Stop! Bracket Time!

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It is that time of year again: March Madness! It is a tournament of 68 teams of young men from all around the country leaving every ounce of passion out on the court for one shining moment. In my opinion, it is one of the rare times of the year, in major sporting events, in which the purity of competition of sport and love of a game shine through our television sets.

There is no money involved. The vast majority of the participants have no chance of playing in the NBA. The few who have such an opportunity are surrounded by those who do not. Nonetheless, these young men all share the common bond of their universities and their teams.

The sports writers and pollsters are irrelevant once the tournament commences. There is a clear and definite winner. The players truly leave everything on the court.

Without further delay, here is a bird’s eye view of the tournament brackets with the two cents of yours truly.

EAST REGION

Site of Regional Final: Newark, New Jersey

Quality of Region (1st-4th best): 2nd

Top Seed: Ohio State Buckeyes
Best Player: Jared Sullinger, Ohio State
X-factor Team: Syracuse Orange
Potential Pivotal matchup: Syracuse Orange vs North Carolina Tar Heels
Most Likely to Advance to the Final Four: North Carolina Tar Heels


The top seed in the tournament, Ohio State, is the favorite of many to advance from this region. However, North Carolina has elevated its play, particularly in the final month of the season, concluding the regular season with a win of the archrival Duke Blue Devils. Harrison Barnes is outstanding and appears to get better in every game. And the Heels, having overcome substantial deficits multiple times in the ACC Tournament, know how to play from behind, if necessary.

The wild card in this region is the Syracuse Orange. I have not been able to get a handle on this team all season and I do not expect some omen of predictability to kick in during March Madness. There have been times when the Orange appeared poised to climb to the top of the Big East and they laid an egg. There have been other moments in which the Orange appeared ready to tank and they pulled out a major win.

The Orange are on a potential collision course with North Carolina, assuming both teams advance to the Sweet 16 round in Newark. While I do not expect Syracuse to lose to Indiana State in the second round (the traditional first round), I would not drop dead of a heart attack from a second round Orange loss to either Xavier or Marquette. At the same time, I expect North Carolina to advance from this region, but I think that Syracuse could beat them. Syracuse, in this tournament environment, is unpredictable to me. That will make the East Region a fun one to watch.



Ohio State's Jared Sullinger 2


WEST REGION

Site of Regional Final: Anaheim, California
Quality of Region (1st-4th best): 3rd
Top Seed: Duke Blue Devils
Best Player: Kemba Walker, Connecticut
X-factor Team: Connecticut Huskies
Potential Pivotal matchup: Connecticut Huskies vs Duke Blue Devils
Most Likely to Advance to the Final Four: Duke Blue Devils, most likely tournament winner.

Duke is the defending champion and are no less talented this year than last. The “X factor” for the Blue Devils, I believe, is the health and performance of freshman phenom Kyrie Irving. Irving has been out of the lineup since December with a toe injury. A return of Irving at or near his full performance potential could make Duke unstoppable. I think that Duke will win the NCAA Tournament when the nets are cut down for the final time at the Final Four in Houston on April 4th.


Kemba Walker --> money!

 Connecticut is another team that I cannot predict, long term. Like Syracuse, I think that UConn (another roller coaster like Big East team) could either win or lose in the rounds of 32, 16, or 8. I expect the Huskies to face Duke in the Elite Eight and while Duke would be a heavy favorite, I could never write off Connecticut star Kemba Walker nor could I ever…EVER (ever, ever, ever, ever, ever) write off Connecticut Head Coach Jim Calhoun. I am not that stupid!

Coach Calhoun: "My best advice to you? Shut up!"

SOUTHWEST REGION

Site of Regional Final: San Antonio, Texas

Quality of Region (1st-4th best): 1st

Top Seed: Kansas Jayhawks

Best Player: Ben Hansbrough, Notre Dame
X-factor Team: Georgetown Hoyas
Potential Pivotal matchup: Georgetown Hoyas vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Most Likely to Advance to the Final Four: Kansas Jayhawks, most likely tournament runner up.

Kansas and the Flying Morris Twins (Markieff and Marcus) are too good to fail. Okay…those are famous last words of many a Bracketologist. But I do think the Jayhawks are as much of a sure bet as one may find in this year’s tournament. They could potentially face Louisville and either Georgetown or Notre dame en route to the Final Four, but, as I said, this team has more collective talent than any other team in the bracket, and has made fewer mistakes throughout the season.

Georgetown is the wild card in this bracket and (big surprise) they are also a Big East team. One may take my prior remarks about Connecticut and Syracuse and say “ditto” for Georgetown. This team is capable of swinging in either direction in the second, third and Regional Semifinal rounds. Unlike Syracuse or Connecticut, I think that Georgetown, and anyone else in the bracket will hit a KU wall in the Regional Finals. Still, the Hoyas are capable of either beating or being beaten by Purdue in the third round or Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 round.



Notre Dame's Ben Hansbrough 5



SOUTHEAST REGION

Site of Regional Final: New Orleans, Louisiana

Quality of Region (1st-4th best): 4th

Top Seed: Pittsburgh Panthers

Best Player: Jimmer Fredette, BYU Cougars

X-factor Team: St. John’s Red Storm

Potential Pivotal matchup: St. John Red Storm vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Most Likely to Advance to the Final Four: Wisconsin Badgers

“WISCONSIN” you say? Yes! Wisconsin. I think that Pittsburgh is the most likely of the #1 seeds to be rubbed out, possibly early in the tournament. The Panthers were dropped in their first game in the Big East Tournament by UConn. They only lost 5 times prior to the Big Dance, but three of those losses were in the past month, all against some of the better quality Big East opponents. Its only recent wins against ranked competition were against Villanova, a team limping into the NCAA Tournament by any standard.

The Wisconsin Badgers, on the other hand, have been quietly getting the job done. Led by Jordan Taylor, the Badgers became a bright blip on my radar when they handed #1 ranked Ohio State its first loss of the season. The Badgers only lost once in the month of February. Wisconsin is limping into the Dance after being obliterated by Ohio State in their rematch in the regular season finale and losing to Penn State, 36-33, in the ugliest shooting performance in a major conference tournament I can recall in my entire life.

Badgers coach Bo Ryan is too good of a coach and Wisconsin has too much talent to curl up in its shell and not prepare to make a statement that the last two games were anomalies. One may think picking Wisconsin is a leap of faith, but I am not feeling too much intestinal or testicular fortitude by doing so.

The wild card in this region is the St. John’s Red Storm. I promise that I did not roll out of bed this morning and decide to hype up the Big East by saying that the conference would have one of its teams represent the “X factor” in every bracket. However, the conference sent 11 teams to the field of 64, representing more than a sixth of the participants. The reason a conference would have such an unprecedented level of representation is because the conference is very competitive and teams have been capable of winning or losing to their better opponents on any given night.

The Red Storm recorded big wins against then #9 Connecticut, #4 Pittsburgh, and #14 Villanova in February and has proven it has the mettle for tough opponents. Should St. John’s win in the second round, it will likely face the BYU Cougars and the Jimmer Show, as in Player of the Year candidate Jimmer Fredette. With the absence of Brandon Davies from the Cougar lineup, I think that BYU is ripe for a minor upset. I think that the Red Storm could beat Florida, whom I have never been completely sold on this season, and I think they could match up well against Wisconsin or Pittsburgh, whom St. John’s has already beaten this season.


Jimmer 4



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