Villanova will play North Carolina in the second Final four game (UConn and Michigan State will play the first game on Saturday).
For Wildcats fans it is a chance for redemption for the 2005 Regional Semifinals game in Syracuse, where North Carolina was handed the game by the refs. You know what I'm talking about...
But the question remains...why does CBS feel the best way to abbreviate Villanova using four letters is "VILL" when just about everybody and their mother would commonly refer to the Wildcats as "Nova"?
Silly CBS.
Villanova will play either North Carolina or Oklahoma in the Final Four.
Source: Getty Images via Yahoo!
What a game by Villanova last night! Never did I think they would dominate Duke the way they did last night. The beat down was so bad it may have knocked Duke off of the elite plateau in college basketball says one CBS reporter who may just be eager to knock top programs down a peg because he didn't receive an acceptance letter to said school. Villanova advances to play Pitt in the Elite Eight for the right to go to Detroit.As the games are about to tip off let's take a few minutes to go over my NCAA pool.
My Bracket at a Glance:
Starting in the West bracket I clearly have faith in Memphis, who I have picked to win the national championship. I have UConn advancing to the Sweet 16 after defeating BYU but the Big Ten champions from Purdue will knock off the Huskies. Purdue will beat Washington in the second round.
Louisville will sprint to the Final Four, where they will lose to Memphis, but more on that later.
North Carolina will have an easy run through the South bracket, overcoming one game of poor shooting and being aided in another due to poor officiating. Butler will take out LSU before bowing to UNC. Western Kentucky will earn the upset of the first round by taking out Illinois. Gonzaga, who used to be a Cinderella story, will knock off Akron and Western Kentucky before losing to North Carolina.
Call me a homer, but I have Villanova going to the Final Four as the Big East's second Final Four team. The Wildcats will benefit from playing the first two games against American and UCLA (who will beat VCU) at the Wachovia Center. Duke will advance to the Sweet 16 after beating Minnesota, but will fall to Villanova.I'm heading to an exhibition Phillies game this afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
I hope it takes my mind off of dropping to fifth place in the basketball pool after last night's debacle of a bracket for me. Kansas destroyed Villanova but I picked Kansas. Bittersweet.
Stanford though, killed me.
Final Four: North Carolina, Stanford, UCLA, Kansas
With Louisville knocking off Tennessee last night in the NCAA Tournament, I move into a tie for first place in the pool! I also have the most possible points remaining, but let's see where everything stands after tonight's games.
You know some Villanova fan who is a Red Sox fan came up with this idea.How is your bracket holding up? Here are my Sweet Sixteen picks and a look at the games I predicted to be taking place in this round.
East Region
North Carolina over Washington State
Louisville over Tennessee
Midwest Region
Kansas over Villanova
Wisconsin over Davidson (I originally picked Wisconsin over Georgetown)
South Region
Memphis over Michigan State (Oregon over Pitt)
Stanford over Texas
West Region
UCLA over Western Kentucky (UCLA over UConn)
West Virginia over Xavier (Duke over Xavier)
There you have it! Enjoy the Sweet Sixteen round. Elite Eight picks will be updated Saturday morning.
So now we have two rounds in the books and the Sweet 16 is set. As for the basketball pool, I am feeling pretty good as we head into this round, but that good feeling does come with a good amount of nervousness.
Here are the standings so far;
Matt has the overall lead but has some trouble to overcome with Georgetown falling to Davidson (Matt has Georgetown in the championship game). I can get ahead of everybody in the battle for the top spot if North Carolina beats Tennessee in the next round (assuming they both win; Louisville beating Tennessee helps me even more!) as Matt, Jon, Jill and Dave all picked the Volunteers while I picked the Tar Heels.
Dave, last year's champion, has dropped to a tie for fourth place. Paul is clearly in the worst shape with only 73 possible points remaining. His downfall? His blind faith in his beloved Duke (picked to win it all of course). The fact that he only has one team remaining in his Final Four has to hurt this early (Georgetown, Duke, and Kentucky), a pain I had last year. Sorry Paul. Thanks for playing!
Mike and Paul Hartman failed to fill out their brackets. What happened there guys?
How am I doing? I only have eleven teams left in the Sweet 16 with my East region being the only one with each Sweet 16 team correctly picked. Davidson ruined my Midwest region, while the right side of my bracket is a mess with no Duke, UConn, Pitt or my under the radar squad Oregon.
Final Four: North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas, Stanford
Nationally I am in the 86 percentile which isn't terrible, but not great by any means.
Predicted and adjusted picks to come Thursday before the games start up again!
As a baseball fan first and foremost March has always meant spring training to me. Of course there is some tournament thing going on in the world of college athletics that I have discussed from time to time, and I am not even referring to this tournament.
This time next week though my fellow Phillies fans will be discussing the Opening Day gem, solid effort, or debacle and either pencil ourselves in for the World Series or start counting down to training camp. I know I am not alone.
The folks over at CNBC have been running their own March Bracket Tournament of minor league baseball logos and the newly formed Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (the Phillies' new AAA franchise) are pulling a Davidson-esque run as of late. Today the #14 seeded Iron Pigs are fighting to pull ahead of the #2 seed Clinton Lumberjacks. Vote here!
The winner clinches a spot in the Final Four!
In the previous post I made my second round choices, as well as told you who I had originally picked.
Here are just a couple more updates I forgot to add into that post.
Final Four Teams: North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, Stanford
Still going strong there as none of those teams had much trouble in round one. My sweet 16 took a hit though with Oregon going down, but luckily that was my only casualty that deep so far.
Stef on the other hand is beating me by one game after round one, but she took some devastating blows to the bracket in round one to pretty much assure me I'll beat here this year. Her national champ went down in the first round (UConn), as well as a second Final Four selection (Oregon).
My best region after one round was a tie between the East and South. I missed two games in each region (Oregon, Temple, Indiana, George Mason).
Anybody out there ready to redo their bracket already?
I didn't have a terrible first round, but I did take some blows (Oregon). The only one that could hurt me badly is the Oregon pick, who I picked going to the Elite Eight.
So here are the games I originally picked, followed by a correction if needed.
EAST REGION
North Carolina over Indiana (UNC over Arkansas)
Washington State over George Mason (WSU over Notre Dame)
Louisville over Oklahoma
Tennessee over Butler
MIDWEST REGION
Kansas over Kent State (Kansas over UNLV)
Villanova over Vanderbilt (Nova over Sienna)
Wisconsin over USC (Wisconsin over Kansas State)
Georgetown over Davidson
SOUTH REGION
Oregon over Memphis (Memphis over Mississippi State)
Pitt over Temple (Pitt over Michigan State)
Stanford over Marquette
Texas over St. Mary's (Texas over Miami)
WEST REGION
UCLA over Texas A&M
UConn over Drake (Oops! San Diego over Western Kentucky)
Xavier over Purdue
Duke over Arizona (West Virginia over Duke)
In Kevin's Six Pack of Picks for the Weekend fashion, here are my winners for the first round of the NCAA Tournament, which gets underway today.
EAST REGION
North Carolina over Mt. St. Mary's
Indiana over Arkansas
George Mason over Notre Dame
Washington State over Winthrop
Oklahoma over St. Joe's
Louisville over Boise St.
Butler over South Alabama
Tennessee over American
MIDWEST REGION
Kansas over Portland State
Kent State over UNLV
Villanova over Clemson
Vanderbilt over Siena
USC over Kansas State
Wisconsin over Cal State Fullerton
Davidson over Gonzaga
Georgetown over UMBC
SOUTH REGION
Memphis over UT - Arlington
Oregon over Mississippi State
Temple over Michigan State
Pittsburgh over Oral Roberts
Marquette over Kentucky
Stanford over Cornell
St. Mary's over Miami
Texas over Austin Peay
WEST REGION
UCLA over Mississippi Valley
Texas A&M over BYU
Drake over Western Kentucky
UConn over San Diego
Purdue over Baylor
Xavier over Georgia
Arizona over West Virginia
Duke over Belmont
There you have it folks! The first round winners! I'll check back for round two with my picked winners (and games) and adjusted picks for actual games. You know, just in case for some weird reason one of my picks doesn't turn out to be right!
By far the best game is USC-Kansas State with O.J. Mayo and Michael Beaseley. The smartest game has to be Stanford-Cornell.
Go Villanova, St. Joe's and Temple! Represent the Big Five!!!
As for the Final Four, my picks are North Carolina, Kansas, Stanford and UCLA. My national champion is UCLA over Kansas.
We'll keep track after each round like this:
Final Four: UNC, Kansas, UCLA, Stanford
National Champ: UCLA
Green means I'm still alive and red will mean I am out!
For online pools I may have made a pick or two that is different than the picks above, but you can hold me accountable for these decisions right here! Don't forget to join my pool today! Do it soon!
After penciling in my bracket (keyword is "penciled"), my Final Four is;
Of course, I reserve the right to change this before Thursday's games begin, so check back later.
As for the local teams, I am happy to see Temple, St. Joe's and Villanova all being invited to the tournament. Congratulations. Again with the first thoughts, I see Villanova going the deepest between the three, but they have a very tough first game against Clemson. Temple got the worst draw, although they can beat Michigan State. St. Joe's will have a tough time with Oklahoma but I can see them pulling out a victory.
Where are the NITtany Lions??? I thought for sure they would make THIS tournament. It wasn't meant to be I suppose.
PSU is going to the NCAA tournament after winning their conference's automatic bid!
GO! STATE! BEAT! TBA!
As for the real PSU (THE Penn State University), they lost a heart breaker to Illinois in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Sure, the season seemed lost when Geary Claxton went down, but this team showed some heart lately. Tough break.
NITtany Lions.
So nobody out there joined in on my Arena Football League Pick 'Em. Ok, fine whatever. So I feel like a loser. I won't hold any of that against you now that I have opened up a college basketball tournament on Yahoo! Sports!
Want to join? Join in now!
All are welcome to join. Even you.
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