March Madness Preview!
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 Maryland, VCU over UCLA, and Cleveland State over Wake Forest. I think Pitt, Louisville, UNC, and Uconn will make the Final Four, and Louisville and UNC win close games to face in the championship, and Louisville's Earl Clark wins MVP as Louisville wins it all. I think UNI and Purdue and Washington vs. Mississippi State will be exciting games, where the Boilmakers and Huskies win. I think coming off a conference title Cleveland State, led by Cedric Jackson will beat Wake Forest, and a buzzer-beater by Jordan Hill has Arizona going to the Round of 32, where Arizona's big 3 with Nick Wise, Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill outlasts Cleveland State in a 74-65 win. Louisville will have a close 1st half vs. Ohio State and Arizona but will dominate the Midwest and beat Kansas 85-75 in the Elite 8 to advance to the Final Four.
Morehead State won a tourney game, on a very happy day for the Eagles where defense, taking charge of the game at times and good shooting at times propelled Morehead to a 58-43 win over Alabama State, out of the worst conference in Division I, the SWAC. USC is coming off a Pac-10 title and is coming off wins over 3 tourney teams in the NCAA tournament, Cal, UCLA, and Arizona State and should be able to handle Boston College. The Trojans have talent at every position with DeMar DeRozan, Dwight Lewis, Keith Wilkinson, Taj Gibson, and Daniel Hackett.
A team that beat UNC is Maryland, who is hot, but even though they aren't playing their best basketball, the number 1 3 point shooting team with 49.5 percent 3 ball shooter Theo Robertson, and with Randle and Christopher, great jump and free throw shooters along with Harper Kamp, Jordan Wilkes, [ back to back centers] and Jorge Gutierrez, I think the forward named Robertson will establish himself like the number 2 3 point shooter in the nation and he will lead Cal over Greivis Vasquez and Maryland. I think Randle will have 19 points and 4 assists, Robertson will have 28 points and 8 rebounds [and MVP] and Christopher will have 23 points as Cal will hold off favorite and hot-shooting Maryland.
Marquette is entering the tournament with 5 straight losses as a 6 seed facing 11 Utah State, which should be a neck-and-neck game the whole time. I like Marquette coming on top in basically a road game because they are used to tougher competition, like playing 3 number 1 seeds and 2 number 3 seeds in a season at least once, while even though they won their conference title, Utah State isn't used to the schedule Marquette is, and that is why I like the Golden Eagles advancing even without PG Dominic James. Oklahoma is cold going into the tournament, losing by 1 in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals to Oklahoma State, and I like them beating Morgan State and Michigan, but getting blown out by Syracuse, who will cruise by Stephen F. Austin and beat Temple by 10-15 points and handling Dionte Christmas there and keeping Griffin cold in the OU game. I think even with very hard competition that they can handle like beating Uconn in 6 OT won't be enough to handle the Tar Heels, but Johnny Flynn will keep them close in the entire game but UNC will win 80-75.
The Heels will hold off a Pitt comeback and advance to the finals, where Earl Clark and Terrence Williams will be too much for UNC and Louisville will win 80-79. The Cards will beat Morehead a second time, this time by a score of 79-47, then they will lead Ohio State, who will beat Siena 81-66, 36-35 at the half, but win 78-63. They will be tied with Arizona at the break in the Sweet 16, but will win 80-66. They will then face Kansas, who will upset Michigan State by 6, 80-74 in the Sweet 16 because of Sherron Collins. Collins will have KU up 45-35 at the half because of his 18, but Collins will finish with 29 and Earl Clark and Terrence Williams will power Louisville past 85-75, where they will then give revenge to Big East rival Connecticut led by Clark's 25 points and 10 boards, and Jerry Smith's 10 points and 10 assists, and Terrence Williams will play tight defense and the Cards will stay in front and win 81-79.
In the finals, Clark will have 32 points and 13 rebounds in perhaps his final college game, Williams will have 14, 8 and 4, and Ty Lawson will have 28 points and 7 assists for UNC but a shot with 4.8 seconds by Clark will say that Louisville will win it all.
Congratulations to the committee on a great selection year and I wish all 64 teams luck. It should be a wonderful bracket.
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 Maryland, VCU over UCLA, and Cleveland State over Wake Forest. I think Pitt, Louisville, UNC, and Uconn will make the Final Four, and Louisville and UNC win close games to face in the championship, and Louisville's Earl Clark wins MVP as Louisville wins it all. I think UNI and Purdue and Washington vs. Mississippi State will be exciting games, where the Boilmakers and Huskies win. I think coming off a conference title Cleveland State, led by Cedric Jackson will beat Wake Forest, and a buzzer-beater by Jordan Hill has Arizona going to the Round of 32, where Arizona's big 3 with Nick Wise, Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill outlasts Cleveland State in a 74-65 win. Louisville will have a close 1st half vs. Ohio State and Arizona but will dominate the Midwest and beat Kansas 85-75 in the Elite 8 to advance to the Final Four.
Morehead State won a tourney game, on a very happy day for the Eagles where defense, taking charge of the game at times and good shooting at times propelled Morehead to a 58-43 win over Alabama State, out of the worst conference in Division I, the SWAC. USC is coming off a Pac-10 title and is coming off wins over 3 tourney teams in the NCAA tournament, Cal, UCLA, and Arizona State and should be able to handle Boston College. The Trojans have talent at every position with DeMar DeRozan, Dwight Lewis, Keith Wilkinson, Taj Gibson, and Daniel Hackett.
A team that beat UNC is Maryland, who is hot, but even though they aren't playing their best basketball, the number 1 3 point shooting team with 49.5 percent 3 ball shooter Theo Robertson, and with Randle and Christopher, great jump and free throw shooters along with Harper Kamp, Jordan Wilkes, [ back to back centers] and Jorge Gutierrez, I think the forward named Robertson will establish himself like the number 2 3 point shooter in the nation and he will lead Cal over Greivis Vasquez and Maryland. I think Randle will have 19 points and 4 assists, Robertson will have 28 points and 8 rebounds [and MVP] and Christopher will have 23 points as Cal will hold off favorite and hot-shooting Maryland.
Marquette is entering the tournament with 5 straight losses as a 6 seed facing 11 Utah State, which should be a neck-and-neck game the whole time. I like Marquette coming on top in basically a road game because they are used to tougher competition, like playing 3 number 1 seeds and 2 number 3 seeds in a season at least once, while even though they won their conference title, Utah State isn't used to the schedule Marquette is, and that is why I like the Golden Eagles advancing even without PG Dominic James. Oklahoma is cold going into the tournament, losing by 1 in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals to Oklahoma State, and I like them beating Morgan State and Michigan, but getting blown out by Syracuse, who will cruise by Stephen F. Austin and beat Temple by 10-15 points and handling Dionte Christmas there and keeping Griffin cold in the OU game. I think even with very hard competition that they can handle like beating Uconn in 6 OT won't be enough to handle the Tar Heels, but Johnny Flynn will keep them close in the entire game but UNC will win 80-75.
The Heels will hold off a Pitt comeback and advance to the finals, where Earl Clark and Terrence Williams will be too much for UNC and Louisville will win 80-79. The Cards will beat Morehead a second time, this time by a score of 79-47, then they will lead Ohio State, who will beat Siena 81-66, 36-35 at the half, but win 78-63. They will be tied with Arizona at the break in the Sweet 16, but will win 80-66. They will then face Kansas, who will upset Michigan State by 6, 80-74 in the Sweet 16 because of Sherron Collins. Collins will have KU up 45-35 at the half because of his 18, but Collins will finish with 29 and Earl Clark and Terrence Williams will power Louisville past 85-75, where they will then give revenge to Big East rival Connecticut led by Clark's 25 points and 10 boards, and Jerry Smith's 10 points and 10 assists, and Terrence Williams will play tight defense and the Cards will stay in front and win 81-79.
In the finals, Clark will have 32 points and 13 rebounds in perhaps his final college game, Williams will have 14, 8 and 4, and Ty Lawson will have 28 points and 7 assists for UNC but a shot with 4.8 seconds by Clark will say that Louisville will win it all.
Congratulations to the committee on a great selection year and I wish all 64 teams luck. It should be a wonderful bracket.
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