Someone please take me on a magic carpet ride!
I’m going to cover my picks for the upcoming tournament. Unlike some of my friends I will be working the next two days. But I fully plan on taking advantage of CBS having the games on a live feed online. My luck our internet will go down.
I’m not going to go through every pick because that will take too long and I don’t have that kind of patience. So here are my first round upsets (including 9s over 8s).
UNC Wilmington over GW
I love the way that GW runs and if they get Pops back they’ll be tough. But I think that UNCW is a tough, veteran team that has the type of disciplined play to handle GW. On another note I think that they will give Duke a tougher than expected game in the 2nd round.
A&M over ‘Cuse
This is my mandatory 12 over 5 pick. A&M is a very physical team and I honestly think that Syracuse peaked in the Big East tournament. I was also very upset to hear Vermont’s old coach (I can’t remember his name) compare McNamara’s performance in the Big East Tournament to Randolph Childress’s ACC tourney run in 1995. Flabbergasted isn’t even a strong enough term. Yes McNamara hit some clutch shots, but did he carry his teams to those wins? No. He didn’t score over 20 in any of the four games. Childress went for something ridiculous like 35, 30, and 45 in his 1995 run and single handedly carried Wake to that championship.
Bradley over Kansas
I love the way that both of these teams have played the last month or so. But Kansas is very young and there’s always that one veteran mid major team that knocks off the young bucks.
Xavier over Gonzaga
In the battle of Jesuits there is some bad blood. Xavier and Gonzaga used to play each other almost every season up until Gonzaga hit the big time in 1999. All of a sudden they were too big time to play the Musketeers. XU also has 6’9” Justin Doellman who is probably the best defender Morrison will have faced in the last 3 months. Not having Brian Thornton will hurt in containing Bautista, but I think they can pull it off.
Bama over Marquette
Live by the 3, die by the 3. That’s what I’m basing this on. Marquette won’t be able to hit from deep and Bama will prevail. Novak is a tournament vet, but he won’t be enough.
UAB over Kentucky
I love the rematch from two years ago. I actually picked UAB on one of my brackets that year, unfortunately it wasn’t one of my money brackets. Now I have one bracket that I use. I always hated the what ifs I ran into. This Kentucky team doesn’t run like their teams of the past. UAB will turn them over a lot. And I’m predicting that Rajon Rondo gets exposed for the fraud that he is. Squeeky Johnson will push him all over the court.
Wisconsin over Arizona
I really hate Arizona’s team this year. They seem like they should really be able to lock people down, but instead they try to run with them. The only reason they’re in is because they play in a shit conference. They wouldn’t have finished over .500 in any other power conference. I think that this will be one of the most horrible games to watch of the tournament.
UNI over Georgetown
This is a very veteran and tournament tested UNI team. Don’t sleep on them. I love the way the Hoyas make the Princeton offense look so fluid because they have great athletes running it, but I think the Panthers get the upset here.
My other big picks lay out like this.
LSU over Duke
LSU learned a lot from last year’s debacle against UAB. Basically that they needed better guard play, and they got it. Glenn Davis will destroy Sheldon Williams and LSU’s athletic guards will keep JJ covered up all day.
Washington over Illinois
I think that UW has flown under the radar all season. Brandon Roy is a great player and this team just has too many weapons for Illinois to stop. It’ll be close, but UW wins.
Michigan St. over UNC
MSU is beat up and a little down. But is there a coach who gets more out of his players in the tournament than Izzo? They always make a run. And you know that vet team will be licking their lips when they take on a very young UNC team.
Michigan St. over Tennessee
MSU will frustrate UT by keeping this a half court game. UT really faded down the stretch and showed their true colors. They aren’t all that athletic and that will hurt them here.
BC over Nova
Smith and Dudley are experienced and hungry. They’re also familiar with Nova. This could be the game of the tournament. BC just has too much inside and their bigs can handle, unlike UConn’s.
My Final Four lays out like this: Texas over LSU in the South, Memphis over UCLA in the West (only because of a soft region), UConn over Michigan St. in the East, and Ohio State over BC in the Midwest.
Then…
Texas over Memphis
As much as I like Memphis I think that their lack of experience and quality opponents will catch up with them right here. Texas is solid all the way around. And they have that intangible guy in Buckman who you know will do something to turn this game down the stretch.
UConn over OSU
It was a good run for the Bucks but UConn’s size finishes off the job that BC’s size started. OSU ran into the same kind of buzz saw UConn team in 1999 in the semis.
Final
Texas over UConn, 78-72
UConn’s bigs lack of mobility and versatility will kill them in this game. That’s really the only thing I have to say about this game. I just think that Texas is a better team.
When I fill out my bracket I never have a team that I pencil in as the winner. I go round by round and judge each match up. If I think a team will lose, then they lose. Simple as that. Alas, the highest I’ve ever finished in any pool is 3rd and that was last season. But that was also the first time I’ve used just one sheet (the sheet of integrity, if you will). Perhaps this will be my year. But probably not.
I’m not going to go through every pick because that will take too long and I don’t have that kind of patience. So here are my first round upsets (including 9s over 8s).
UNC Wilmington over GW
I love the way that GW runs and if they get Pops back they’ll be tough. But I think that UNCW is a tough, veteran team that has the type of disciplined play to handle GW. On another note I think that they will give Duke a tougher than expected game in the 2nd round.
A&M over ‘Cuse
This is my mandatory 12 over 5 pick. A&M is a very physical team and I honestly think that Syracuse peaked in the Big East tournament. I was also very upset to hear Vermont’s old coach (I can’t remember his name) compare McNamara’s performance in the Big East Tournament to Randolph Childress’s ACC tourney run in 1995. Flabbergasted isn’t even a strong enough term. Yes McNamara hit some clutch shots, but did he carry his teams to those wins? No. He didn’t score over 20 in any of the four games. Childress went for something ridiculous like 35, 30, and 45 in his 1995 run and single handedly carried Wake to that championship.
Bradley over Kansas
I love the way that both of these teams have played the last month or so. But Kansas is very young and there’s always that one veteran mid major team that knocks off the young bucks.
Xavier over Gonzaga
In the battle of Jesuits there is some bad blood. Xavier and Gonzaga used to play each other almost every season up until Gonzaga hit the big time in 1999. All of a sudden they were too big time to play the Musketeers. XU also has 6’9” Justin Doellman who is probably the best defender Morrison will have faced in the last 3 months. Not having Brian Thornton will hurt in containing Bautista, but I think they can pull it off.
Bama over Marquette
Live by the 3, die by the 3. That’s what I’m basing this on. Marquette won’t be able to hit from deep and Bama will prevail. Novak is a tournament vet, but he won’t be enough.
UAB over Kentucky
I love the rematch from two years ago. I actually picked UAB on one of my brackets that year, unfortunately it wasn’t one of my money brackets. Now I have one bracket that I use. I always hated the what ifs I ran into. This Kentucky team doesn’t run like their teams of the past. UAB will turn them over a lot. And I’m predicting that Rajon Rondo gets exposed for the fraud that he is. Squeeky Johnson will push him all over the court.
Wisconsin over Arizona
I really hate Arizona’s team this year. They seem like they should really be able to lock people down, but instead they try to run with them. The only reason they’re in is because they play in a shit conference. They wouldn’t have finished over .500 in any other power conference. I think that this will be one of the most horrible games to watch of the tournament.
UNI over Georgetown
This is a very veteran and tournament tested UNI team. Don’t sleep on them. I love the way the Hoyas make the Princeton offense look so fluid because they have great athletes running it, but I think the Panthers get the upset here.
My other big picks lay out like this.
LSU over Duke
LSU learned a lot from last year’s debacle against UAB. Basically that they needed better guard play, and they got it. Glenn Davis will destroy Sheldon Williams and LSU’s athletic guards will keep JJ covered up all day.
Washington over Illinois
I think that UW has flown under the radar all season. Brandon Roy is a great player and this team just has too many weapons for Illinois to stop. It’ll be close, but UW wins.
Michigan St. over UNC
MSU is beat up and a little down. But is there a coach who gets more out of his players in the tournament than Izzo? They always make a run. And you know that vet team will be licking their lips when they take on a very young UNC team.
Michigan St. over Tennessee
MSU will frustrate UT by keeping this a half court game. UT really faded down the stretch and showed their true colors. They aren’t all that athletic and that will hurt them here.
BC over Nova
Smith and Dudley are experienced and hungry. They’re also familiar with Nova. This could be the game of the tournament. BC just has too much inside and their bigs can handle, unlike UConn’s.
My Final Four lays out like this: Texas over LSU in the South, Memphis over UCLA in the West (only because of a soft region), UConn over Michigan St. in the East, and Ohio State over BC in the Midwest.
Then…
Texas over Memphis
As much as I like Memphis I think that their lack of experience and quality opponents will catch up with them right here. Texas is solid all the way around. And they have that intangible guy in Buckman who you know will do something to turn this game down the stretch.
UConn over OSU
It was a good run for the Bucks but UConn’s size finishes off the job that BC’s size started. OSU ran into the same kind of buzz saw UConn team in 1999 in the semis.
Final
Texas over UConn, 78-72
UConn’s bigs lack of mobility and versatility will kill them in this game. That’s really the only thing I have to say about this game. I just think that Texas is a better team.
When I fill out my bracket I never have a team that I pencil in as the winner. I go round by round and judge each match up. If I think a team will lose, then they lose. Simple as that. Alas, the highest I’ve ever finished in any pool is 3rd and that was last season. But that was also the first time I’ve used just one sheet (the sheet of integrity, if you will). Perhaps this will be my year. But probably not.
posted by CFunk28 at 1:56 PM
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