Monday, March 12, 2007

Bracket Thoughts

Before the pairings were announced on Sunday evening, my Final Four choices were Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and Georgetown....

Well, that changed after everything was announced because Carolina, Texas, and Georgetown are all in the same bracket....let’s breakdown the brackets....

East
This is a very tough bracket with Carolina and Georgetown as the 1-2 seeds....Texas has the talent and the one player in Kevin Durant to win this bracket....Carolina has a tricky second round match-up against either Marquette or Michigan State....you can never discount Tom Izzo during this time of the year....
Doesn’t belong - Arkansas....I believe that spot should have went to Syracuse.....
Don’t sleep on - Oral Roberts - they winnable games in the first two rounds
Who will win this bracket - Georgetown - the Hoyas gained valuable experience last season by making the Sweet 16....Jeff Green is hot for the D.C.. crew...

South
Thad Matta has a possible second round match-up against his former team, Xavier who could give OSU some trouble....BYU has an RPI of 18....a possible Sweet 16 match-up for is OSU vs. Tennessee....these two played earlier this season in Columbus with OSU winning by 1 point....I was surprised that Louisville was a number 6 seed....I think the Cardinals are better than that....Memphis has to be the quietest team all year....the Tigers are 30-3 and not talked about... .a possible second round match-up between Louisville-Texas A&M will be a good one...
Don’t sleep on - Tennessee - they have the talent to win this bracket because they can shoot the 3 ball....they got shocked in the first round of the SEC tourney, so they will be ready for a run....
Who will win this bracket - Louisville - if the Cards can get by Texas A&M in the second round, they should win this bracket....Ohio State will have a hard time with Tennessee in the Sweet 16....my second choice is Texas A&M.....

Midwest
It all comes down to Florida, Florida, Florida.....say what you will, the fact remains they are the team to beat....they are the defending champs and Joakim Noah has elevated his game.....however, the Gators possible second round game against Arizona could be interesting....the Cats had the second toughest schedule in the nation this year and never underestimate Lute Olsen....this wily coach may have the ability to pull off an upset....many people are calling for Winthrop to upset Notre Dame....I don’t see it happening....Wisconsin is fortunate to be a #2 seed with their dismal performance over the past two weeks...
Don’t sleep on - Maryland - the Terps got bounced early in the ACC....but they may have the freshest legs.....
Who will win this bracket - gotta go with Florida....

West
UCLA is not the #1 seed - big deal....they are still seeded out west.....Kansas’ second round match could be Kentucky or Villanova.....I could see Villanova beating Kansas....Kentucky cannot hit the three-point shot this year....Duke has been playing poorly as they are 4-6 in their last 10 games....look for VCU to win....a nice Sweet 16 game is Pitt vs. UCLA....Ben Holland goes against his former Steel City team....
Don’t sleep on - Pitt - they are battle tested by playing in the Big East
Who will win this bracket - Kansas - they are due to make the Final 4 again, but really, don't sleep on Pitt - they are my "ghetto" pick...
Overall - Look for Georgetown to beat Florida and cut down the nets in Atlanta...

2 comments:

SAMO said...

East

I agree with you on the UNC bracket, what a tough one. I think Texas can go far. Can they go all the way? I'm not sure. They will need Abrams and Augustine to step up big time because Durant will eventually get tired of carrying that team (see Kansas vs. Texas in Big 12 finals).

South

Not too difficult of a bracket for OSU. Tennessee could be tough, but Memphis is a weak 2. The whole controversy in this bracket is obviously the fact that Louisville will play in Lexington for their first two games, even though they are only a 6 seed.

I'll do the other two regions later...

The Big Picture said...

east is brutal. about two weeks, i really liked washington state as a potential final four team. not so much anymore.