Tourney Time

Okay boys and girls, it's time to fill out your brackets and enter your office pool or pools as may be the case with some of you.  I sometimes enter more than one pool but always with the same sheet.  Count me as one of the people that isn't impressed you did so well in your pool when you filled out 12 different brackets.  Grow a pair and fill out one. 

For whatever reason, I didn't spend as much time on mine this year as I usually do.  I just kinda filled it out.  I waffled on a few things and changed my mind a few times.  I'm sure it will turn out to be pure garbage.  Oh well, I always say that and I usually do fairly well so we'll see.

I'm not going to go through every pick I've got because that's tedious and I don;t feel like doing it so let's just skip to the Sweet 16.  In the East Regional, I have straight chalk - top 4 seeds all make it.  In the Southwest Regional I have (1)Kansas vs (4)Louisville and (3)Purdue vs (10)Florida State.  Almost chalk but for the 'Noles.  In the West Regional, I have (1)Duke against (13)Oakland and (2)San Diego State vs (3)UConn.  And finally in the Southeast Regional, I have (1)Pitt vs (5)Kansas State and (2)Florida vs (6)St. John's.

Moving on, I have Ohio State over Kentucky and Syracuse over UNC with OSU winning the East Regional.  In the Southwest, Kansas beats Louisville and the Boilermakers beat FSU with Kansas taking the Regional.  Out West, Duke puts down Oakland and UConn beats SD State with the Huskies winning the Regional.  And in the Southeast Regional, Pitt and Florida win their games with Florida going to the Final Four.  I struggled with this one the most because the SEC is awful at basketball but Florida is a pretty good team and Billy Donovan knows how to win tournament games.

So my Final Four is OSU, Kansas, UConn, and Florida.  That's two one seeds , a two, and a three.  I have OSU and Kansas (the two one's) playing in the final and Kansas winning 71-66.

As for my personal rooting interests, I am of course pleased that Michigan made the tournament.  I don't think they should have been an eight seed but I don;t make those decisions.  Personally, I would prefer to be a 10 seed over an eight, but that's another discussion.  I see that Michigan opened as a one point favorite last night but as of this morning, Tennessee is now a one point favorite.  I think it will be a good game, as eight-nine game usually are.  I think Michigan wins the game by four or five.  The potential second round matchup with Duke is tempting and it'll certainly be a lot of fun should it happen.  I hate Duke with a passion so the prospect of upsetting them in the tournament is tantalizing, but I don't think that's a close game unfortunately.  I could be wrong.  I thought Kansas would blow Michigan out of the water when they played earlier and the game went to overtime so you never know I guess.

The fun of the next week is watching all the games back-to back-to back and seeing what Cinderellas are going to emerge.  It is a great week and perfect timing to have Spring Break!  I will be watching as many games as possible.  Go Blue!

Oh, and if anyone was wondering, my birthday was trouble, the St. Patty's Day Parade in Dallas was amazing and so was the Toadies concert after.  I am so sunburned that the top of my head is still blazing hot to the touch but I had an amazing time with great people.  Can't wait til next time!