Monday, March 16, 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen, Make Your Selections Now

It is time for March Madness again - that time of year when brackets are passed around the office and hopes rise and fall with the performances of the NCAA tournament's heroes, underdogs and Cinderella stories.

For those of you too busy or lazy or indifferent to research who is going to the dance and which teams will make a run through the tournament, please allow me to assist.

In the Midwest:

Upset Alert - I like number 12 Arizona to knock off number 5 Utah. The rest of this regional should go pretty much as expected. I like USC over Boston College in a minor upset.

I think this division will come down to two college basketball powerhouse: Michigan State and Louisville and I give the nod to Louisville.

In the West:

Upset Alert - The only upset I like in this regional is number 10 Maryland over number 7 California. Go Terps!

Texas ties - Though it pains me to say it. I expect BYU to knock out Texas A&M in the opening round. Sorry, Aggies.

This division should offer some great games. If things go as I expect, look for match ups featuring UConn vs. Purdue (Give me UConn), Memphis vs. Missourri (I'll take Memphis) and Memphis and UConn squaring off to decide who will go to the Final Four. Be smart and take the Tigers of Memphis.

In the East:

Upset Alert - The only upset I project is number 9 Tennessee defeating number 8 Oklahoma State.

Texas Ties - Look for the Longhorns to go down in the second round to the hungry Blue Devils of Duke.

Overall number 1 seeded Pittsburgh should have a cake walk to the Final Four. Duke could prove me wrong but I doubt it.

In the South:

Upset Alert - Western Kentucky has the goods to pull off a big upset of number 5 Illinois. This would be huge and I'll go out on a limb and pick them but I'll stop short of giving them Cinderella status because I think Gonzaga will beat them in the second round. I like Michigan over Clemson in the first round as well. This would be seen as a minor upset but it would not be totally unexpected.

Texas ties - I am proud as I can be of our East Texas SFA Lumberjacks but I just don't see them beating the Orangemen of Syracuse.

Like the West, look for some great games in the third and fourth rounds. The third round should go like this: North Carolina vs. Gonzaga with UNC coming out on top. Syracuse and Oklahoma will go head to head with the edge going to OU. That means Oklahoma and North Carolina will play for the chance to advance to the Final Four and my pick is the Tar heals of UNC.

The Final Four -

The finals should shake out as such: Louisville and Memphis with Louisville advancing to the Championship. The other half of the Final Four will feature a Pittsburgh-North Carolina match up with UNC coming out on top. In the title game, two of my favorite programs will square off and in a Louisville-UNC championship, I am selecting Louisville as my 2009 NCAA Champions. Good luck, Cardinals.

When filling out your brackets, you can take the advice of experts and do some research or you can use the coach's wife approach and choose teams based on team color schemes and mascots. I am not so sure that one way is better than the other but hopefully I have helped someone. Remember, get those brackets filled out before Thursday!

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