Managing the Madness

Welcome to my latest blog post, where I will reveal my picks and thoughts on the big NCAA basketball tournament, also known as "Steve makes a complete fool of himself."

I like March Madness, and college basketball in general. Where I pretty much stopped watching the NBA entirely back around 2000 (after it became clear that the NBA postseason results were scripted nearly as well as a WWE pay-per-view event), I still watch college hoops, although irregularly.

But I have to be honest. I suck at basketball. It's not that I dislike playing it, quite the contrary. It can be very fun. I just suck, and I always have. I don't shoot well, I don't dribble well, and my passes don't remind anyone of Magic Johnson. Defensively, I'm about as good as you can expect a slow, 5'11" guy with limited hops to be. Yes, when it comes to hoops, I'm an all-rounder. I suck at everything. But I still enjoy it, and like to think I can talk intelligently about it.

But the sad truth is that I can't. I simply don't see the game that well. When the Shockers (from my alma mater, Wichita State... and let's not forget they're hosting a first-round NIT game tonight!!) are struggling against an opponent, the best I can come up with is "they're not hitting they're shots," or, "they're just not moving quickly enough." In other words, I don't really know why they're struggling, I can just see that they are. So when I give you my rundown on the big brackets, please keep in mind that I really don't know what I'm talking about. But as a positive, isn't usually the clueless person who wins the bracket contests anyway? Maybe one of these years it will be my turn.....

But onto the topic at hand, the 2010 NCAA tournament. I'll go through each region giving my thoughts and picks.

Midwest Region
1st round: KU over Lehigh; Northern Iowa over UNLV; Michigan St. over New Mexico St.; Maryland over Houston; Tennessee over San Diego St.; Georgetown over Ohio; Georgia Tech over Oklahoma St.; Ohio St. over UCSB
I don't see any big upsets here. San Diego St. over Tennessee isn't that big an upset, especially since Tennessee just got completely waxed by Kentucky in the SEC tournament.
2nd round: KU over UNI; Michigan St. over Maryland; Georgetown over San Diego St.; Ohio St. over Georgia Tech
That's right, seeds 1,2,3, and 5 advancing to the sweet 16. I'm boring, I know.
Sweet Sixteen: KU over Michigan St.; Ohio St. over Georgetown
Georgetown is the best basketball team I've seen all year... but they are terribly inconsistent. I don't think they can win 6 in a row.
Elite Eight: KU over Ohio St.
KU has more options than one-man-gang Evan Turner ...I mean Ohio State.

West Region
1st round: Syracuse over Vermont; Gonzaga over Florida St.;Butler over UTEP; Vanderbilt over Murray St.; Xavier over Minnesota; Pittsburgh over Oakland; BYU over Florida; Kansas St. over North Texas;
NO UPSETS. That's right. I'm still boring you. My only other comment here is how on earth did Florida get an invite? It must have been a pity invite to honor the team that was back-to-back champions just a few years ago.
2nd round: Syracuse over Gonzaga; Butler over Vandy; Pittsburgh over Xavier; BYU over Kansas St.
That's right I went there!! Kansas St. is grossly overrated in my opinion. If the Big 12 was so great this year, then how come KU lost a grand total of one game during the conference season? Kansas State flopped against most major competition, and I expect an early flameout for them in the tournament. Of course, please re-read my disclaimers at the top of this blog post....
Sweet Sixteen: Syracuse over Butler; BYU over Pittsburgh
Hey, if the Mormons can beat K-state, why not an erratic Pitt team?
Elite Eight: Syracuse over BYU
Everyone is down on Syracuse because they lost their last two games. But those last two games were largely meaningless in the big picture, and Syracuse dominated the deepest conference in the country during the regular season. I think they'll be fine. (and my friend Tim just set himself on fire knowing that I've doomed his team's chances by picking them to go so far)

East Region
1st round: Kentucky over E Tenn St; Texas over Wake Forest; Temple over Cornell; Wisconsin over Wofford; Washington over Marquette; Montana over New Mexico; Missouri over Clemson; West Virginia over Morgan St.
THERE IT IS!! I think the big upset will be Montana stunning New Mexico. Seriously, how did New Mexico get a high seed? Sure, their record is good, but who did they play? They've played nobody. Also, I think Marquette is worn out from the strain of the past couple of bubble weeks, and are ripe to be picked off by an underrated Washington squad.
2nd round: Texas over Kentucky; Wisconsin over Temple; Washington over Montana; Missouri over West Virginia
Yes, this is the region I see getting blown apart by upsets (which means you ought to pick nothing but high seeds in your own bracket). Texas was a #1 team at one point this season, and they'll have no better chance to salvage their campaign than by upsetting a young and mercurial Kentucky team. Missouri's pressing defense is always hard on teams the first time they see it, and like Marquette, West Virginia will be worn down from the Big East tourney.
Sweet Sixteen: Wisconsin over Texas; Washington over Missouri
Wisconsin will beat a Texas team still celebrating their Kentucky win, and Washington will have enough time to prep for Missouri's press.
Elite Eight: Wisconsin over Washington
Wisconsin is probably the most boring team in this region, and that's one big reason I'm picking them to win it. Badger fans can hate me now.

South Region
1st round: Duke over UAPB; Cal over Louisville; Utah St. over Texas A&M; Siena over Purdue; Old Dominion over Notre Dame; Baylor over Sam Houston St.; St. Mary's over Richmond; Villanova over Robert Morris
A handful of significant upsets here, as Utah St. is much better than most people realize, Purdue is a shell of it's early-season self having lost their best player to injury, and Notre Dame is yet another tired Big East team.
2nd round: Duke over Cal; Utah St. over Siena; Baylor over Old Dominion; St. Mary's over Villanova
I think Villanova is not just another tired Big East team, but that they're this year's team with "experienced" players who have regressed each year they've played. Villanova should've been a title contender, but they just don't have "it".
Sweet Sixteeen: Duke over Utah St.; Baylor over St. Mary's
Utah St. will give Duke all they can handle, but this is Duke's year.
Elite Eight: Duke over Baylor
Baylor will have a home-crowd advantage in Houston, but this is Duke's year.

FINAL FOUR: KU over Syracuse; Wisconsin over Duke
KU and Syracuse will play a de-facto title game in one matchup. These have been the two best teams in the country all year (although Kentucky fans would have a good argument). In the other game, it's been Duke's year for a lot of reasons, but Wisconsin is just mind-numbingly boring good. They'll put Duke to sleep.

Championship: KU over Wisconsin
Is it a homer pick if you live in the state, but never went to school there and never really cheered for them that much? KU is the obvious pick this year, much like North Carolina was last year. We all know how that turned out, but then I didn't curse North Carolina last year by picking them.

Am I nuts (well yes, but I mean about these picks)? Let me know in the comments.

SAH