NCAA Round One Recap

Anybody who thought Penn had a chance at beating Texas A&M after their comeback was probably just caught up in the momentum. Sure enough, it didn't last long. I love the Philly teams and would love to see Penn stop teasing us with their close games in which they don't have enough steam to go the distance. That is why the first round was a little dissappointing for the local fans.

Some good games out there in the first round, but no real eye openers I believe. I got only 22 games right in my bracket in the first round. I initially picked Michigan State to beat Marquette before learning that Marquette's top scorer would be out with an injury. However, fo some reason, on my pool with a couple buddies I picked Marquette. That cost me as now I'm behind by two instead of one. The Big Ten did me in actually as Purdue had an easier time with Arizona than I wanted and Indiana was able to get by Gonzaga in Sacramento. My upset picks of Arkansas over USC, Albany over Virginia and Creighton over Nevada also fell apart on me.

I, like everyone in my pool, picked Villanova over Kentucky. But watching the game last night, I got the sense pretty early on that Kentucky would pull away eventually. Nova's problem was finding an answer to the big man and finding some consistent scoring. So Villanova's season is over in the first round, but I still think they had a good year and they'll be a good team again for a long time coming as long coach Jay Wright stays there doing what he is doing. Whoever won the game, I was still picking Kansas in round two.

The good news for my bracket is every team that I picked to win in round one that lost, I picked them to lose their next game (except for Illinois), so I still have a decent chance heading into round two.

Check back for my round two recap on Monday night and we'll see how I'm doing heading into the Sweet 16.


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Bracket I'm most confident with heading into round two: East region (Texas advancing past Boston College
Bracket I'm least confident with: West region (missed four games already)
Final Four picks: Oregon, UCLA, Memphis, Texas

Sweet 16 teams remaining: 16

Today's bold prediction: Despite a 5-1 record, the Big Ten will be shut out of the Elite Eight