I just filled this out in time, submitting it 10 minutes before deadline. In my group, there are 80 people competing for $800 (half the pot goes to Haiti, the rest to the top winner). As of tonight, I’ve only lost two picks – Damn you Georgetown!!!
2009 NCAA Men’s Tournament Bracket
I’ve been so busy with work, I haven’t had a change to watch much ball these last few months. I’ve caught a few Kansas, Gators, Pitt, UConn, UCLA and Memphis games but I almost missed the deadline to get in a bracket. I spent time analyzing blogs, radio shows and ESPN and came up with the NEO bracket. Then from there did two more variants for two other “leagues”.
My Round 1 Upsets are (based on the NEO research):
Siena over Ohio St. : Siena is a sleeper for sure. They went big last year and I think will give Louisville a run
USC over Boston College : BC is streaky (4 game loss streak including Harvard at home?). USC won the Pac-10 championship going through Arizona St., Cal, and UCLA.
Texas A&M over BYU : These two have meet before and BYU hasn’t won in the first round in 6 years. The Aggies will make that 7.
Northern Iowa over Purdue : The is my only stretch 5-12 upsets because I still think Purdue is a sleeper to go to 16s if they do beat UNI. The Boilermakers haven’t been full strength all season and if UNI keeps it close it will go their way. (in my other two bracket’s I’ve taken Purdue).
Maryland over California : Cal has great three point shooting with Randle, Christopher, and Robertson. The ex-Stanford coach, Mike Montgomery has tournament experience but these guys aren’t that big. I’m still a Bear’s fan secretly hoping I’m wrong in this pick. The Terrapins can turn up the D, like they did beating Wake Forest and UNC so I’m picking them in this one.
Tennessee over Oklahoma St. : I know nothing about these two, but I have read terrible stats about Tenn. and the Cowboys suck at D. This is just one of those fluke wins where Oklahoma fails more than Tennessee steps up.
VCU over UCLA : Yes, UCLA has been in the final four the last three years and have Collison and Shipp but history doesn’t matter: it’s what happens on the court this year. VCU though won the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. Maynor leads the team in scoring (22.4) and with Sanders’s size they’ll be disruptive to UCLA. It’ll be a great game to watch.
Western KY over Illlinois : This is my strong 5-12 upset prediction. WKY beat Drake with a buzzer beater last year and this year they’ll hit the headlines again beating Illinois. They beat Louisville early on and have been crushing the competition lately by winning 15 of their last 17 games.
Michigan over Clemson : Clemson made it into this tournament with their defense and turn over conversion but unfortunately for them Michigan has sticky fingers which won’t give them any advantage. With Clemson coming off losing four of their last five, they are down and soon to be out.
I think the BIGGEST upset on my bracket is LSU taking out North Carolina in the 2nd round. The X factor here is Ty Lawson who isn’t expected to play today and if he can go on Friday, I don’t expect him to be effective, putting UNC at a disadvantage and hopless as LSU blindsides them with a win.
My Final Four are: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh and Syracuse with Pitt and Memphis meeting in the National Championships and Memphis taking the title. Here’s my brackets:
NEO Bracket:
QFunk Bracket
A6 Bracket
Celtics wipe the floor with the the Lakers for 17th Championship
A good series but the Lakes didn’t put together a good fight (they didn’t have a Shaq). I’m not a true NY fan according to a few guys I met at St. Andrew’s last night watching game 6 of the finals. Apparently true NY fans don’t root for any Boston teams no mater what. I supposed that’s the same as a Northern California fan such as myself not rooting for any SoCal teams (LA Lakers, LA Dodgers, Anaheim Angles, LA Kings, LA Clippers and even the San Diego Padres)…. and I like to see the Lakes lose. Well they did it in record fashion, having now the most losses of any team reaching the NBA championship series.
This year truly the better, all around team, won the Championship. Having one supper star does not win championships and certainly having no defense, true example for LA’s meltdown in game 6, does not win championships. The Celtics looked like the 96 Bulls with their all around play, defense and just strength in both the paint and on the 3 line. You knew there was power there when in game 4 they produced the largest come from behind win (down 24) in game 4 to put the clovers up with a commanding series lead of 3-1.
I’m also a KG fan and am happy to see he made the change this year to Boston and helped take the team to his first championship (defensive player of the year 08). As he said “Anything is possible.” Congrats to Ray Allen, Paul Pierce (series MVP), and their star bench.
