The Brackets

Let me begin by saying the NCAA Selection Committee for the field of 68 still doesn't get it. Those First Four games should be set aside for the final four at-large teams to make the tournament. UNC Ashville, Arkansas Little Rock, UT San Antonio and Alabama State won its conference tournaments and the automatic bid. To me that says they deserve the right to play on Thursday or Friday and not have to play into the now so-called second round of the tournament.

I totally agree with USC, VCU, UAB and Clemson being put into a "Round 1" game. I would also say Memphis, Richmond, Missouri and Marquette should also be playing in Tuesday or Wednesday games to "play in" to the field of the 64 for Thursday or Friday.

I also wish the committee would stick to its original rules of the maximum number of teams a conference can get into the tournament is eight and cannot meet until the regional final. So what if the Big East has 20,000 teams, the rule was eight and they should stick to it.

Seriously this has to be one of the weaker fields we have seen in awhile. How else can you justify Butler an eight seed? What about Florida as a two in the same region? If there's any region where the bracket is going to be torched beyond recognition the Southeast is it. Hear me now, believe me later a four or lower seed will advance to Houston out of this bracket.

So let's get to the brackets and we'll begin in the land of the overall No. 1 seed the East with Thad Matta's THE Ohio State Buckeyes

First Round
OSU over play-in opponent
Villanova over George Mason
West Virginia over play-in opponent
Kentucky over Princeton
Marquette over Xavier
Syracuse over Indiana State
Washington over Georgia
North Carolina over Long Island

Second round
Ohio State over Nova
West Virginia over Kentucky (in a rematch of last year's regional final)
Syracuse over Marquette
North Carolina over Washington

Regional Semifinals
Ohio State over West Virginia
North Carolina over Syracuse

Regional Final
Ohio State over North Carolina

Thad and the Bucks advance to the Final Four for the first time in four years.

Now to the West and the land of the defending National Champion Duke Blue Devils

A lot of people questioned Duke and whether the Blue Devils would get a No. 1 seed. Let's put it this way when it comes to the NCAA and its Big Dance, Duke is its prom queen.

First round
Duke over Hampton
Michigan over Tennessee
Memphis over Arizona (And yet I said Memphis should be in a play-in game)
Texas over Oakland
Missouri over Cincinnati
UCONN over Bucknell
Penn State over Temple
San Diego State over No. Colorado

Second Round
Duke over Michigan (Duke still owns the Wolverines)
Memphis over Texas (Again remember what I said about Memphis should have been in a play-in game and now I got 'em going to the Sweet 16)
UCONN over Mizzou
San Diego State over Penn State

Regional Semifinals
Duke over Memphis
UCONN over San Diego State

Regional Final
Duke over UCONN (Coach K finally beats Jim Calhoun in the NCAA Tournament) UCONN has THE weapon in Kembra Walker, but Duke has too many other ones to negate him

Now to the Southwest Region and Walk...Chalk...Jayhawks

First round
Kansas over Boston
Illinois over UNLV
Richmond over Vanderbilt
Louisville over Morehead State
Georgetown over Play-in opponent
Purdue over St. Peter's
Texas A&M over Florida State
Notre Dame over Akron

Second round
Kansas over Illnois
Louisville over Richmond
Purdue over Georgetown
Notre Dame over Texas A&M

Regional Semifinals
Kansas over Louisville
Oohhhh...the match up a lot of us have always wanted to see in the REGULAR SEASON because for some reason there are roads that lead between South Bend and West Lafayette, Indiana for football but they mysteriously disappear when it comes to hoops. Notre Dame and Purdue! What a great game this has the chances of being on paper. A clear toss up here...here's where having Robbie Hummel would be huge for the Boilers. With that - the IRISH to the Elite 8

Regional Final
Kansas over Notre Dame


Finally the Southeast Region - go ahead and just torched this bracket because anything any of us has will be destroyed by this time next week. Despite my Dawgs being in this region and I would like to think they have as realistic a chance of making some serious noise, I still can't seem to put my pulse on the offense. It's very inconsistent. It's going to need to be very consistent next weekend to advance to the second weekend of the tournament. The defense has been tremendous the last nine games. I believe they can keep that up. Old Dominion looks to go inside a lot with it's 6-9 center. It's going to be a matter of Andrew Smith playing smart defensively and the rest of the team rotating over quickly as they did against Milwaukee for Butler to advance to a possible match up with No. 1 seed Pittsburgh.


I say this region will be toast by the weekend because it is by far the weakest of the four regions. My goodness Florida a No. 2? Really? If I am Tom Izzo and Michigan State, I'm licking my chops because UCLA is prime for the picking and so will Florida in the second round.

So here we go


First round
Pitt over play-in opponent
Butler over ODU
Kansas State over Utah State
Wisconsin over Belmont
Gonzaga over St. John's
BYU over Wofford
Michigan State over UCLA
Florida over UC Santa Barabara (Sorry Jim Rome)

Second Round
Butler over Pitt (Yeah I am leading with my heart on this one, but if a No. 1 is going to go down in the first weekend this is the game it will happen)
Kansas State over Wisconsin
Gonzaga over BYU
Michigan State over Florida

Regional Semifinals
Kills me saying this - Kansas State gets revenge from last year's Elite 8 loss and beats Butler
Michigan State over Gonzaga

Regional Final
Michigan State over Kansas State

Final Four
National Semifinal No. 1
Ohio State vs. Duke

You gotta look at this match-up and know it's going to be the late game on CBS Final Four Saturday night. Both can go inside and outside. It will come down to who can make the best adjustments throughout the game. I believe Duke has the guard play, but Ohio State has the inside play that can cause havoc against the Blue Devils.

Thad gets revenge for his alma mater from last year's national championship game - Buckeyes over the Blue Devils

National Semifinal No. 2
Kansas vs. Michigan State

What's a Final Four without Michigan State? And for the second time being in a Final Four opposite of Ohio State?

Somehow, some way Tom Izzo finds ways to get Michigan State playing its best at the right time. It has been a struggle for the Spartans all season long, but alas March comes and Michigan State recently put together a couple of solid games before falling to Penn State in the Big 1(1)0 tournament this weekend.

But Sparty is playing Kansas. A team which began the season 18-0 and has looked the part of a national champion for most of the season. Of course I look for the Jayhawks to make their fourth Final Four appearance since 2000.

I see the Spartans trying to slow it down and have a semifinal as it did against Butler last year here in Indianapolis. Unfortuantely, I don't think they stop the running style of Kansas and beat the Jayhawks in transition. Kansas moves on

Then it comes to this - Monday night April 4 in Houston, Texas...

Ohio State vs. Kansas - just like the committee drew it up.

Here's why Kansas will win it - more depth along the front line and they can run or slow it down and go halfcourt; and they have last year's second-round loss to Missouri Valley's Northern Iowa to motivate them to get to the Final Four

Here's why the Jayhawks won't be cutting the nets down on a Monday night - Free throw shooting and the lack of consistent guard play. You gotta hit key free throws in stretch time late in games and you gotta have players to get the ball inside to the Morris twins. If you can't do either one of those you'll be done and that's what will happen to the Jayhawks when Thad Matta goes to game plan against them between Saturday night's win over Duke and the 9:21 p.m. EDT tip against the Jayhawks. Now if Self can get solid guard play out of Taylor and Johnson the Buckeyes could be in trouble

Here's why Ohio State will win: the Buckeyes can beat you from anywhere and everywhere - Defend inside against Jared Sullinger - no problem that opens things up for the outside shooting of Jon Diebler. Plus when the Buckeyes lockdown defensively they can contain any five that any team throws out on the floor.

Here's why not: inexperience with the freshmen in the low post and at guard plus if the offense should struggle from both the inside and the outside on any given game trying to make a six-game run to the title the Buckeyes will need to rely on the defense and as proven in its losses and close calls with Northwestern they have a tendency to forget to play defense in crucial moments. And if I am Bill Self or any other team that might face Ohio State in the tournament I'd get to looking at the second game against Purdue and the two games against Northwestern in developing a game plan to beat Buckeyes.

With that being said my national champion is...

Rock...

Chalk...

Jayhawk