I just spent much of the last few days watching the conference tournaments – and (for a change) picked a few winners, such as my beloved Jayhawks, Wisconsin, and yes, that myth of a team known as the Tar Heels (ducking as TCH throws a mean right-hook). And hey, I even picked UNLV, Kent State, and San Diego, so I'm feelin' pretty good right now about my roundball prognostication skills, haha.
(And someone in the country, some lucky guy is counting his millions, having picked Georgia and Arkansas to reach the SEC finals!)
So, here are my picks for the first round. If you want to play along, just post a comment/response and I'll keep tally of the picks. I'll do this round-by-round. But before we begin, remember one thing – there can only be one national champion, and it will be these guys:
So, in the East:
Carolina over winner of the play-in game (please god, please let UNC survive until April 5, so that KU can beat them)
Indiana over Arkansas (according to Dick Vitale, Bobby Knight should come back and coach the Hoosiers)
Notre Dame over George Mason
Washington State over Winthrop
St Joseph's over Oklahoma (would be a bit of revenge from the 2004 Elite Eight)
Louisville over Boise State
Butler over South Alabama
Tennessee over American (you could combine American, Swiss, and Provolone, and the 'Vols would still win)
In the Midwest:
KU over Portland St (as KU begins their quest to cut down the nets in San Antonio)
Kent State over UNLV (these were my Cinderella teams, it sucks they have to play in the first round)
Clemson over 'Nova (god, I hate picking ACC teams almost as much as I hate picking Big 10 teams)
Vanderbilt over Siena
USC over K-State
Wisconsin over CSF (eeeghads, another Big-10 team, somebody hand me some Listerine)
Davidson over 'Zags (Gonzaga usually does better when they're seeded lower)
G-town over UMBC
In the South:
Memphis over UT-Arlington (uh, oh, I used the letters 'U' and 'T' together!!! Can I get banned from my own blog?)
Miss State over Oregon (hate to go against my beloved Ducks, but the Bulldogs are too good)
Mich State over Temple (Something tells me that Drew "Oh What a" Neitzel is about to lead a run)
Pittsburgh over Oral Roberts (I refuse to pick a team named "Oral Roberts" – "Oral Robertas" is a different story)
Marquette over Kentucky
Stanford over Cornell (well, that oughta be a quick way to eliminate the Ivy League school)
St Mary's over Miami (I saw a half-dozen Gaels games this year – they can be really good)
Texas over Austin Peay (Even though KU beat Texas today, I still don't want to see them again)
Out West:
UCLA over Miss Valley St (one of these days, UCLA's luck will run out)
Texas A&M over BYU (tough call, but I gotta go with the Big 12)
Drake over Western KY (Drake is the only team I've seen with a better 3-pt FG % than a 2-pt FG%)
UConn over San Diego (tough call, I'd love to pick the Toreros, but UConn is too strong)
Baylor over Purdue (sorry, Ninja MC, but a Big 12 is better than a Big 10, haha)
Xavier over Georgia (wow, a college that sounds like a porn star, vs. a team that got blown away in the regular season)
W VA over Arizona (letting my heart pick this one)
Duke over Belmont
KG
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