You expect Michigan State to get through Maryland, Georgetown, Ohio State and Kansas? Maybe you should save your money and not fill out a bracket.
Picking with your emotions is always the best policy.* * denotes sarcasm I agree that crazy shit has happened, but I agree with Gramercy, that is the toughest regional by far and Michigan State has proved to be pretty damn streaky this year.
No kidding. Is that you in that avatar? Are you a hot chick? Wanna hang out sometime? God I hate the internet...
It hasn't steered me wrong yet. A couple years back I picked Davidson to do well solely based on my love for Stephen Curry. Turned out well.
I have Kansas, Kentucky, Kansas St, and Villanova in the final four with Kentucky winning it all. I follow the sport, but not really enough to have a good grasp of more than the top 10 teams plus the big ten. I don't have too many huge upsets, other than a couple of 6 seeds making the sweet 16. By the way, just so you all know, travdiddy84 set up a group for all of us on cbssports.com. Right now there is only three of us so it would be nice to get more. Rep him and he'll add you.
I am entering....I just need to do my bracket first! So far, I am playing it pretty straight. I just need to look up all of the team color, what their mascots are, and what their starting lineup looks like before I can put the finishing touches on it.
You disgust me. Keep in mind that if you're in first place when we get out of the first few rounds, I'm deleting your bracket from the group. Just erasing that shit. Because apparently I have that power. As a sidenote: So this is what it's like to be a mod....
I really don't see Nova going that far. They've lost 5 of their last 7. They're easily the weakest 2 seed. No way they're better than Duke. However, that whole region is easier than your sister, so maybe you're right.
Will make a more detailed post later, but how far do people see Notre Dame going? They won five straight pre-BE-tournament, then lost to West Virginia by 2 in the semifinals. Harangody is back, and they have been ON FIRE since they changed from a run-and-gun style offense to a slow down pace. That said, they have a very dangerous upset team in Old Dominion (good across the board on D, force turnovers, great rebounding, a lot of height). After that, they have a Baylor team that shoots the ball very well.
You just answered your own question. And people love Baylor, for some reason. The spread on their game went up, because everyone is picking them to win big, and some even have them going to the Final Four. I would pick Baylor over Notre Dame, but I could see Notre Dame winning - they're so boring that their games are like 55 to 50, and they come out on top.
But I'm also picking Baylor to go to the Final Four. Look at the names of their players - LaceDarius, Ekpe, Tweety, how can they lose? I have West Virginia going to the Final Four, and I can't see another Big East team (Villanova) playing them in the Final Four, and there's no way I'm picking Duke. I have Kansas beating WVU in the Finals.
So I'd promise I'd write a bit more, so here's a brain dump: Cornell over Temple is the current trendy pick. Everyone seems to have it. Everyone is also stupid. Temple is a really good team, that should be seeded higher than 5. Moreover, Cornell's success largely comes from shooting very well, particularly from three. Guess what? Temple is the number one team in the country for opponent's field goal percentage (1 overall, #2 on 3-pointers, #3 on 2-pointers). Could Cornell win? Yeah. Is the probability of this happening being completely overblown? Yes. BYU is absolutely criminally underseeded. They're really good on both ends of the floor. It would be tough for them to get by KState and/or Syracuse, but it's certainly not unrealistic. Expect Butler-UTEP to be a great game. These teams are both better than most people realize, since not a lot of people see them play. The winner could also fare well against a thoroughly average Vandy team. The Midwest is stacked, like everyone has said. MSU has no business being all the way down at a five seed, but so it is. Whoever comes out of there will have a bruising path. They'll have to beat at least 2 of the following: {Georgetown, Ohio State, Kansas, Maryland, MSU}. There's some great big-name matchups there. Conversely, this is the part of the bracket that looks like it has the least upset potential to me (I'm not counting GTech or NIowa winning a game each as an upset). I have the top four seeds here in the Sweet 16. Syracuse is really going to miss Onuaku. They're a team that does A LOT of their scoring from 2 (vs. 3 or the free throw line), and they usually do very well on the offensive board. They've always had a small rotation, with their bench contributors mostly guards. They don't have experienced bigs to replace what he gives them (size, good rebounding). This could be trouble against a bigger team, like UTEP or FSU. Sienna over Purdue barely counts as an upset, given how lackluster Purdue has been without Hummel. Write it in. As for who I have, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse. Kansas over Kentucky. Creative? No, not really. That said, I've never seen the value of intentionally not picking number 1 seeds. Yeah, usually one or more don't make it. However, predicting WHICH will be knocked out is no easy task, so crossing someone out simply because you have all number ones is silly. Kentucky is the only one of those I feel reasonably sure about. Duke is just not that good, but has a very easy path comparatively. Syracuse will have injury trouble. Kansas has to run through one hell If I had to guess at the other teams most likely to make it, they'd be (in order of probability) Ohio State, BYU, Georgetown, Baylor, Notre Dame, WVU.
I'm kind of surprised at all this love for Baylor. My big first upset is Sam Houston St. They are ranked 12th in the nation at PPG, so they can keep up with Baylor. Sam Houston hung 92 points up at Kentucky, early in the year. Also, I love how Texas is getting so much respect because they were ranked #1 at one point this year. Doesn't mean shit. Wake will tear them apart.
I haven't been following basketball as closely over the duration of the season as years past, so I really had to cram a lot of information in a short amount of time; while drinking whiskey and guinness. Here are some of my upsets, final four and Natty Champ. First Round Notables: Cornell over Temple, Washington over Marquette, Purdue over Siena (which really is a no brainer here), ODU over Notre Fag. My School: GT gets Bounced by Ohio State (SECOND ROUND). Highest Seed in Elite Eight: Texas A&M (5) OVER DUKE + Butler (5) OVER Syracuse Final Four: K-State, Kansas, WVU, Baylor Natty Champ: WVU 69 K-State 63 Not the Sexiest / Chalkiest Bracket at all. My wife has Wiskey in the National Championship losing to Cuse.
If anyone is looking for this year's Stephen Curry, may I alert you to BYU's Jimmer Fredette. On a team that has other scoring options (Curry knew he had to score if they were going to win), he's topped 30 seven times, and topped forty twice. Once in the Mountain West tourney. Shoots 45% from three. "We had a chance to see a lot of great guards. I don't think either of those two guys [Devin Downey, John Wall] impacts a college game like Fredette does. He has a totally different effect-level on the game."--Florida's Billy Donovan