I'd rather have the #2 seed than the #1 seed in the East Region. North Carolina's potential matchups with stud point guards Kriss Dunn from Providence and Tyler Ulis from Kentucky isn't fair for the ACC Champions. If the top 4 teams make it to the sweet 16, we will be in store for two awesome games. Here's how I have the East region unfolding.
Sweet 16:
#1 North Carolina vs #4 Kentucky
#2 Xavier vs #11 Michigan
Alright so I like everybody else have the UNC and Kentucky matchup. I fully expect #9 Providence to beat #8 USC. As much respect as I have for Ed Cooley's Friars, they are way too undersized for the Tar Heels. Stonybrook is better than people give them credit for. I wanted to potentially have them as a first round upset but lets face it, John Calipari is not going to lose to Seawolves from Brookhaven Suffolk County. That kid Warney is a stud. He's a top priced daily fantasy player tomorrow. He will put on a show and who knows maybe we will see him in the NBA one day. He's exciting to watch but he can't bring down the mighty Wild Cats. I think Tennessee Chattanooga is an easy cover against Indiana but I don't know if I have the balls to put them over Indiana. The hoosiers killed it at home but they should still be able to advance to the next round where I think Kentucky smokes them.
On to the big UNC/UK matchup everybody is talking about. This is probably the most popular sweet 16 matchup in the publics brackets. Marcus Paige is in for a tough task taking on Kriss Dunn and then Tyler Ulis in the Sweet 16. I think outside of Ulis the Wildcats don't have enough to stop a very deep North Carolina team. Kentucky is full of freshman (as always) and North Carolina has a bunch of seniors. I think the seniors will prevail. If the Tar Heels can contain Tyler Ulis they shouldn't have a problem with anybody else on Kentucky. North Carolina is just too big and too deep.
It was easy for me to advance the X-Men to the Sweet 16. Wisconsin is one of those popular second round upset teams but I'm not even that confident that they'll get passed Pittsburgh. Which ever team shows up, Xavier will beat them. The Musketeers run a 1-3-1 zone which is very effective. They are one of the best defensive teams in the tournament. The only question is who will step up for them on the offensive end? West Virginia is a team that did their damage on their own home court. I'll be watching tonight's Michigan/Tulsa play-in game closely. Michigan should fuck up Tulsa tonight and then I got them beating Notre Dame. I would even put them over West Virginia to get into the Sweet 16. I'm not very high on West Virginia and out of all the #14 vs #3 matchups I think Stephen F Austin has the best shot pulling off the upset. Michigan feels disrespected and they should. Sure they lost 12 games this year but they deserved a guaranteed spot in the tournament over a handful of teams. The Wolverines already have that sense of March in them from their victory over Indiana in the Big 10 Conference tournament. If Michigan gets passed Notre Dame they will be coming in hot for Huggy Bear's Mountaineers and I'm not afraid to advance them.
It's very risky picking a play-in team to go to the Sweet 16 but you got to take some risks if your going to win this thing. It's all about making sure your deep teams are accurately predicted. The fun Michigan banwagon derails with an Xavier matchup for me. Xavier had a great year. They fucked with everybody in the Big East. Their loss to Seton Hall was ridiculed and hurt them at that time in the season but looking back at it, it's not a bad loss what so ever anymore. Xavier will be able to bang with any team they have to face until the Elite 8.
Elite 8:
#1 North Carolina vs #2 Xavier
I had some fun advancing Michigan in this region but overall, it's chalk. Here we are with a 1 vs 2 seed in the Elite 8. Xavier is an interesting matchup for the Tar Heels because of their zone. North Carolina will be fine if they can get the ball inside and hit 3's. The 3 ball isn't the strongest part of North Carolina's game but when they're hitting it, they are unstoppable. As good as Xaviers defense is, I don't think they can put up the points North Carolina can put up. This will be the X-men's biggest challenge and I don't believe they will prevail. Roy Williams' Tar Heels will be heading to Houston.
East Region Winner: #1 North Carolina
Midwest Region
You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts! Holy shit do I love the seeds inbetween the #1 and #2 in this region. This bracket may see my most red crossouts but I'm sticking to my guns. Here's what I got going on in the Midwest region.
Sweet 16:
#1 Virginia vs #5 Purdue
#2 Michigan State vs #6 Seton Hall
Virginia is one of the more boring teams in the NCAA. Their defense is great and they pretty much use the whoooooooole entire 30 seconds on offense before they shoot. They kill the clock from the tip-off. Virginia will have no problem with their #16 seed and whoever wins Butler vs Texas Tech. Purdue gets a lot of love because they are flat out huge. The Boilmakers have two 7 footers. The Purdue vs Iowa St matchup is a tough game to choose from. I'm still extremely bitter with Iowa State butt-fucking me on the first day of last years tournament when I had them in my Final 4. That will not be the case this year. Purdue's perimeter players need to step up and their bigs need to hit their free throws. The Cyclones are an athletic team but I'm giving the knod to Purdue.
The Virginia vs Purdue matchup will be a snoozer. Unless you love low scoring games. Virginia is a team that when their not hitting their 3's do not produce any offense at all. Purdue will always have their bigs to rely on and go to. Any team that can get a lead on Virginia and take them out of their long offensive positions has a great shot in taking down the Cavaliers. I don't think Purdue will be able to get a big lead on Virginia. In fact, I don't think either team would have a bigger lead than 6 in this game. I do think Purdue will take down the #1 seed and advance to the Elite 8.
Seton Hall is a team that I rode in the Big East tournament. Now I'm going to live or die with them. I love Isiah Whitehead. The kid is fearless and can straight up fucking ball. I'm pretty thunderstruck that Seton Hall are 1 point underdogs to Gonzaga tomorrow night. That spread has had me second-guessing myself on a hundred-thousand-trillion. I'm on the Pirates. If their ship sinks, so does mine. I will be placing a hefty wager on their potential trap game with the Zags. I got Utah over Fresno State and I have the least amount of respect for the Pac-12 so I will be taking Seton Hall over Utah to advance to the Sweet 16. Michigan State is a shoe-in for the Sweet 16. Tom Izzo is not losing to Middle Tennessee or the winner of Dayton and Syracuse.
This brings us to #2 Michigan State vs #6 Seton Hall. I can't stress how hard it is for me to not pick Michigan State in this game but I'm not jumping ship! Here weeee goooooo Pirates! Isiah Whitehead can fuck with Denzel Valentine. I know they won't be guarding each other but Whitehead can outperform the Big 10 player of the year. Michigan State is a top 3 point shooting team. I really don't have to many good reason to pick Seton Hall over Michigan State besides that they are riding big momentum after surprisingly winning the Big East tournament. I'm just riding the Cinderella train. If I didn't pick Seton Hall and they advanced this far I'd be one miserable puppy. If this was #2 Oregon I would be a million times more confident. Bad job there. I wish Seton Hall was in either region on the left side of the bracket. Either way, If I'm wrong, I bet you it's not by much. Seton Hall will at least cover that spread. Fuck that. Their winning. Money Line that bitch. Holy second guessing....
Elite 8:
#5 Purdue vs #6 Seton Hall
One again the same story with Purdue. They outsize the oppostion. They will be tough to stop inside but Seton Hall will be tough to guard on the perimeter. The Pirates will need their 3 ball. Hammons is going to be a force inside so Whitehead needs to be take over the game and that is something he is certainly capable of. I'm sending the Big East Conference champions to Houston. This will be a remarkable journey for Seton Hall and I think this confident bunch can pull off their difficult road in the Midwest region.
Midwest Regional Champion: #6 Seton Hall
The Midwest is like the bracket of mis-seeded teams. I think 90% of the whole entire world will have Michigan State going to the Final 4. It's hard to argue other wise but I just have this attatchment to Seton Hall. If MSU goes down, I will have an ultimate chance to capitalize on my oppositions brackets. As for the East, there are some awesome potential matchups from the second round on. Check back here tomorrow morning as I will reveal my national champion. We are just hours away from the Madness baby!
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