Madness has officially struck March and it’s time to drive yourself crazy filling out your brackets. It has been quite some time since the league has had this much parody during the regular season, which of course should make for some great drama.
So the question that everyone is asking is who should I pick here? Will this be a class 12-5 upset? Who is going to be my Cinderella team? Who is going to win it all?
Well, of course I am asking myself those same questions, but after diligently following this year’s college basketball season, I hope to make the right deductions about the upcoming matchups and fill out the most accurate bracket.
When it comes to the first round games, those are always the hardest to pick. You look at the matchups and can usually see the game going either way. But there a couple of games that I think I can pick locks for. The first one that stands out to me is the BYU vs. Florida game.
BYU is a lock to win this game. Florida should not even be in this field of 65 when it comes down to it. They snubbed out Mississippi State, who was much more deserving, and who would have subsequently posed a much greater threat to BYU. Florida will lose based on their inconsistent play. They were 1-8 vs. top 25 teams, went 5-5 on the road, and finished 6th in a top heavy SEC conference. They resume shouldn’t have earned them an at-large bid and with BYU’s potent offense scoring 83 ppg. the Gators will be going down the river early.
The biggest upset in the first round will come from a 13-4 matchup, Siena vs. Purdue. I was a huge Purdue fan all season and it was so unfortunate to see the season ending injury that sidelined forward Robbie Hummel. I just can’t see Purdue going anywhere without this key component to their team; his productivity is irreplaceable for that offense. Hummel averaged 15.7 ppg and 6.9 rpg. And the team has won games without him, but after facing a recent clobbering by Minnesota, losing 69-42, I just don’t see how this team is tournament tough. The 13th seeded Siena is no stranger to the tournament either. Siena actually beat Louisville in the first round of the tournament last year, so they definitely have experience in tough games against big conference schools.
Look for Siena to advance here, but they will definitely have a tough time beating Texas A&M in the next round.
I look at this bracket and unfortunately I am not seeing a George Mason like Cinderella team this year. An interesting team that I’m going to keep my eye on is Richmond. Richmond has a semi-difficult game with St. Mary’s in the first round, but I think they will get the job done, but when it comes to the second round they will be facing the 2nd seeded Villanova Wildcats.
Villanova has been a potent team all year long, but has seriously fluttered down the stretch. I want to pick Nova to win the game against Richmond, but from the lackluster play that I have seen lately, I just can’t make that pick. When it comes to tournament plain and simple, you need to be going in hot.
Nova has lost their last 5 of 7 games and that is just about as bad as you can get before the tourney begins. Richmond is somewhat of a juggernaut for me, but has a good chance of winning against these battered Wildcats.
And now it’s time for the big prediction. Who will be the 2009-2010 NCAA champions? And the winner is the Kansas Jayhawks.
It may be true that they have the hardest overall region to go through, but I think that this team is ready to handle any team that comes their way. I think Kansas only has two real obstacles to go through, Ohio State and Kansas State.
I really like Ohio State and soon to be player of the year Evan Turner, but Kansas is just more balanced all-around. I wish Ohio State was in another bracket because I would put them in the final four for any other region.
Four players in Kansas averaged double digit ppg during the regular season and scored almost 82 ppg. That type of offense is just too hard to contain. But I do think Kansas does have to sweat about Kansas State.
These teams have met up twice already and in the first game K-State lost to Kansas in an overtime thriller 81-79 and in the second matchup K-State only lost in a close game by eight. Kansas State is definitely has a chip on their shoulder, but in the end I think Kansas will have too much momentum going into the game.
I predict the championship game to between Kansas and Duke and Kansas coming out victorious as the 2009-2010 champions.
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