Baily's Sports & Stuff

The NCAA tournament this year features teams like USC, Cleveland State, Mississippi State and Temple that won their conference tournaments and they got the auto bid for their conference. The tournament committee also did a great job of picking teams and in great matchups like VCU-UCLA, Boston College-USC, Cal-Maryland, Oklahoma State-Tennessee, Utah-Arizona and more. Although I think Pitt will make the Final Four, I think they will have trouble with 16 seed East Tennessee State, with 3 career 1,000 point scores in Courtney Pingram, Kevin Piggs, and Mike Smith, who can lead a very talented and well trained Bucs squad. I think those 3 will make it hard on the Panthers, but Pitt will come out on top, 80-68. I like the Cinderella to be Arizona advancing to the Sweet 16, and the bust will be UCLA. Great games are Boston College-USC, Cal-Maryland, VCU-UCLA, Arizona State-Temple, Clemson-Michigan, BYU-Texas A&M and Utah-Arizona. I think upsets this year will be Temple over ASU, Cal over M

With Kevin Piggs and Mike Smith having crossed the 1,000 point barrier this year and joining G Courtney Pingram, the Bucs have some good outside shooting with star Courtney Pingram and Mike Smith at G and Kevin Piggs at forward, the Bucs have come so close in recent years and this year they have the talent to beat a number 1 seed and make history. But their opponent is the Pitt Panthers, who are led by boatloads of talent with Sam Young, DeJuan Blair[ probably team MVP] and top G Levlance Fields. THe Panthers have some amazing players, and if Young and Fields play as guards, the Panthers players play against tougher competition and are more well-trained, so those 2 can play better than the ETSU players, and if Blair plays like the beast he can play like, it will be a blowout. As much as the chance ETSU has to win, the same amount goes for it's blowout chances. I like Pitt 88-77.

The Golden Bears of California-Berkeley, led by Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher have the best 3 point shooting in the country, and if they can play that way vs. Maryland they can outplay them and win by 10-15 points. Theo Robinson has the 2nd best 3 point shooting in the nation, and he could be the one to guide Cal with good playing down low and good 3 point shooting. The Terps are led by Grevis Vausqez, who averages 17 points per game and 5 and a half rebounds per game has an average of 5+ points, rebounds and assists and had 35 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a win over UNC, and recorded the Terps third triple double in Maryland history, and could lead Maryland over Cal by himself. I think in a high scoring game Cal will have 11 threes and Robertson wil have 4 threes and 26 points and Call will win 83-78 with 2 key buckets by Christopher down the stretch.

The game between the Boston College Eagles and the USC Trojans is in my opinion the best tournament game in the first round. Led by Daniel Hackett, Taj Gibson and DeMar DeRozan, the Trojans have players to guard, shoot and block, and coming off wins over UCLA, Arizona State and Cal in the Pac-10 tournament, and they have the talent to defeat the Eagles. But Boston College has one of the best players in college basketball in Tyrese Rice, a top NBA prospect who could outplay any Trojan and if the Eagles win, he would likely be the star. It will be super competitive, but I think the Trojans have a too much all around talent for BC, and in double overtime, USC wins 92-87.

In their first NCAA tournament appearence, the Bison of NDSU get defending champion Kansas, led by do-it-all Sherron Collins, who will try to guide the Jayhawks past an upset. The Bison are led by guard Ben Woodside, who led the Bison to the tournament with his buzzer beater with 3 seconds left, but will have to go head to head with Collins, but if he scores 35 points or so NDSU could pull off the upset, but they will have to play as a team with Woodside as the star. I think Cole Aldrich will be a beast down low and have a double-double, and Collins will have 30+ points and KU wins 88-66.