MARCH MADNESS! Who you got in your bracket?

[Woochifer]

Yeah, I'm side-steppin' this question and pickin' my favorite darkhorse to come out of each region.

Oakland - as much as I want to pick Alabama (who held off Marquette for a first round win and likely matchup w/UCLA), I'm goin' wit Arkansas. Ark. was hot at the end of the regular season. They closed strong with 5 straight against Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Miss St and Georgia. They played Ga again in the first round of the SEC Tournament and won. They lost in the 2nd round to Florida 74-71. But, their first round NCAA game is against Bucknell - a team that will also be competing for the darkhorse crown.

Minneapolis - geez, 2 darkhorses have already stepped up in Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Montana! Wisc.-Mil. is my pick. They'll get by Florida as the Gators' youth and inexperience catches up with them, upset Ohio St., then knock off one of the weakest #1's (toss-up between Villanova and Memphis) in what will essentially be a home game for Wisc.-Mil.

Atlanta - N.C. State's European players will be raining 3's all tournament long (at least until they make the Final Four.)

Washington D.C. - My sentimental pick would be UAB. But they have a tough first round game against Kentucky and you can't count out KY in a tournament setting. Besides, the winner gets UConn who, as Wooch noted, is the favorite. That leaves my highest-seeded darkhorse Mich St. Their 2nd round matchup with North Carolina will be a classic and then the Spartans will clobber Tenn. assuming the overrated Vols get past Wichita St.

How's that for a Final Four - Arkansas, Wisc.-Mil., N.C. State and Mich St.?

Hope you got a few bucks riding on that bracket, because if it plays out, that's a big-time payoff! My Bruins got an early scare from the Bruins (from Belmont), but suffocated them defensively and cruised to a 34-point blowout. Gonzaga's teetering right now, and we've already had two upsets plus two near upsets that went down to the wire (the Tenn-Winthrop and BC-UOP games). We're barely into the evening games and so many brackets have already been turned upside down, that's why I love the NCAA tourney!

In the Oakland bracket, UCLA's got the Tide on Saturday. I do have a soft spot for 'Bama because of Coach Gottfried, who was a Bruin assistant on the '95 championship team (Washington coach Lorenzo Romar was another assistant coach on that team, had either Gottfried or Romar stayed at UCLA, that would have spared the Bruin program that seven-year rollercoaster ride under Steve Lavin), and I like the matchup with 'Bama a lot more than Marquette, so thank you! But, this is the tournament and I don't want the Bruins to let up for a second against the Tide! I don't know enough about Arkansas, but they seem to field tough and battle-hardened teams ever year.

That Minneapolis region is totally up in the air, so I can see Wisc.-Milwaukee going a ways.

But, I don't see NC State getting out of the first round because Cal presents a huge matchup problem with their size and wingspan inside. Cal gave UCLA the biggest problems of any opponent this year. NC State's only chance might be from outside, because I don't think they'll be able to stop Leon Powe, who's the most dominant player in Pac-10 and led the conference in scoring and rebounding. Cal's main downfall is their inconsistency, which led to some ugly losses to teams they should have beaten handily. But, if they play their game, they can beat anyone.

Michigan State's a great darkhorse, and I rode them all the way to victory in my office pool last year. I don't have them going as far this year, which might be detrimental to my gambling winnings!

[dean_martin]

But, I don't see NC State getting out of the first round because Cal presents a huge matchup problem with their size and wingspan inside. Cal gave UCLA the biggest problems of any opponent this year. NC State's only chance might be from outside, because I don't think they'll be able to stop Leon Powe, who's the most dominant player in Pac-10 and led the conference in scoring and rebounding. Cal's main downfall is their inconsistency, which led to some ugly losses to teams they should have beaten handily. But, if they play their game, they can beat anyone.

None of the lower seeds in the Atlanta Regional really jumped out at me. (Until A&M spanked Syracuse.) I think Duke, Texas and LSU are the most likely teams to make it out. After that, 5-10 looked pretty even to me and 12-16 I didn't give much of a chance. (Until A&M spanked Syracuse!)

I don't know much about Cal. If they have a tough perimeter defense then they should handle NC State, but I've seen a couple games where NC State's perimeter shooters couldn't miss.

That Oakland Regional seems wide open as well. I think a border war between Memphis and Arkansas would be interesting. I think the fact that a storied program like UCLA being back is interesting. Just look who's advanced so far and who could be left in the top half after tomorrow. From what I've read nobody wants to play Kansas or UCLA right now. Memphis is ripe for a picking. Morrison's not going to let the Zags lose and Arkansas' recent chemistry is probably the best kept secret in that bracket. The Tide's not deep at all only playing 7, but if they stay out of foul trouble and their point guard Ronald Steele (who can take over a game, btw) can get a couple minutes rest in the first half, they can compete with anybody. Indiana's playing for their coach. I don't know how far emotion can carry them.

(I keep saying every year that I'm going to a first or second round site or to a regional. Atlanta or even the first round at Jacksonville wouldn't have been too far.)

So far, it looks like the selection committee did a good job.

[kexodusc]

Can't believe the Aggies beat Syracuse. That makes me want to puke. Of course, my Sooners were the first team to lose this year.

I'm banking on Gonzaga and Uconn, Villanova and Duke. These teams all look too strong to me.


I can see Gonazaga and UConn in the final, but who knows. UConn should win it all.

Seems that #12 seed always beats the #5 in this tourney.

[Woochifer]

None of the lower seeds in the Atlanta Regional really jumped out at me. (Until A&M spanked Syracuse.) I think Duke, Texas and LSU are the most likely teams to make it out. After that, 5-10 looked pretty even to me and 12-16 I didn't give much of a chance. (Until A&M spanked Syracuse!)

I don't know much about Cal. If they have a tough perimeter defense then they should handle NC State, but I've seen a couple games where NC State's perimeter shooters couldn't miss.

That Oakland Regional seems wide open as well. I think a border war between Memphis and Arkansas would be interesting. I think the fact that a storied program like UCLA being back is interesting. Just look who's advanced so far and who could be left in the top half after tomorrow. From what I've read nobody wants to play Kansas or UCLA right now. Memphis is ripe for a picking. Morrison's not going to let the Zags lose and Arkansas' recent chemistry is probably the best kept secret in that bracket. The Tide's not deep at all only playing 7, but if they stay out of foul trouble and their point guard Ronald Steele (who can take over a game, btw) can get a couple minutes rest in the first half, they can compete with anybody. Indiana's playing for their coach. I don't know how far emotion can carry them.

(I keep saying every year that I'm going to a first or second round site or to a regional. Atlanta or even the first round at Jacksonville wouldn't have been too far.)

So far, it looks like the selection committee did a good job.

What I've been reading the Tide's main problem has been with their depth. In the past, I know that Gottfried's teams liked to run an up-tempo offense, and those seem to be the teams that UCLA plays well against. If the game score stays in the 60s, then UCLA usually wins, and that's the huge transformation that Coach Howland has brought to the Bruins. They love to play defense and throw opposing teams out of their offensive rhythm.

Cal does have weaknesses in their perimeter defense, so it will be interesting to see how it plays with NC State. Cal's inside game can give most teams problems, and I think the rest of the country's going to know who Leon Powe is before the tournament's finished.

I had Syracuse losing in the first round -- their seeding was too high. Before they pulled off all those close wins in the Big East tournament, I thought they were a bubble team. Considering that A&M was also a bubble team, that matchup was more even than the seedings would indicate. Plus, Coach Boeheim has a history of periodically laying an egg in the early rounds.

The Atlanta and Oakland regions are definitely the most intriguing ones to watch. Definitely try to make it out to an NCAA tournament site sometime. It's really something, and quite different from other sporting events. For one thing, you have multiple games on site, plus it's got a minimum of promotions and commercial gimmicks (i.e. no half-court shooting contests, no fanzone bands, no advertisements blazing thru every timeout, no loud music blaring thru the PA, all billboards in the arena are covered up, only "NCAA partners" are permitted to sell concession items, etc.). I went to the NCAA regionals a few years ago when they were in San Jose, and the teams participating were UCLA, Arizona, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Typical of Coach Lavin's teams, UCLA got to the regionals by upsetting #1-seeded Cincinnati, and then lost an uninspired game to lower seeded Missouri. OU went to the Final Four out of the San Jose region that year.

A ticket tip if you're interested in the first/second round or the regionals: the tickets are often sold in blocks for all sessions. This means that many of the fans from schools that get eliminated in the first round or Sweet 16 games are looking to dump their tickets to the second round or regional final games, since they have to be purchased together.

Can't believe the Aggies beat Syracuse. That makes me want to puke. Of course, my Sooners were the first team to lose this year.

I'm banking on Gonzaga and Uconn, Villanova and Duke. These teams all look too strong to me.

I can see Gonazaga and UConn in the final, but who knows. UConn should win it all.

Seems that #12 seed always beats the #5 in this tourney.

At least one 5-12 upset happens almost every year. This is primarily because that game typically matches up a third or fourth place finisher from a major conference with a champion from a lower tier conference. In Syracuse's case, they did not deserve the 5-seed, and obviously ran into an A&M team that wanted it more and was a more even matchup than the seeding would indicate.

It seems that the Zags are a popular Final Four pick out of the Oakland region, but I don't think they'll get that far. They rely way too much on Morrison and Batista, don't defend well, and their guard play's not their strongsuit. I see the Zags a lot out here because there are three WCC teams in the Bay Area, and they've barely pulled out tight games against the likes of Santa Clara, USF, and St. Marys. Among their potential opponents in the Oakland region, Indiana, UCLA, Memphis, Kansas, or Pittsburgh can all give the Zags matchup problems.

But, in the end I agree with you about UConn. They seem to be the class of this tournament and are the most well rounded team.

[dean_martin]

A 3 goes down! A 3 goes down! So, Northwestern St. is in La., huh? I think La. has more directional schools than any other state. A 12 & a 14 move on in Atlanta.

Bucknell the bracket buster strikes again. But they aren't being overlooked this year. I shoulda never picked an 8/9 team to come out of a regional. I'll pick the wrong team 100% of the time and they won't get out of the 1st round.