I'm not going to bother to go on public record with my entire bracket. There are many reasons for this. For example; Why? Why should anyone be subjected to yet another uninformed opinion about the predicted results of a competition that has shown time and again its’ impossibility to predict. Nobody ever gets it right. At a certain point you're better off picking which team’s uniforms you like the most. The other, more obvious reason is simply; What the hell do I know anyways? I've barely even seen half of these teams play. The great thing about the tournament though, is that for a few days everyone gets to be a college basketball expert. I mean is there anything better than making a passionate argument for a team when you don't know what conference they play in or you can't even pronounce their best players name correctly. It really just becomes a contest for who can name the most players on a team. So, since these are the only days I get to be a college basketball expert I plan on taking full advantage. I have no shortage of thoughts heading into the best week on the sports calender outside of the World Cup. Here is the 7 millionth region by region breakdown of the last 48 hours.
East
One of my favorite parts about filling out my bracket every year is penciling in the team that beats North Carolina or Duke. I really can't stand the amount of love and praise that is showered on them by pundits, not to mention referees. However, I had a hard time finding someone who was going to beat the Tar Heels this year. I eventually settled on Tennessee, who arguably could have been a 1 seed. There's obviously no guarantee that the Volunteers will make it to the Elite 8, unless of course Candace Parker suits up for them who is a total beast. Tyler Hansborough doesn't want any part of Candace Parker, of this I am sure. Too bad for Bruce Pearls team that likely won't happen but instead they will have to navigate through a pretty tough bottom half of the bracket with a potential match up looming with a very good Louisville team in the sweet 16. Rick Pitino's team made a good run last year and have all the main pieces back. Also, Tennessee potentially face a second round match up with Butler who beat them last year. All that being said I don't see North Carolina stumbling early but I don't think they have played as good a team as Tennessee for a while. Plus I just hate them. But, again, what the hell do I know?
South
Memphis has got to be the least talked about 33-1 team ever. Sure they don't shoot free throws, and they're facing a couple tough potential match ups in a hot Pittsburgh team as well either Texas or Stanford. But, they're really really good and they have a game changing point guard in Derrick Rose which to me is the most important position to be filled during the tournament. The thing about Texas is they couldn't get it done with super freak Kevin Durant last year. To me that reveals something is lacking in their coaching, which is the most underrated aspect that goes into making these picks if you ask me. The west coast bias in me wants to say they're going to lose to Saint Mary's in the second round, not to mention how awesome a Sweet 16 match up between two bay area schools in Stanford and Saint Mary's would be. Maybe if I say that there's no way Texas can lose to Saint Mary's it will reverse jinx them into the Sweet 16. Speaking of reverse jinxes, being the big Stanford fan that I am, I've always had a hard time with the fact that I always pick them going about 2 rounds further than they usually go. So instead, this year I was going into my bracket with the thought process that I would reverse jinx them by picking them to lose in the second round. However the more I though about it, the more I realized that would be too obvious and would result in a jinx, as opposed to a reverse jinx. Instead I've penciled them in to beat Texas who won't be able to hang with the Cardinal's imposing frontline and advance to the Elite 8. This will clearly result in a reverse-reverse jinx. It would not be the first time that this type of tactic has been attempted or has succeeded in sports history. Who says bracketology is not a science? So to sum it up, Stanford, riding the wave of a much needed reverse-reverse jinx will come up short against a very good and supremely athletic Memphis Tiger team. I would like to say that picking Stanford to lose at that point would constitute another dimension of jinx, but frankly, at this point I've lost count.
Midwest
I would contend that this is by far the weakest bracket. I have Kansas coasting through to the final four. Call me crazy but I have Davidson penciled in as moving through in the bottom half of the bracket. I can't get behind Georgetown for some reason. I’m not convinced that Roy Hibbert is that good. He's definitely tall though. So there's something to be said for that. When it comes to the tournament, I like teams with really good back courts and Davidson has one of the best we'll see in Stephen Curry and Jason Richards. Richards, who runs the point, leads the nation in assists. That’s a good statistic. Curry was talked about last year in March as a freshman and didn't disappoint. This year as a sophomore he's averaging over 25 points a game and shooting 43% from three point range. I like Davidson, I would like them a lot more if they weren't playing a Gonzaga team in the first round that I also really like, but nevertheless, I like Davidson. I’m not a big Wisconsin fan because I've been down on the Big 10 all year, and USC and O.J. Mayo are overrated if you ask me. I feel like they kind of snuck into the tournament. Have you heard they signed Lil' Romeo for next year though? The possibility of seeing Master P at Pac Ten games is beyond exciting. So, Trojan fans can certainly take solace in that fact if they face an early exit this year.
West
This is where my Pac 10 bias really starts to spin out of control. I envision UCLA handling the top half of the bracket with relative ease and I'm going out on a limb putting Arizona into the Elite 8. I don't even like Arizona to be honest, I just think they're a good team. Jerryd Bayless is as good a guard as there is in this tournament and is a really tough nosed player who has proven that he is very hard to stay in front, especially in crunch time. Add that to the fact that I really hate Duke and you have my second 10 over 2 upset. There is a very distinct possibility that UCONN is a good team but I really couldn't say why. I mean I know they have a big man named Thabeet who's supposedly good and Jim Calhoun certainly has a good track record as a coach, but I would have to have seen at least ten minutes of their season to pick them to beat UCLA. Digger Phelps dropping a few names is really not talking me into anyone at this point. Drake is the 5 seed. Where is Drake? What conference do they play in? I do not know the answer to these questions. I don't feel comfortable having them win more than one game without at least knowing their mascot. Purdue is a big ten team that I'm not too high on. Xavier is another team I don't have too much confidence in. I wouldn't say that is solely based on the fact that I feel that no one named Xavier has ever won a fight in playground history, but that certainly contributes.
If anyone cares, (which they really shouldn't) I have UCLA overtaking Tennessee for the national title which will inevitably mark the umpteenth time I have incorrectly chosen the winner of the tournament.
