It’s that time of year ago when Eagle One and I try to sound like we know what we’re doing when it comes to picking these things. Take all of this with a grain of salt, but these are our predictions. Know this, we love this stuff and we can’t wait to watch the games. Friday night, at the Eagle’s Nest, Two pizzas, some sodas and some hoops. Good times ahead …
Midwest Bracket
Eagle One says: As much as everyone loves Morehead State, I’m leaning towards Louisville in a nail-biter. Not a lot of games that I love, but I’ve got two decent upsets, with No. 12 Arizona beating No. 5 Utah and then No. 11 Dayton topping No. 6 West Virginia. And I’m not a homer, I’m taking USC to beat BC because I just don’t think that BC is gonna get it done and they’ve been too up and down. Call it a hunch, call it what you want, call it my big toe throbbing.
Maclone: There’s two games that I love, BC-USC and Ohio State-Siena. I think both of those games are gonna be a lot of fun to watch, and I am a homer, and I think BC has gotten up for the big games, so I’m taking the Eagles there. Ohio State has made a fan of me just because of clubtrillion.com, which you should check out if you haven’t before. Other than that, I’m pretty much going straight with favorites in this one, and think Arizona will lose to Utah because it’s been a tough year for John McCain and I don’t think it’s going to get any better.
Our Sweet 16s: EO: Louisville, Wake, Kansas, Mich. State. Maclone: Same.
Our Elite 8s: EO: Wake, Kansas. Maclone: Louisville, Kansas.
Champ: EO: Wake; Maclone: Louisville.
West Bracket
EO Says: UConn’s got a pretty easy march to the Elite Eight, there first three games don’t include any heavy lifting. As long as they stay off too many meds and Jim Calhoun doesn’t have to take an unscheduled pay cut they should be just fine. Frank Purdue and the rest of the Purdue Boilermakers will be crying in their chicken because I’ve got Northern Iowa with the big upset in the 12/5 game. The MVC produces a bracket buster every year and that trend goes on. Other than that it’s pretty straight forward although I’ve got the 9 and 10 seeds winning, but those are pick-em’s anyways.
Maclone Says: This bracket is about as exciting as watching a watching Dick Vitale go through his voice warm-up exercises. Sure it’s something you don’t see every day, and it could be memorable, but there better things to do with your time. The lineup of games just isn’t sexy, kind of like Vitale. Other than Maryland winning, which like EO said is a pick-em, I got all favorites. As for the second round, that’s when it gets exciting. I’m looking forward to Marquette-Mizzou and Maryland-Memphis, those are going to be great matches.
Our Sweet 16s: EO: UConn, N. Iowa, Marquette and Memphis. Maclone: UConn, Purdue, Mizzou and Memphis.
Our Elite 8s: Both: UConn and Memphis.
Final Four: EO: UConn. Maclone: Memphis.
East Bracket
EO Says:
I got a shocker coming out of here, but we’ll get to that. This might be the toughest bracket, along with the south. Pitt and Tennessee march and then the rest of the favorites as well move in round one. But in round two, I got the darlings that are Villanova saying it ova and the Dookies moving on.
Maclone says:
It aint ova for Nova. The Cats are tough and they’re going deep, but unfortunately Pittsburgh is just too solid this year. They’ll win the region, but the region is not easy at all. The Colonial has been a great conference of late (hello George Mason) and I think that VCU pulls off the upset over UCLA, which has a lot to do with the fact that I think that the Pac-10 played like a pretty good high school conference this year. They’re soft and they don’t play anybody. Actually west of the Mississippi you’d be hard-pressed to find a legitimate contender. It’s pretty much by the books after that, although I think Nova beats Duke in the sweet 16 because it seems like every year Duke finds a way to lose a game it should win during the second weekend.
Our Sweet 16s: EO: Pitt, Xavier, UCLA and Duke. Maclone: Pitt, Xavier, Nova and Duke.
Elite 8: EO: Xavier and UCLA. Maclone: Pitt and Nova.
Final Four: EO: UCLA. Maclone: Pitt.
South Bracket
EO Says: Long live the big ugly red thing, Western Kentucky’s mascot, which is the best mascot in college sports. That’s my lone first round upset, but I love those guys. The top four seeds all march on and it’s all about North Carolina and Tyler Mans-boro. I also think Syracuse goes deep.
Maclone Says: For once in his life, Eagle One nailed it on the head. WKU is my favorite upset special in the first round, and I’ve also got Temple, the 11, beating Arizona State. Again, I think it’s been a long year for John McCain. Other than that, though, I love UNC in this bracket as long as Ty Lawson gets his foot right. Even though the Tar Heels are playing Radford, out of the mighty Big South (sorry, that’s my conference) I think they’ll survive if he sits. The one team that’s hard to figure in this bracket is Gonzaga. They’ve been the darlings for so long that I think they’ve gone from underrated to overrated and they could get beat early. Let’s see if Akron can zip them up. I’m on the fence, but EO says I have to make a decision and since I don’t think they can beat Carolina anyways, let’s take the Zips.
Sweet 16: EO: UNC, Gonzaga, Syracuse, Oklahoma. Maclone: UNC, Western Kentucky, Syracuse and Clemson.
Elite 8: UNC and Syracuse.
Final 4: UNC (both).
Final Four Thoughts
EO: Why are they having the Final Four in Detroit. Who would want to spend a vacation in Detroit? It might be the most depressing city in America right now. Unless you’ve got a gun and bullet proof vest and a way out of town, and a fifth of whiskey to wash away the blues, there’s no reason to be there.
As for the games, I think UNC dominates UCLA and advances easy and I think UConn kills Wake Forest.
In the title game, it’s Tyler Mans-boro and the Heels winning 80-73.
Maclone: Yeah, I’d rather spend the weekend doing my taxes on Riker’s Island while getting a vasectomy than going to Detroit again. I spent one evening in the Motor City going to a Tiger’s game and am happy to report that every car that was parked in the “private parking lot” had our own personal street person to take away the cans. He asked to share a beer with us, and we had to do this for fear of being attacked. I was happy to leave the city alive.
I think the team that’s leaving with the trophy, and their heads on a swivel as they exit on the arena, is going to be Memphis. I think they are just too talented and athletic and that this is their year. They’ll win the game between the two slickest head coaches of all time (Calipari v. Pitino) in the Final Four and edge Carolina, who will beat Pitt by about 10.
So that’s our take. Enjoy the games, and realize that every word you just read will probably be null and void come Monday because of the total unpredictability of this tournament. And I love it.