3) Louisville over (2) Tennessee (in the regional semi-final)– again, wouldn’t be a major shocker, but pencil Rick Pitino’s boys into your Regional Final.
Regional Champ? UNC. They’ve been the media’s darlings the entire season, and while Louisville will give them a scare, CBS will see their beloved Tar Heels in Final Four.
MIDWEST REGION
Upset special(s):(9) Kent St. over (8) UNLV– people are all about UNLV right now, but Kent State’s been equally solid this season and I like their efficient half-court game to slow UNLV’s run-and-gun style; (13) Siena over (4) Vanderbilt– I’m not picking Siena just because I grew up down the road from the school. Vandy relies too much on the three-ball and the Saints have already enjoyed convincing wins against Stanford and Boise State this year. (Update: when I took another look at my 213892 brackets, I realized that I have (10) Davidson knocking off (7) Gonzaga. I know I’m getting a little crazy here with upsets, but here’s my dual-layered rationale: first, while this tournament is exceedingly top-heavy, the remaining matchups of middling teams are crapshoots– they could all produce blowouts by higher seeds just as soon as they could result in stompings handed out by underdogs, so they aren’t really upsets in your traditional sense; secondly– as specifically pertains to this game– Gonzaga is getting a lot of credit, most of it deserved, for simply becoming a mid-major fixture at the dance. What people fail to realize is Davidson is the new Gonzaga, and Wildcats’ guard Stephen Curry simply can’t be stopped.)
Regional Champ? Kansas. More on them in a bit (if the pic above didn’t give away my choice for national champ, then that definitely did).
SOUTH REGION
Upset Special(s): (10) St. Mary’s over (7) Miami– once again the committee’s hard-on for major conferences rears it’s ugly head (pun 100% intended). Miami sucks, and St. Mary’s will prove it; (4) Pittsburgh over (1) Memphis (in the regional semi-final)– Memphis racked up big wins against crappy competition. Then the one time they saw a team that played even a modicum of defense (Tennessee), they didn’t look so good… and, well, Pitt’s been known to play some pretty legit D of its own.
Regional Champ? Texas. They lost Kevin Durant to the NBA last June, and supposedly any shot at a national championship. Instead, D.J. Augustin and Co. stepped up and dominated the Big-12, and they’ll do the same to their opponents in the Midwest.
WEST REGION
Upset Special(s) None. The committee should be ashamed of the easy road it paved for UCLA and Duke to the Regional Final. Outside of Duke’s potential matchup against West Virginia in the 2nd round, the West has to be considered the biggest joke since Paris Hilton’s music career.
Regional Champ? UCLA. They defend better than anyone in the country, and they’ll bully the Blue Devils on their way to San Antonio.
Final Four: (1) Kansas over (1) UNC– could be the greatest Final Four matchup since Arizona outlasted Kentucky in overtime to win the title in ‘97; (1) UCLA over (2) Texas– another pretty decent game, but UCLA should win comfortably.
YOUR CHAMP: Kansas. I never thought I’d be on the bandwagon of a program that has made choking in the NCAA tournament it’s calling card. But I am. They are stacked at every position and, unlike in years-past, they have plenty of veteran studs in Brandon Rush, Darnell Jackson, and Mario Chalmers to lessen the load on super-soph Darrell Arthur in crunch time. It’s been said so many times that it’s almost cliched, but it’s the truth– Kansas is, by far, the most complete team in college basketball, and their superiority will show throughout this tournament.
And with that, goodluck with your brackets, and feel free to take all, or none, of my advice…
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