Even More Bracket Thoughts

Originally posted March 24, 2008 on Ramblings From The Suburbs.

Even More Bracket Thoughts

Pregame

• My bracket is screwed. My champion, Georgetown, is done.
• Now I'm rooting all out for Davidson to make the Final Four and all that good stuff.
• I still have seven of the Elite Eight, three of the Final Four, and one of the Final Two still in.
• I went 9-7 in picks in the second round, making me 31-17 for the tournament.
• I will finish with at least 21 "losses."
• This will go down as one of the hardest tournaments ever to pick, in my opinion.

Charlotte Region

• I lost two of the four Sweet Sixteen teams here.
• In my last edition, I said that Arkansas could give North Carolina some trouble with their size. I was wrong. I still can't figure out who #51 on Arkansas is.
• I had Notre Dame riding Luke Harangody into the Sweet Sixteen, but Washington St. was quick to derail that. I'm dying to see WSU play, and given my market, I think I will see them play against UNC in a few days.
• Louisville slipped into the Sweet Sixteen rather easily, beating Oklahoma.
• I was hoping that Butler would upend Tennessee, but I was wrong. Tennessee could definitely beat Louisville, messing my bracket up even more.

Detroit Region

• This was another bracket where I split the Sweet Sixteen teams.
• Kansas continues their road to the Elite Eight by beating UNLV, and they now face Villanova, who dispatched upstart Siena. I'm taking Kansas.
• Wisconsin shut down the one man show of Michael Beasley. That game was the first time I had ever seen Beasley play for an extended period of time, and I was rather impressed. However, Wisconsin showed in the second half that if you shut down Beasley, you shut down Kansas State.
• Wisconsin faces Davidson who upended my champion Georgetown behind Stephen Curry 's 30 points. That man has a sweet stroke. I'm rooting for Davidson now. I'm putting everything behind them.

Houston Region

• Memphis gave me a big scare against Mississippi St. They should a lot playing without Dorsey and Dozier, who both fouled out. In their defense, some of the fouls called on them did not look like fouls. I'm not a ref though, so what do I know.
• Drew Neitzel 's senior season continues as Michigan St. put away one of my picks in Pittsburgh. Pitt just looked absolutely lethargic on the boards and was not fighting for the ball at all on the offensive glass. DaJuan Blair impresses me a lot. He's a good talent.
• I missed the end of the Stanford-Marquette game. I really want to see it.
• To my mother's chagrin, Texas ousted Miami. My mom put Miami in the Final Four. She also had USC in there. Ouch. But she went on a limb and picked UCLA to win it all, so it balances out somewhat. Miami showed a lot of heart at the end though, hitting some amazing three-pointers. Too little, too late.

Phoenix Region

• UCLA stayed true to my projected Final Four form, beating Texas A&M.
• Western Kentucky upended San Diego, who made a late charge at the end. I still picked San Diego over UConn, so HA!
• UCLA-Western Kentucky is either going to be a great game or a blowout.
• Purdue scared me a lot in the Xavier game, but the Musketeers pulled it out. #25 on Purdue is extremely skinny, I don't know if anyone else noticed that.
• West Virginia over Duke pleased the human but upset the bracket, ousting another Sweet Sixteen team.
• Xavier-West Virginia will probably be the best game of the Sweet Sixteen.

Overtime

• Ranking the eight Sweet Sixteen games:
• Xavier-West Virginia
• Tennessee-Louisville
• Texas-Stanford
• Wisconsin-Davidson
• North Carolina-Washington St.
• Memphis-Michigan St.
• UCLA-Western Kentucky
• Kansas-Villanova
• All of this can change though…

National Champion Georgetown

Final Two Georgetown Memphis

Final Four North Carolina Georgetown Memphis UCLA

Elite Eight North Carolina Louisville Kansas Georgetown Memphis Stanford UCLA Xavier

Sweet Sixteen North Carolina Notre Dame (Washington State) Louisville Butler (Tennessee) Kansas Clemson (Villanova) Wisconsin Georgetown (Davidson) Memphis Pittsburgh (Michigan State) Stanford Texas UCLA Drake (Western Kentucky) Xavier Duke (West Virginia)

Second Thirty-Two North Carolina Indiana (Arkansas) Notre Dame Washington St. St. Joseph's (Oklahoma) Louisville Butler Tennessee Kansas Kent St. (UNLV) Clemson (Villanova) Vanderbilt (Siena) USC (Kansas St.) Wisconsin Davidson Georgetown Memphis Oregon (Mississippi St.) Michigan St. Pittsburgh Marquette Stanford St. Mary's (Miami) Texas UCLA BYU (Texas A&M) Drake (Western Kentucky) San Diego Purdue Xavier West Virginia Duke

Again, it looks a little better on the link.