Bracket Predictions – Enjoy!

East

First Round

Pittsburgh over East Tennessee St. – A tough break for East Tennessee St. drawing Pitt as they deserved a 14-15 seed.

Oklahoma St. over Tennessee – A tough game to pick as the teams appear evenly matched, so I’m going with the team that finished the year 8-2 with the losses being @ Oklahoma and to Missouri.

Wisconsin over Florida St. – Many thought Wisconsin was more of a 9-10 seed so this isn’t a huge typical 12-5 upset.  FSU doesn’t have much after Douglas.

Xavier over Portland St. – Some people are talking about a potential upset here, but X just has too much experience and talent to exit this quick.

UCLA over VCU – VCU is another popular upset pick playing close to home and having the talented Maynor.  But UCLA just has too many weapons for them to shut down.

Villanova over American – American only played three quality teams this year, and they lost each one by 16+.  No chance of a stunner here.

Texas over Minnesota – Not the easiest game for Texas, but it’s a tough matchup for the Gophers as they aren’t a 3 point shooting team and Texas defends inside well.

Duke over Binghamton – Duke barely survived Belmont in the first round last year, so you never know.  Still, it would be a huge surprise to see them go down.

Second Round

Pittsburgh over Oklahoma St. – As talented as Oklahoma St. is, Pittsburgh will likely be able to score at will in this one as the Cowboys don’t have the size to matchup with Blair.

Xavier over Wisconsin – It’s going to be a tough game no matter who Xavier plays in the 2nd round, but they’re the better team and the Badgers are just too inconsistent.

UCLA over Villanova – Despite this being practically a home game for Villanova, the better team will come out the victor.  Villanova just doesn’t really stand out, and they did lose at home recently to Georgetown.

Duke over Texas – Texas has been too shaky offensively throughout the year to come up with the upset.  Duke is better and peaking at the right time.

Sweet 16

Pittsburgh over Xavier – This is actually a pretty solid matchup for Xavier as they can defend inside against Young and Blair.  It just seems unlikely that Pitt goes down this early.

UCLA over Duke – Collison, Aboya, and Shipp are not going to go out easy.  These seniors have been through it all and if they can beef up their defense a little bit, a run to the Elite 8 is certainly possible.

Elite 8

Pittsburgh over UCLA – It’s hard to imagine UCLA making a run past this.  Pittsburgh is just a little bit better in every regard.

Midwest

Louisville over Alabama St./Morehead St. – Louisville will likely take on Morehead St., who should have been preparing Tuesday night while Chattanooga played in their place.

Ohio St. over Siena – There’s been some love for Siena, but they haven’t been able to beat a tournament team in four tries.  Ohio St. just made the Big Ten final and is playing too well.

Utah over Arizona – This game could likely go either way, but with Arizona’s holes defensively and struggles at the end of the year, I’m leaning towards Utah.

Cleveland St. over Wake Forest – Wake is a young team going against a Cleveland St. squad that starts four seniors.  They are so tough defensively and could very well pull off the upset.

West Virginia over Dayton – A tough break for Dayton as many thought they should’ve been in the 9-10 seed range, and on top of things they draw a tough 6 seed in West Virginia that recently knocked off Pitt.

Kansas over North Dakota St. – The Bison start four seniors and Kansas is pretty young.  Ben Woodside dropped 63 in a game earlier this year, and he’s going to have to have another big game to get the W for ND State.

USC over Boston College – A good draw for USC getting a BC team that many had in the 10-11 seed range.  BC is young and weak defensively.

Michigan St. over Robert Morris – Robert Morris shoots 40% from deep as a team so if they get hot they could stay in this game for awhile.

Second Round

Louisville over Ohio St. – OSU’s nice run to finish the season ends here.  They just have too many holes on defense and won’t be able to muster up enough points against Louisville.

Utah over Cleveland St. – It doesn’t seem like too many have them going to the Sweet 16, but why not?  Utah shared the regular season MWC title and then won the conference tournament.  They have a win over Gonzaga, too.

Kansas over West Virginia – This will be one heck of a game if it happens.  But everyone has doubted Kansas all year and Self will prepare them well for this one.

Michigan St. over USC – An upset wouldn’t be out of the question considering MSU has had some surprising losses during the year.  But the better team should prevail.

Sweet 16

Louisville over Utah – The Cards are just a little too strong and the Utes are just a little too weak.  It could be a game for awhile but eventually Louisville will pull away.

Michigan St. over Kansas – These two met earlier in the year and the Spartans came out with a 13 point win.  Despite that game being in East Lansing, it’s hard to imagine that big of a swing.

Elite 8

Louisville over Michigan St. – As we’ve seen in Michigan St.’s losses, they just get too pedestrian like on offense.  And with how good Louisville is on defense, it’s hard to see them making the Final Four.

South

UNC over Radford – For what it’s worth, Radford starts all upperclassmen and will be used to UNC’s fast paced style.

Butler over LSU – Brad Stevens always gets his boys ready for big games, and always does a great job in close games.  LSU finished the year losing 3 of 4.

Illinois over Western Kentucky – Another fairly popular upset pick, but I’m not seeing it.  WK did beat Louisville, but they lost to a lot of bad teams.  Illinois is too tough defensively, even without Frazier.

Gonzaga over Akron – Akron’s defensive minded and slow tempo approach could keep them in it for awhile, but in the end Gonzaga should pull away.

Temple over Arizona St. – Dionte’s not going out without a fight.  The Owls have a lot of size and defend the paint well which is how the Sun Devils like to score.

Syracuse over Stephen F. Austin – Stephen Austin will surprise the Orange with how good they are on defense.  But these teams are on completely different levels in terms of talent.

Clemson over Michigan – I’ll ignore Purnell’s tournament struggles because Clemson is definitely the better team.  Michigan does not have much size and will struggle defending Booker and Sykes.

Oklahoma over Morgan St. – If a 15 were to knock of a 2 this year, Morgan St. would be the one.  That’s wishful thinking, though.

Second Round

UNC over Butler – Too much talent on UNC’s side and too much inexperience for Butler to pull off a shocker.  But their style of play may frustrate the Tar Heels at times.

Gonzaga over Illinois – Illinois is pretty young and lacking enough talent to hang with the red hot Zags.  This one probably won’t be all that close.

Syracuse over Temple – Syracuse has won 7 of 8 so it’s hard to see them not reaching at least the Sweet 16.  A10 teams always have seem to give them trouble, though.

Clemson over Oklahoma – Oklahoma has lost 4 of 6 headed into the tourney so they seem like a good team to fade.  Clemson has plenty of talent to pull off the upset.

Sweet 16

Gonzaga over UNC – A lot of people talked up St. Mary’s in the past week, and Gonzaga crushed them by 25 in the WCC finals.  Kansas exposed UNC’s defensive woes last year and the Zags will, too.

Syracuse over Clemson – Sticking with the red hot Orangemen.  Flynn, Devendorf, and Harris have been a very tough trio for their opponents.

Elite 8

Gonzaga over Syracuse – Gonzaga is well balanced and much more under the radar than they have been in the past.  Syracuse is a little too weak defensively for their run to continue any further.

West

UConn over Chattanooga – Very easy matchup for UConn as Chattanooga has 25+ point losses to Tennesse, Missouri, and USC.

BYU over Texas A&M – In a rematch of a 1st round match last year, BYU avenges it’s loss to A&M.  They are much improved and have a deadly good trio in Cummard, Fredette, and Tavernari.

Purdue over Northern Iowa – UNI has only played one tournament team all year, and that was a 30 point loss to Marquette.  They will be well overmatched.

Washington over Mississippi St. – Mississippi St. is hot and could give Washington a nice run for their money.  But Washington is hot and too good on defense.

Marquette over Utah St. – Marquette is tough to read since their only win since James has been out is over St. John’s.  Still, you have to think they find a way to win this one.

Missouri over Cornell – The Big Red can stroke it from deep.  But they struggle on defense and didn’t play well against any of their tougher opponents this year.

California over Maryland – Another fairly popular upset pick, but Maryland doesn’t have anything after Vasquez, and the Terps won’t be able to shut down Randle, Christopher, and Boykin.

Memphis over Cal St. Northridge – Memphis hasn’t given up 50 points in their last four games.  That won’t happen again as CS Northridge plays a very up tempo style, but they’ll have a lot of bad possessions.

Second Round

UConn over BYU – If a one seed were to exit this early, it would likely be by the hands of BYU.  How far UConn can go without Dyson is a question mark.

Purdue over Washington – Purdue is beaming with confidence after winning the Big 10 Tourney, and they will pose matchup problems for Pondexter and Brockman.

Missouri over Marquette – Marquette hasn’t proven that they can win a big game without James.  Missouri has flown under the radar going 28-6 overall including winning the Big 12 Tourney.

Memphis over California – If Cal can find a way to put up points Memphis will be in for a long game.  Memphis needs to shoot the 3 ball well at some point.

Sweet 16

UConn over Purdue – People forget that Purdue is still a young team, and they haven’t shot the trey ball as well this year.  Too much UConn for them to handle.

Memphis over Missouri – Memphis’ defense would appear to be too good for the Tigers, especially inside as they can shut down Lyons and Carroll.

Elite 8

Memphis over UConn – The Huskies look to be a little too weak on offense to make a run further than this, as they haven’t had anyone step up with Dyson out.  They will have a very hard time putting up points in this contest.

Final Four

Louisville over Memphis – As good as Memphis is, they just don’t have the perimeter shooting that they’ll need against Louisville to pull of a victory.  It’ll be a grind it out type of game but in the end Louisville will prevail.

Gonzaga over Pittsburgh – Pitt has quietly been weak defensively (especially on the perimter) and it’s been exposed recently against West Virginia and Marquette.  Gonzaga can stroke it from deep and stop you on the other end.

Championship Game

Gonzaga over Louisville – I’m definitely going out on a limb picking Gonzaga to win it all, but UNC and Pitt are too weak defensively for my liking, as are Louisville and UConn on the offensive end to dodge six landmines in this tournament.  Gonzaga is solid on both ends of the floor, and has the talent and experience to pull off an incredible run to win it all.