Bracket Predictions

Since yesterday was selection Sunday, I think I should write about the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. In my mind, this is a very good and efficient way to find out who the best team in the nation is. I wish college football would do something similar, but that is a whole different topic. So here are my bracket predictions.

The first thing I should say is that I see no clear-cut winner. Nobody is a definite favorite to go the distance. There are many teams that, if they play well, are capable of beating anybody else. As seen by the constantly changing number 1 team during the year, every team has their off day. I think that three of the 2ed seeded teams could have been 1^st seeds. Duke, Oklahoma (with Blake Griffin), and Memphis are good enough to run the table, but if they make one mistake, are bad enough to lose early.

Pittsburg is going to kill me. I think they are a very talented and tough team, but they have their lapses. I would like to choose Pitt to win it all, but I’m not going too. I think that they will have their off game, I just can’t figure out when. I’m not sure if its going to be in the second round, or the championship, but I just don’t have enough confidence to choose them as the best team in the nation. I think Oklahoma is very similar to Pitt. They are talented enough to make a run, but they just don’t have enough to win it all. When Blake Griffin is healthy and playing well, they are a very hard team to stop. But when he is off his game, or when he is injured, they are susceptible to a very ugly loss.

I think that the upsets are going to be hard to call in this tournament. No team got a high seed than they deserved, so the higher seeds have the advantage because the low seeded teams deserve the low seed. The most likely upsets in my mind are Arizona over Utah, and Northern Iowa over Purdue. Other than that, I don’t see many. I’m going to go out on a limb and call a Cinderella story team right now. This is all likelihood will not happen, but if it does, you heard it here first. Cinderella story= Mississippi St. 

Now for my final predictions. The final four will have at least 2, if not all of the number 1 seeds. I have Pitt, and Connecticut as the two that might not make it, but I have confidence that North Carolina and Louisville will. I have North Carolina and Louisville playing in the championship, and it pains me to say this because I dislike them so much, but I think that UNC will win it all. There you have it.