Here is my attempt to fill up the brackets by trying to capture the randomness of single-elimination NCAA-environment games. The picks below are not necessarily which teams I think would win in a best-of-seven series, or which one is the best team.
Florida region
Florida beats Jackson State. Arizona beats Purdue. Florida beats Arizona
Maryland beats Davidson, Butler in double overtime beats ODU, Maryland smokes Butler.
Florida beats Maryland in the Sweet 16
Texas A&M CC upsets Wisconsin (scores only 51 points), UNLV in overtime beats GaTech in a very entertaining game, UNLV beats A&M-CC.
Oregon scores 22 threes on Miami of Ohio and wins, Notre Dame blows out Wintrhop, but loses to Oregon 103-102 in regulation (!).
Oregon beats UNLV in the Sweet 16
Florida beats Oregon in an up-and-down game and Florida wins the region
Kansas region
Kansas beats Niagara by 45 (Bill Self takes out his frustration on the last two first round losses). Villanova beat Kentucky, and gives Kansas all they can handle, but Kansas wins
Holy Cross beats Southern Illinois on a buzzer beater, Virginia Tech beats Illinois handily, and they beat Holy Cross in the 2nd round
Kansas has another tough game but they prevail over Virginia Tech's Greenies in the Sweet 16
UCLA cake-walks Weber State. The Zags go back to their roots of being a true star-less Cinderella and beat the Kelvin Sampson slugfest, and they also pull the upset by beating UCLA, in a game similar to last year, but this time Gonzaga holds on to the lead.
Pitt scores threes like crazy and beats Wright State, VCU owns the Duke guards and sends Coach Dirty K home whining like crazy, but VCU cannot beat Pitt.
Pitt is too strong inside for the Zags and Pitt makes it past the Sweet 16
The region is decided between Kansas and Pitt. Just like the Big East final against Georgetown, Pitt falls apart and gets blown out by 20+. Kansas wins the region!
North Carolina region
NC beats Eastern Kentucky in a nervous and jittery game. Never in doubt, but never comfortable. Meanwhile Marquette's two Musketeers put on a shooting display with Dominic James (not Damion, thanks for the correction blog reader A!), going 30+ and they beat shaved-head Pistol Pete-wannabe and Michigan State. But Marquette is no match for NC and NC wins by 20+
Texas gets all they can handle from New Mexico State but they prevail to face USC that outgrinds Arkansas. Tim Floyd comes up with a great game plan to slow down Durant to under 30, but he cannot stop DJ Augustin who wins the game for Texas
Sad to see such a great game in the Sweet 16 instead of the Final Four, but after an instant double-overtime classic and 40+ points from Durant, North Carolina wins
On the other side, Georgetown beats Belmont and Texas Tech (who beat Boston College handily after Bob Knight comes up with a brilliant game plan). But Texas Tech gets blown out by Georgetown and in the post-game press conference Bob Knight sings the praises of JT3 and the Georgetown team for playing the game the right way.
Washington State comfortably beats Oral Roberts (sorry Doug Gottlieb), and GW upsets Vandy. Washington State beats GW and moves on...
... to lose to Georgetown in the Sweet 16.
This sets up an exciting regional final between Georgetown and North Carolina, another game we would have liked to see in the Final Four, not the regional final. Hibbert gives Carolina fits, but outside shooting from Terry, Ellington and Miller give the Tar Heels a very narrow win.
The Ohio State region
Ohio State blows out Central CT, Xavier buzzer-beats BYU, setting up a Matta vs previous team matchup. Ohio State wins but not easily.
Albany upsets Virginia as their guards have an average night. Long Beach State shoots like crazy but Tennessee wins on a late surge led by Lofton who is having an off shooting night. But then Tennessee proves too much to handle for Albany
Ohio State has a good game against Tennessee, an entertaining game, but Oden blocks out the sun and Ohio State wins in the Sweet 16.
On the other side of the bracket Memphis blows out North Texas. Nevada falls to the Funk Express. Creighton leads Memphis for the first 30 minutes but a last quarter surge puts Memphis comfortably ahead.
Texas A&M dismantles Penn (win by 30+), while Pitino works his magic against the Lopez twins. Texas A&M is bothered by the Pitino press and Caracter gives Jones and Kavalauskas a headache, while Padgett is a non-factor. Ultimately T-Will is too hot to handle for A&M and Pitino moves to the Sweet 16.
The classic Pitino vs Calipari matchup does not disappoint as we watch a very exciting game. Ultimately no one can stop Jeremy Hunt's hot shooting and Memphis wins
So the region is down to the Thad Five and the AASAA Tigers. Greg Oden blocks out the sun once again and Ohio State gets a comfortable win over Memphis
Final Four
Florida takes revenge over their Vegas loss and blows out Kansas by 20
North Carolina beats Ohio State as Greg Oden gets in foul trouble early, and they face Florida in the final.
The Final: Florida plays its best game of the season and cuts down the nets. Roy Williams cries during the post-game interview with Bonnie.
2 comments:
It might have been a typo but Marquette's PG is Dominic not Damion.
Nevertheless, keep up the entertaining commentary.
Thanks for the comment and the correction! I'll fix it in the main post.
That's what happens when I try to write and listen to the NCAA press conferences at the same time. I have a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time, let alone writing and listening :-)
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