We had an exciting day yesterday. My national runner-ups survived a heck of a scare; even before the CareBears laid a bomb, we had a bomb scare in their arena; and what double overtime giveth me, single overtime taketh away. My bracket survived Upset Thursday with a couple of scratches, but everything after the weekend is intact so far. I never could figure out the South bracket though.
Winning calls from the prediction post underlined, losers and losing calls struck out, future picks still alive in bold, and substitute teams for early eliminations in italics:
Play-in – Monmouth 71 over Hampton 49
First round, Midwest: Villanova (1) over Monmouth, Wisconsin (9) over Arizona (in the battle of fading programs, the Mildcats have fallen further than Bucky), Montana (12) 87 over Nevada 79 (your historic 12-5 upset split, plus a Milwaukee connection with Montana coach Larry Krystowiak, a former Buck), Boston College (4) 88 over Pacific 66, UW-Milwaukee (11) 82 over Oklahoma 74 (too much offense from Rob Jeter’s group), Florida (3) 76 over South Alabama 50, Northern Iowa (10) over Georgetown (no, there’s no anti-Thompson bias here :-) and Ohio State (2) over Davidson
First round East, er, DC: UConn (1) over Albany, UA-Birmingham (9) over an over-seeded Kentucky, Washington 75 (5) over Utah State 61, Illinois (4) 78 over Air Force 69, George Mason (11) over Michigan State, North Carolina (3) over Murray State, Wichita State (7) 86 over Seton Hall 66, Tennessee (2) 63 over Winthrop 61
First round South, er, Atlanta: Duke (1) 70 over Southern 54, UNC-Wilmington 85 (9) over George Washington 88, Texas A&M (12) 66 over Syracuse 58 (this 12-5 upset’s for you, Owen), Iona (13) 64 over Louisiana State 80, Southern Illinois (11) over West Virginia, Iowa (3) over Northwestern State, California (7) over North Carolina State, Texas (2) over Pennsylvania
First round West, er, Oakland: Memphis (1) over Oral Roberts, Arkansas (8) over no-longer-a-surprise Bucknell, Pittsburgh (5) over Kent State, Kansas (4) over Bradley, San Diego State (11) 83 over Indiana 87, Gonzaga (3) 79 over Xavier 75, Alabama (10) 90 over Marquette 85 (sorry CareBears, Novak and a bunch of freshmen can’t get it done), UCLA (2) 78 over Belmont 44 in the battle of the Bruins
Second round Midwest: "˜Nova over Bucky (if one Wildcat doesn’t beat you, the other one will), BC over Montana, UWM over Florida (that’s right, the Panthers are Sweet-16 dancing again), Ohio State over Northern Iowa
Second round East: UConn over UAB, Illinois over Washington, UNC over George Mason, Tennessee over Wichita State
Second round South: Duke over UNC-Wilmington George Washington, Texas A&M over Iona LSU, SIU over Iowa, California over Texas
Second round West: Arkansas over Memphis, Pittsburgh over Kansas, Gonzaga over San Diego State Indiana, UCLA over Alabama
Midwest Semis: "˜Nova over BC, Ohio State over UWM (too much inside from the Buckeyes)
East Semis: Illinios over UConn, Tennessee over UNC
South Semis: Duke over A&M, SIU over California
West Semis: Pittsburgh over Arkansas, UCLA over Gonzaga
Final Four: "˜Nova, Tennessee, Duke, Pittsburgh
Champion: Duke over Tennessee, Bruce Pearl still gets hoisted off the court on his players’ shoulders
don’t worry. I picked Wisconsin. I’m still irked that I failed to successfully pick any upset yesterday. but to have three sweet sixteen teams go down on the first day…probably my worst bracket since I was old enough to read. my saving grace is if my elite eight and final four teams remain intact…
Those later rounds are where you really make or break a bracket.