My NCAA Tournament Manifesto

If you’re living in the United States and have a pulse there’s a good chance you know that tomorrow March Madness starts. And whether or not you’re a fan of college basketball or not, you will get drawn in to the tournament somehow. And regardless of how many tournaments you’ve seen or how much insider information obtained over the last few day, there are rules and guidelines which you may have forgotten about. But don’t worry, My NCAA Tournament Manifesto is here to here to help you, to guide you. So with out further ado, here it is. I recommend you either print this out or take vigorous notes, it can’t hurt.

First and for most the brackets. And quick side note, who’s the tool box who came up with the idea to rename the brackets after where the regional final is being played? What was wrong with calling the brackets by their geographical location? Seriously is this bugging anyone else, or am I the only? Anyway, here’s all you need to know about each bracket to get by in water cooler conversation.
Albuquerque (West): Easily the toughest bracket. At least seven teams could conceivably get to the final four from this region. Washington’s the surprise #1 in this region; they’re pretty much a bunch of athletic guards. No one expects them to live up there billing as a #1 seed. Tell your co-workers this and they’ll agree with you then go off on some rant about Wake Forest and Louisville, just maintain eye contact and nod your head, every now in then interject with a nice “yep” and “uh huh, I agree.”
Chicago (Midwest): This bracket is more top heavy then Jennifer Tilly. Seriously, you have the overall number 1 in Illinois, then you have the best #2 IMHO in Oklahoma State. Arizona is the best number 3 seed, and Boston Colllege won it’s first 20 games of the season, and they’re a 4 seed. Yikes. Throw in Alabama, which went to the elite eight last year, and you’ve got a bracket load with top seeds that could all make a run deep in the tourney.
Syracuse (East): The most overrated bracket, by a long shot. Everyone is raving about how great this bracket is, and that it maybe the toughest bracket ever. Obviously these people are forgetting an important thing or two about the teams in this bracket, lets take a look. North Carolina: The most talented group of players in Division I, but they don’t always play like a team. Connecticut: Maybe the best front line in the country, but there guards are yound and inconsistent, and guard play is what wins tournament games. Kansas: Lost 4 of their last 6. Florida: Always chokes in the tournament (minus 2000), I have half a mind to pick Ohio, a team I know nothing about, over them in the first round. There’s your top 4 seeds in the East, all flawed as hell and none of them are that scary.
Austin(Southeast?): They actually should rename this bracket the bracket everyone would give their left nut to be in. Just look at the top teams. Duke: As tough as the Blue Devils are, the first game after the 1st round that Redick and Ewing both don’t drop 20 the Duke’s screwed. Kentucky: They can D up and rebound, but they’d struggle to score against most WNBA teams. Oklahoma: Young and has yet to win a big game away from home. Syracuse: Overratted and they can’t shoot outside of McNamara. Michigan State: Overrated, I’m pretty sure they’ve hit 5 jumpers all year. Every team in this bracket is just as capable of beating themselves as they are of beating their opponent.

And now for some notes, thoughts, hints, and rules to help you out while you fill out your bracket.
- A 12 seed will beat a 5 seed, happens every year, just trust me on this: Most likely this year is Wisconsin-Milwaukee over Alabama. and Old Dominion over Michigan St.
-One team that made a deep run last year and everyone is picking again for another deep run will flop this year: Put your money on Alabama here, although Georgia Tech is another option.
-At least on of your Final Four picks will not make it past the first weekend: Maybe I’m just bad at picking teams, but this almost always happens to me.
-One potential match up will get over hyped by the media so much that you can be certain it won’t happen: This year it will be Duke and Kentucky, which the media will over-hype, they could meet in the Elite Eight, but trust me, one or both of them won’t make it.
-One white player will go off and garner comparisons to Larry Bird and Jimmy Chitwood: My pick is Taylor Coppenrath(Maybe the best scorer in the nation) and T.J. Sorrentine (Hits almost 4 threes per game) of Vermont.
-You’ll talk yourself into a team that you shouldn’t: Maybe you’ve seen them play or heard great things about them, or both. Then you’ll end picking them to go way to far: For me that team is Vermont, whom I penciled into the Sweet 16.
-A woman who couldn’t tell the difference between curling and basketball will win you office pool: She picks the winners based on team colors, an ingenious move on her part.
-You’ll make a list of things you’d give up to be the 12th Man on a Cinderella team: Could anything be better then that? Seriously, you get to lead the bench in locking arms in a close game, you get to over react to every made basket and get some TV time in the process. Just way to much fun being had by these guys, oh and they also get to rush the court after the game is over. Man that’s the life. My list includes my Television, blog, stepfather, and one or both of my kidneys.
-Beware of the team that made a deep run in their conference tourney, they may have used up all their luck: This rule usually holds true, but I’m pretty sold on all of this years list which includes Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Iowa and NC State. While none of these teams will go past the Sweet 16, they’ll all get past the first round and put the fear of god into whomever they play.
-Sleeper Teams: Always important to have a least a couple sleeper teams, just to spice up conversation if nothing else. My sleeper teams this year are: Utah, Villanova, NC State, West Virginia, Vermont and UCLA.
A couple of top seeds will be pick to fail by must everyone, expect these teams to make it at least to the Sweet 16: This year everyone is picking Kentucky and Kansas to go down early, and while both teams have multiple flaws, both will see the second week of the tourney just because people are picking against them. Now I can’t explain this, but it will happen.
-Line I most want to here in the coming weeks: Jim Nantz – We’re here in the studio with Miles Simon. Miles explain exactly what Arizona did to get into the Final Four. Miles: Well ya know everyone had Illinois cutting down the nets already but no, the Arizona Road Block got in the way.

And now here’s my breakdown of each round, as I give you the possible upsets in which game you should make sure to catch.
1ST Round –
· Most likely Upsets: Now I don’t have all of theses, I’m just trying to help you out and point out potential put holes along the way. Wisconsin-Milwaukee over Alabama(Just a gut feeling), Vermont over Syracuse(Vermont is a very good team, ‘Cuse is overrated, just another gut feeling. That and I’m way to into Vermont), UAB over LSU (40 minutes of hell is enough to disrupt any team.), UCLA over Texas Tech(Has all the makings of an upset, UCLA has great guard play and a hungry senior in Dijion Thompson. That and B. Knight has struggled mightly in the tourney.), Old Dominion over MSU(See above, the part about MSU's inability to make a jumper).
· Scary teams, the tough outs: These are the teams that will stick with a better team before fading down the stretch, if you’re team is playing one of these teams be afraid: Northern Iowa (Fear the MVC), Utah St. (Patient, tough team that leads the nation in fg%), Niagara (shots the 3 real well), Penn (Ivy league always plays teams tough, the fades late), George Washington (I just like this team).
· Best games: For my money the best first round game is Pacific vs Pittsburg, followed closely by Vermont vs. Syracuse(Note: I’m way to in to Vermont, if they lose by 50 on Friday I’m sure that I’ll be to blame.).

2nd Round –
· If there aren’t a lot of upsets in the first round, expect there to be quite a few in the second round, that’s usually how the tourney works.
· Upset Specials: Again I may not have these on my bracket, but these are the most likely upsets: West Virginia over Wake Forest(WV can slow it down and force Wake to play D for a long time, and defense is not one of Wake’s strong suits), LSU over Arizona (The tigers have quick guards and a big frontline, two things which have really troubled AZ this year) Iowa State over North Carolina (Won’t happen, but ISU will make a game out of it, I have no doubt in that.), Utah over Oklahoma (The Sooners have yet to win a big game away from home, they’re young and Utah is a very good team),
· Tough Outs: These are the teams that will do better then you think, and keep the game close before ultimately loosing. Stanford (Will give Duke fits), Iowa (Scrappy team that will push Kentucky to the brink of elimination), St Mary’s (Will test Oklahoma State.)
· Best Game: Ga. Tech vs. Louisville, maybe the game of the tournament, at least it’s the best of the first two rounds.
Sweet 16 –
· The underdog/Cinderella team magic begins to fade: Maybe it’s the time off or the fact that other teams have a chance to scout them more and won’t over look them, but this is where the Cinderella teams come to die, the Sweet 16.
· Upset Specials: Probably won’t be any, but… Villanova over UNC (Nova’s a tough team and just have the feeling the UNC is just waiting to shoot itself in the foot.) Vermont over Duke (in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m way into Vermont), Utah over Kentucky(I’m also way into Utah, I think they beat Kentucky before falling in the elite eight.)
· Best Game: Oklahoma State vs Arizona (The game of the tournament, two great teams battle it out for the right to play Illinois), Georgia Tech vs Washington (First to 100 wins it, both these teams can flat out score and both like to run.)
· Fearless Prediction: Whoever wins the Oklahoma State-Arizona match up will end Illinois’s season.
· My Final Four: Elite Eight is to short to have it’s own spot, so I’ll just give you my Final Four now. Oklahoma State (Great Senior led team which is very similar to Maryland in ’02, look for the Cowboys to take it all as Eddie Sutton goes out on top) Washington (I could picture any team coming out of the West, but I think Washington will do) UNC (Even though I think they’re just waiting to cut there own head off, they’re talented enough and I’m not sold on anyone in their region taking them down.) Duke (This how unsold I am on the entire Austin region. Duke is good, but by no means great, there the only team I feel good about making it out of that region.)
· Final Game: Oklahoma State over Duke (Oklahoma State will upend Washington in great game, while Duke continues to show that it’s in North Carolina’s head by taking them out on a neutral court. Oklahoma State will then take it to Duke, winning by about ten. The game will be close until the final 8 minutes.)

So there you have it, enjoy the next 3 week, there’s nothing better. And remember, the majority of my picks and suggests will be wrong. I apologize ahead of time.