Let's not get in the way. There have been some real good years in this field. Two years ago, we were nailed uconn Finished with the National Championship Pick in the 100th percentile at ESPN (41,82222 out of over 20 million brackets). A year ago we ran it at UConn and finished again at the 100th percentile. Overall, our last four national champion picks have at least reached the Final Four.
Essentially, we are long behind for a massive regression. Fade this bracket.
I have traveled back and forth between Auburn, Duke and Florida to pick a national title for the past three months. I settled in Florida a few weeks ago, and now they are undoubtedly the trendiest champion pick. I chose the Gators first and was knocked off by UConn in the second round, but after a few seconds I thought about it more.
If UConn pulls it apart and finishes it, it's an annual reminder to trust this year's gut.
South region
Many claim that Auburn made a raw deal with this bracket. I agree that it would be unfair to get either Clayton and Ryan Calkbrenner or Louisville at Lexington in the second round, but I'm not sure the lower half of this bracket is as sturdy as it believes.
Michigan's UC San Diego is a trendy upset choice for good reason. The Tritons are the top 40 teams in the country, according to all metrics, and despite their massive run in the Big Ten tournament, the Wolverines have won close games at historic ratings all season. Get ready to talk about Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones.
Texas A&M survives the Ivy League team's annual, stunning March performance, setting up a sweet 16 showdown with Auburn in care of UCSD.
North Carolina is fully committed to the 2011 VCU in the region (or at least a near-complete 2011 VCU). Teams that have not had a legitimate case of being on this field get hot and fallen into the Elite Eight and roll around. The heel has two superpowers here. 1) ACC team that was calycorned, no one believes in power. 2) The first four teams were caly corned, no one believes in power. Combining these forces there is an Elite 8 run.
Marquette won't appear in this tournament, but he pulls “Reverse Market” and knocks out an excess of 2 seeds in Michigan before stumbling on a red-hot heel over the second weekend. The magic of Carolina is to hit buzzsaw against Auburn in the regional final.
West region
As mentioned before, it feels like UConn still has some March Magic left. So they're probably losing to Oklahoma. I assume they're not, and they push top seed Florida to the brink before they fall.
Colorado's Red Hot state is preferred over Memphis, and double-digit seeds are preferred in this tournament as first round favorites are usually unstoppable. They raced past the Tigers and defeated Maryland's “Crab 5” (thrusts against the Grand Canyon) to create their first sweet 16 since 1969.
Drake pulls Missouri's upset and the public's love for Ben McCollum gets escalated, but stops when he meets Texas Tech. Kansas Finally It was the first time in two years that it was possible, and after a close call with Arkansas, they took care to ensure St. John's and Rick Pitino moved to Sweet 16.
Florida and Texas technology both take care of the business in the regional semi-finals and set what you think will be the best game of the Elite 8. The Gators do that and punch the ticket to San Antonio.
east region
There is at least one super chalk region this year, and the East is my bet.
Baylor through Mississippi and Vandy is St. Mary's only first round “Upsets”, and both of these teams have one. BYU has drawn out the only upset of Round 2, beating the Wisconsin team, who have played beyond levels throughout the season.
The result of this choke is a very big weekend when Duke and Arizona played a rematch of the 2001 title game, and BYU and Alabama played a game that could flirt with a total of 200 points. Favorites win again, and Duke faces Bama in the tournament's only 1-2 Malchap.
Duke makes a big statement here, controlling Alabama in Elite Eight's most anticipated game. The performance solidifies the Blue Devils as a favorite for everyone heading into the Final Four.
Midwest region
The past 15 years have been incredibly apart, showing that there is always at least one region that will produce the final four teams below 7th place. In recent years I have been very good at predicting the region, but I have not been able to get the team right (last year I took James Madison and Oral Roberts the year before). As close as I can to build that area this year, I will go to the Midwest.
The madness begins in the first round, with High Point taking out Purdue and Troy receiving the shock of the tournament and sending Kentucky home packing again after one match.
Houston survives everyone's upset Please think about it This happens when you take care of Gonzaga and stop the Bulldogs by approaching making 10 straight suites 16, becoming the first program in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
The real impact occurs at the bottom of the bracket. There, what was lightly thought of UCLA was the second round of shock add to Tennessee's long history of March misery. The Bruins then took advantage of the chaos above to take out Illinois at Sweet 16 and set the region's final day along with the highly preferred Houston.
The Elite 8 Games is one of the regional finals you really can't explain (think Duke NC last year). I think Houston is very good. I don't think UCLA is that good. So, do you think UCLA will beat Houston and send Mick Cronin to the second Final 4? I have no idea about earth.
march.
Final Four
Duke brings UCLA back to Earth with the final four beatdowns in the first semifinals. The second game is classic as Auburn's one major weakness, the tendency to get a little hot at key moments, finally bites. The Tigers melt at the moment the regulations closes, opening the door for Florida to move on to its first national title game since 2007.
The Gators joined the College Basketball Elite 3 Timer Club after topping Duke in a classic. Walter Clayton Jr. has proven once the most important security guard in March, as his monster performance is too much for Cooper Flag and the company.
