Round 2

Okay, so I was 25-7 in my first round picks thanks to some late-night heroics from Wisconsin and Siena. I should have known better on Illinois. So here are my Round 2 picks. A little different format here than I used for Round 1.

Midwest

(1) Louisville VS (9) Siena
(12) Arizona VS (13) Cleveland State. Ignore my rule about schools with "State" in the name.
(3) Kansas VS (11) Dayton. Kansas has been known to make early exits, but I don't see it quite yet.
(2) MSU VS (10) USC. The Trojans are remembered fondly but people forget that, like Rocky, they lost their epic war.

East

(1) Pitt VS (8) Oklahoma State.
(4) Xavier VS (12) Wisconsin.
(3) Villanova VS (6) UCLA. Not really sold on the Pac 10 this round.
(2) Duke VS (7) Texas. Duke wins a close one before falling to 'Nova.

West

(1) UConn VS (9) Texas A&M.
(4) Washington VS (5) Purdue. Not sold on the Boilers either. This sets up Huskies vs. Huskies.
(3) Missouri VS (6) Marquette. Marquette very nearly made me look bad, so their uppance comes.
(2) Memphis VS (10) Maryland. Memphis was my pick to win it all last year, had they done so I could have won a McCain 08 fleece. They roll on.

South

(1) UNC VS (8) LSU. I'm picking UNC to win it all. That's what my gut tells me.
(4) Gonzaga VS (12) Western Kentucky.
(3) Syracuse VS (6) ASU. I'd like to make more interesting picks, but I'm just not feeling it for the Cindarellas
(2) Oklahoma VS (10) Michigan. I'd like to see them do it. I just don't think they've got the inside game, and Griffin was not thrown to the ground hard enough for that to be a factor. Best judo throw I've seen in a basketball game in quite some time though.

NCAA Round 1 Picks

Okay, so it's that time again this year. Last year I didn't do too bad with my brackets, I would have done better if Memphis had won the Championship game but it was still respectable. Anyways without further ado, here are my round 1 picks

Midwest Region

(1) Louisville VS (16) Doesn't Matter --------------Louisville
(8) OSU Suckeyes VS (9) Siena ----------------------Siena
(5) Utah VS (12) Arizona-------------------------------Arizona (a 12 always beats a 5 somewhere)
(4) Wake VS (13) Cleveland State--------------------Wake Forest
(6) WVU VS (11) Dayton------------------------------West Virginia (I'll wind up regretting this one)
(3) KU VS (14) NDSU-----------------------------------Gee, let me think.....Kansas
(7) Boston College VS (10) USC-----------------------BC, I'm picking a lot of East Coast teams
(2) MSU VS (15) Robert Morris-----------------------MSU always plays well in the early rounds.

East Region

(1) Pitt VS (16) E. Tenn----------------------------------Pitt
(8) Ok St. VS (9) Tenn.-----------------------------------Tennessee pulls out a close one
(5)FSU VS (12) Wisc.-------------------------------------Wisc, haven't seen either so: 12-5 rule.
(4) Xavier VS (13) Portland State------------Xavier, as a rule if you have the word "state" in your name, but not the name of a state I don't pick you.
(6) UCLA VS (11) VCU---------------------------------UCLA, don't pick teams if you have to look up their abreviations.
(3) Nova VS (14) American-----------------------------Nova beats them up inside
(7) Texas VS (10) Minnesota---------------------------Tejas
(2) Duke VS (15) Doesn't Matter U------------------Duke

West Region

(1) UConn VS (16) Chattanooga---------------------UConn, been to chat. don't care for the place.
(8) BYU VS (9) A&M------------------------------------A&M, why not?
(5) Purdue VS (12) Northern Iowa-------------------Boilermakers
(4) Washington (13) Miss State-----------------------Miss. State in a shocking upset!
(6) Marquette VS (11) Utah State---------------------Marq. I didn't know there was a Utah State.
(3) MIZZ VS (14) Cornell-------------------------------MU
(7) Cal VS (10) Md.---------------------------------------Terrapins, see what I mean about East Coast?
(2) Mumphis VS(15) Doesn't Matter-Northridge Memphis

South Region

(1) UNC VS Radford------------------------------------UNC, Radford we hardly knew ye
(8) LSU VS (9) Butler------------------------------------The Butler did it.
(5) Illinois VS (12) WKU-------------------------------Illini buck the 12-5 theory.
(4) Gonzaga VS (13) Akron---------------------------Zags over Zips
(6)ASU VS (11) Temple--------------------------------ASU, I usually wind up regretting the 11-6 games
(3) 'Cuse VS (14) SFA-----------------------------------Orange(men)
(7) Clemson VS (10) Michigan-----------------------lets see.....Michigan. (My oldest neice was accepted to Michigan this week. She will be in their Nursing Program.)
(2) Choklahoma VS (15) Morgan State------------OU, (see naming rules)

Anyways, my lesson about Matthew 21 tomorrow night will suck because I've been working on this tonight, but it was worth it.

March Madness: Round One.

I'm currently sitting at 23-9 in my first round NCAA brackets. Not bad, but not good enough to win me the McCain 2008 fleece. The leaders are currently sitting at 29-3. I'm tied with Senator McCain with 23. The South region was kind to me with no upsets so I went 8-0. I was 6-2 in the east because I tried to get cute picking George Mason and Southern Alabama. The Midwest was also 6-2 because Gonzaga and Vanderbilt went down. I can make up ground in this region if 'Nova and Kansas State make the Sweet 16. (The points for each correct pick go up exponentially each round) The West really killed me though. I only got the top 3 seeds right going 3-5 in this region. I had Arizona moving on, because I forgot about the crap with their coach (one of my rules is to avoid teams that have weirdness going on with the coaching situation, despite historic exceptions like Michigan '89). The others could have happened to anybody (c'mon San Diego, Western Kentucky?) In order to make up any ground in this region, I need Xavier to knock off Duke in the Sweet 16. Oklahoma knocking off Louisville and Marquette taking down Stanford in the second round might help get me back up into McCain-swag territory too.