I feel like the guy on that Tiny House commercial...this is pretty awesome!
Today is working out swimmingly already. I woke up about 15 minutes later than normal so I rushed around the house in order to get to work on time...didn't happen, of course. That normally would be a horrible way to start the day except, in this case, nobody noticed so I slid into work and filled out yet another bracket (#5) while checking my email. By the time I finished this up, the game which was scheduled for today (and bound to disturb my tourney viewing) had been cancelled due to the epic rainstorm that has engulfed Florida for the past 15 hours or so. Anyway, with no gameday responsibilites for me to handle, I can now concentrate on two key things: (1) Setting a good base for all the drinking I plan on doing this evening (early Vegas line for the over/under on # of car bombs: 3...psst, take the over) and of course (2) watching basketball. With all the free time that I have today, I may even grab a long lunch while watching some early afternoon tournament games as well. Anyway, here are a few of the upsets that I picked in what I'm calling my #1 bracket, followed by a couple of upsets I wanted to pick but couldn't pull the trigger on:
Upsets:
Wisconsin-Milwaukee over Bama: I just don't think Alabama is playing very good basketball right now, they seem like they peaked in mid-January. UWM screwed me two years ago against Notre Dame so we'll see if they can make it up to me here. I have taken UWM in the second round as well...you can all feel free to point and laugh.
Creighton over WVU: Not much of an upset here. The MVC is a very good conference (not three teams in the NCAA tourney good mind you) and I think WVU blew their wad in the Big East Tournament.
New Mexico over Nova: I talked about this earlier in the week. I'm going with the "John Wallace Best Versatile Big Upperclassmen" theorem here, which clearly applies to Danny Granger who should be far too much for anyone on Villanova to handle. By the way, Dick Vitale wants me to tell you that Villanova Coach Jay Wright is a "very good looking man". Uhhh, thanks Dick...I guess.
Near picks:
Vermont vs. Syracuse: I really wanted to pick this one but couldn't quite get over the sting of picking Manhattan to upset the 'Cuse two years ago in the first round. That ended up killing my bracket since, you know Syracuse won the whole damn thing and all of that. With that said, I do think that Vermont is Taylor-made (get it, Taylor, like Taylor Coppenrath...I'm so witty) to beat the Syracuse zone with the shooters they have, especially if Tomm Brennan sticks Coppenrath in the high post on offense.
Oklahoma vs. Niagara: I talked about Niagara last week and how I was thinking of taking them, all the while spelling Niagara incorrectly. That's a public school education for ya. This is just a bad matchup for the Purple Eagles though. Juan Mendez is a hell of a player but I see him having some serious trouble matching up with both Bookout and Gray inside. Simply put, Niagara doesn't have enough size inside to take Oklahoma deep into the second half.
ODU vs. Michigan State: I think Michigan State is very overrated and I also think that ODU is good enough to beat a bunch of teams in this tourney. Here's the problem: ODU's best player is PF Alex Loughton who will be matching up with Paul Davis and the assorted thugs that Tom "I married my mexican maid" Izzo brings off his bench. Doesn't look good for the Monarchs inside. Seriously, you could matchup MSU with just about any other 12 and I pick them to lose and I really , really like ODU, but its all about the matchups and I don't like them in this one. Sorry.
One more thing: I finally broke down and picked one of my brackets using a completely ridiculous method which should guarantee me a first place finish if history is any indicator. So how did I pick this bracket you ask? Simple, the Mascot Death Match Method. It all comes down to who would win if the two mascots had to battle to the death. For example, a Bucknell Bison would stomp a Kansas Jayhawk...so Bucknell advances. I've always wondered what it would be like to be my Mom...and now I know. If I do well with this method (based on my example, thats not very likely) I may never use my brain to pick a bracket again.
Tommorrow I'll discuss some of the second round upsets that I have picked because, well, I will be really hung over and stuck at work so I might as well bore you all to death with my idiotic ramblings.
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2 comments:
I have a theory called the re-upset. It happens when everybody is picking an upset and the favored team ceases to be overconfident. This was taken to the extreme last season when #11 Western Michigan was actually a Vegas favorite over #6 Vandy.
I think UWM-Bama might qualify for that slot this year. Lots and lots of people are picking UWM.
Agree about Niagara. I'm taking them with the point. LA-Lafayette is another team like that. They're good and athletic, but Louisville is a terrible matchup.
I like that theory alot, Syracuse-Vermont has real potential here. I ended up taking La-Lafayette with the points on Louisville as I don't think that the Cards will end up losing but alot of people are overlooking a very quality Rajin Cajun team that is very athletic and extremely experienced. You could make a case that Lafayette is as athletic as any of the major conference teams in the tournament, due to the high number of big-time transfers they have. You're right on the matchup though, Lafayette couldn't have gotten a worse one. This Louisvilee team matches up better to cancel out their collective strenghts better than probably any other tema in the tourney (save for Washington, maybe)
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