Hooray Basketball!Box may have sworn off writing about college basketball, but I have not. In fact, I have decided to ignore less pressing issues, including the acquisition of David Carr by the WORLD CHAMPION New York Giants, and discuss, extensively, the NCAA tournament.
JT said that it is debatable whether one's tournament picking abilities are inversely proportionate to their basketball knowledge. From past experience, I can say that people who know nothing win their pools at alarming rates. Despite the fact that my little sister would rather watch America's Top Model than the ACC championship, it is almost guaranteed that she will get more games right than I will. And this sucks. And it is embarrassing. But sometimes these things are just out of our hands.
Pre-Crazy TyraBanks
Pre-Crazy TyraBanksWith all that being said, I am still going to provide a region by region breakdown of the NCAA tournament, which will inevitably be wrong and lead to me finishing 26th in a pool with a bunch of people who couldn't separate the Diebler brothers from the Calathes brothers, or plan on picking Kent State to beat Kansas because surely a Golden Flash is superior to a Jayhawk. What the hell is a Jayhawk anyway? Anyhow, let's begin with...
The East Region!
My Carolina Tar Heels earned the Number One overall seed, which basically means they get to play the winner of the play-in game instead of some other equally inept basketball team. It is also supposed to mean that they are matched up with the worst Number 2 seed. Instead, they were paired with Tennessee, who by most accounts was worthy of a Number 1 spot themselves, or at the very least the top Number 2 seed. Moreover, while arguments can be made for the South or Midwest regions, the East is most likely the toughest region. Having Butler and Indiana as 7 and 8 seeds, respectively, is just absurd. Butler is the #10 team IN THE NATION. It is absolutely ridiculous that they are a seven seed, playing in Alabama against a team from Alabama. Might as well step on their head while they are drowning, NCAA. Indiana is also a ridiculously talented team for an 8 seed, but the Tar Heels should be able to handle them, especially since they are playing in North Carolina.
Many members of the media are claiming that Notre Dame may fall victim to an upset. I disagree, as I think the Fighting Irish are a very good team, who would have done big things had they not drawn a Sweet Sixteen match up with UNC. I have them beating Washington State in the second round, although that should be an entertaining game.
I have all the top seeds advancing in the first round, although I have reservations about the Oklahoma- St. Joes game. Blake Griffin's health will go along way in determining whether the Sooners fall victim to an upset.
While I feel Butler could potentially upset Tennessee, i think the Vols will survive, although I have Louisville knocking them out. The Cardinals are a very good 3 seed, and they are better than their record indicates, as they dealt with many injuries throughout the year. I think the Cardinals, with Padgett, Palacios, Clark, and Caracter, are too big inside for the Vols, and they also have quality guard play to match up with Chris Lofton and the gang.
Finally, I have UNC beating Louisville and advancing to the Final Four, where they should go on to win it all. They are, along with UCLA, Kansas, and Memphis, one of the four best teams in the nation (not necessarily my final four picks!), all of whom happen to be Number 1 seeds, and with good reason. My blatant homerism, the fact that they do not leave the State until the Final Four, their undefeated road record, and the re-emergence of Ty Lawson all influenced my choice. HOWEVER, I am terribly afraid of jinxing them, so I would like to make it clear that i have been knocking on wood throughout this entire post.
Anyhow, return tomorrow for one of the other regions, it'll be a surprise, I guess.
Many members of the media are claiming that Notre Dame may fall victim to an upset. I disagree, as I think the Fighting Irish are a very good team, who would have done big things had they not drawn a Sweet Sixteen match up with UNC. I have them beating Washington State in the second round, although that should be an entertaining game.
I have all the top seeds advancing in the first round, although I have reservations about the Oklahoma- St. Joes game. Blake Griffin's health will go along way in determining whether the Sooners fall victim to an upset.
While I feel Butler could potentially upset Tennessee, i think the Vols will survive, although I have Louisville knocking them out. The Cardinals are a very good 3 seed, and they are better than their record indicates, as they dealt with many injuries throughout the year. I think the Cardinals, with Padgett, Palacios, Clark, and Caracter, are too big inside for the Vols, and they also have quality guard play to match up with Chris Lofton and the gang.
Finally, I have UNC beating Louisville and advancing to the Final Four, where they should go on to win it all. They are, along with UCLA, Kansas, and Memphis, one of the four best teams in the nation (not necessarily my final four picks!), all of whom happen to be Number 1 seeds, and with good reason. My blatant homerism, the fact that they do not leave the State until the Final Four, their undefeated road record, and the re-emergence of Ty Lawson all influenced my choice. HOWEVER, I am terribly afraid of jinxing them, so I would like to make it clear that i have been knocking on wood throughout this entire post.
Anyhow, return tomorrow for one of the other regions, it'll be a surprise, I guess.
2 comments:
jt claimed that the east region is not that hard. the east region is the hardest draw in the tournament. UNC will have their hands full. they have more top 25 teams in their bracket then any other draw. when the number 10 team in the nation is you 7 seed, something is wrong. UNC in my mind will have trouble with indiana. indiana can spread the floor just as well as d00k and can shoot lights out from 3. if indiana and gordon get on a roll from 3 land, UNC will run into some problems. i have unc winning it all however. joining them in the final 4 is texas, uconn, and kansas, with texas losing to UNC in the champ game. lemme justify my pickings. texas has the best and possibly the quickest point guard in the land with dj augustine. i know you lawson fans disagree but augustine is ridiculous. texas is an amazingly athletic team. they might run into problems with stanford with the lopez twins but i think aj abrams and augustine along with their other stellar shooters will handle them easily. memphis in my mind is the most overrated team in the nation outside of UCLA. no team has won a natl champhionship shooting under 62% in 23 years. memphis is shooting 57%. they can't win shooting their "freebees" like that. yeah memphis beat uconn and gtown but gtown is overrated as well and uconn shot had no inside game really (which they imporved greatly since then). now to the west bracket: ucla is the most overrated team in the nation. they should have lost 2 times in a row but the refs sucked and blew the game 3 TIMES in between those 2 games. duke has no shot in that bracket when they only rely on the 3 and have no inside game (see the clemson game as evidence d00k sucks). uconn with jeff adrien and thabeet along with anderson, price and my hometown boi dyson is a sickening starting 5. thabeet and adrien are blocking machines and anderson is quite possibly the most versatile person on uconn. dyson can light up from anywhere on the court and price...well he's only first team all big east and a potential all american. finally we have kansas. kansas showed why they can go to the championship game when they beat texas yesterday. they will blow through the first 2 rounds until the meet clemson. clemson's athleticism along with their 3 pt shooting MIGHT keep them close but kansas is the most complete team in the nation. georgetown will meet k. state and the best player in the nation (beasley) but will smash them because k state is too inconsistant. gtown has a shot against kansas in the elite 8 game but too much chalmers, rush, and arthur in the middle. collins off the bench is a sick back up for russell robinson/chalmers. although kansas may have the most complete team in the nation, hansbrough will get their big men in foul trouble. UNC has the best 6th man in the nation and danny green will be the key factor in this game. unc needs ginyard and green to step up to beat kansas. i would LOVE if someone responded to this post. please seriously.
that was quite a long post. I agree, The East is the hardest. My opinions on the other regions will be released in the next few days
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