Predicting Thursday's NCAA tournament games

Now that we know where to find the TV schedule for the tournament, it is time for some predictions, starting for Thursday's early (morning round) NCAA tournament games!


LSU vs Butler
Not an easy game to predict, as the outcome will depend on how the game will be played. By that of course we mean the style of play and tempo. Ultimately, we think that LSU will out-toughen Butler, the same way Trent Johnson's Nevada team dismantled the wine-and-cheese Zags a few years ago.


Cal State Northridge vs Memphis
Calipari accidentally used the word "steal" during the press conference when talking about the game, but with all the troubles surrounding the Northridge team, we expect an old fashioned NCAA tourney woodshed beating like the old days of 84-44. And behind the woodshed is where you will find the $6000 of stolen electronics the coach's son and players hid ;-)


Texas A&M vs BYU
This rematch of the 2008 tourney promises to be a close game on paper. And it might as well be a close game. Ultimately we think Mark Turgeon's NCAA experience will push the Aggies over the hill. Over the hill is where they will find the dwindling star of their former slugfest coach, Billy "the Clyde" Gillespie. Yep, he even lost the privilege of having his name spelled properly :)


Northern Iowa vs Purdue
Yeah! A classic MVC vs Big10 slugfest! Hooray! The first one to 40 wins the game. 40 after forty minutes of play that is. Ultimately, Purdue will get a comfortably ugly win.


Radford vs North Carolina
North Carolina won't stub their toe (oh dear) with Radford, but Lawson's toe will be the main story of this game. We expect Zeller to play a part in defending the Radford space-eater and UNC to deliver a woodshed beating.


Maryland vs California
We want "The Gary" to win this game. Even the President likes Maryland. Despite all the votes he got from Berkeley :) But Mike Montgomerry is no stranger to early exits and under-perfoming in the NCAA tourney, and their team of guards will probably be a good match-up for the Terrapins. In-fact, we think Maryland will win this game!


Chattanooga vs UConn
The only question is this game is whether Hasheem "shot-blocking" Thabeet will get a triple double because, no doubt the Chattanooga players, will, like lambs to the slaughter, try to penetrate the lane and score on UConn. Our crystal ball sees 90+ points scored by UConn in a walk in the park and then later to Geno's and Pat's.


Mississippi State vs Washington
This is a popular upset special, but what the pundits are missing is the space-eater-ness of Brockman and the basketball-onions of the not-so-skinny Isiah Thomas 2.0. We think this will be a relatively comfortable "W" for Romar's Husker-Dos.