Xavier, who is currently down in the first half to Georgia, will win this game. Georgia is not actually good. Xavier, while seeded too high as a 3 seed, is still a superior team to the Bulldogs. Drew Lavender and Stanley Burrell are a good back court, and should rally the Musketeers to a victory.
In the second round, Xavier will probably face Purdue. Purdue is a team with a good, young, core, and they will be dangerous in the years to come, as none of their young stars are of the Beasley-leave early caliber. Baylor is a nice story, but they have been unimpressive the latter part of this season. The Boilermakers should defeat Baylor and move on to the second round, where Xavier, who are far more experienced and well balanced, should end their run.
Many people are picking Drake to be upset by Western Kentucky. This is misguided. Drake is a good mid-major team from a good mid-major conference, and they have a very dangerous penetrate-and-dish style of play that fits their personnel quite well. Drake will move on to face...
UCONN. UCONN will not have trouble with San Diego. They are far too athletic and large up front with Thabeet and Jeff Adrien. Hey, Did you know one of the San Diego player's is related to a mass-murdering cult leader? What an interesting story! Thanks, sports media! I am sure that Rob Jones just loves that all of America knows his family's dark past. College basketball: It's all about the student-athlete's welfare. Alright, moving on.
UCONN will beat Drake. UCONN is just too athletic and large for Drake, whose cinderella season will finally come to an end.
Programming note: Xavier is down 9 at halftime. I stand by my pick, but uh oh.
The West Virginia is the "sleeper" pick of many people to make the Sweet 16. This is entirely because Joe Alexander is good, and Bob Knight has talked them up. But let's be real people. They would have lost to Providence if the Friars did not brick about 23324243 open lay ups. They are not that great of a team. I have Arizona, who underachieved this year due to injury, beating them handily.
Since Dook was seeded a line too high, many people are down on them. Dook has been a very good team this year, despite the one dimensional nature of their game. Dook should beat Arizona and the Xavier, although both of these games have major upset potential, since Dook is vulnerable against speedy guards (see Wake Forest, Miami), and Jerryd Bayless and Drew Lavender both fit this description. I think Dook is too deep to get beat by either of these teams, and they, annoyingly, will probably advance to the Elite 8. Here is your requisite rat face Coach K picture...
Texas A and M against BYU is an interesting match up. Both teams were better earlier this year, and fell off late. Both teams also have good big men, and weaker guards. A and M has more of these good big men, so I pick them to win. It is irrelevant though, as UCLA should tear through either of these teams, despite Luc Richard Mbah a Moute being dinged up.
UCLA against UCONN should be a hell of a game, with tons of great athletes on the floor. UCONN has been more inconsistent this year, while UCLA has been luckier. This game should be close, and can go either way, but UCLA is the pick.
The Regional championship, between UCLA, will not be as close. UCLA will absolutely dominate Dook inside, on the shoulders on Kevin Love. Plus, Dook won't be able to guard all of UCLA's fast little guys. UCLA will advance to the final four. In fact, they will advance to the final, as they should beat Pitt, leading to a UNC- UCLA final. As I said previously, UNC is my homer, and honest opinion, pick. Knocking on wood. Enjoy the tournament everyone, I'll update things after the weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment