Explaining My Bracket

Everyone has their own strategy for dominating their March Madness pool.  Whether you use mascots, coin flips, or, gasp, watching the regular season games as a guide, everyone starts the tournament with the hope and dream of having the perfect bracket.  That’s what makes it fun.  I haven’t watched as much college hoop this year as in year’s past, and it’s actually falling behind the NBA in terms of interest from me.  Oddly enough, the nature of March Madness is doing it for me.  Teams that aren’t in the same league as their opponents are striking the right balance of luck, unselfishness, and 3-point shooting (seriously, move the line back 5 more feet, I guarantee the mid-majors would have no chance.)  The fact that great coaches can take a team without top level talent and make a deep run is fun, but it’s also not the best product the game can offer.  Big time programs need to stop selling their souls for one year of a hot recruit, and instead go back to running offensive and defensive schemes that players fit into in a team effort, instead of everyone trying to be like Kentucky.  But I digress.  This year, in hopes of revitalizing my love for college basketball above all other forms of the game, I’ve decided to suck it up and embrace the upsets.  My bracket reflects it.  Without further ado, a region by region breakdown of the bracket of a disgruntled college basketball fan.

Midwest

Round 1

The only upset I picked here was 12-seeded Oregon to knock off 5-seeded Oklahoma St.  I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about these teams.  But I do know that Oregon has Nike on their side, the 12-5 upset history in their favor, and if I don’t know OK State I don’t think they deserved a 5.  Ducks fly together.

if you don't have goosebumps right now, you didn't have a childhood.

Photo rights to Sports Illustrated

Round 2

I picked Missouri over Louisville in a rare 9 over 1 upset.  I think Mizzou has the guard play to counter Russ Smith and Peyton Siva, and Alex Oriakhi can bang with Gorgui Dieng inside.  I’m going Mizzou in a push because I’d be very surprised if there weren’t any major upsets in the first two rounds, and this looks like a prime opportunity.

Sweet 16

I’ve got St. Louis prevailing over Mizzou and ending that Cinderella run, and I’ve also got Michigan St. knocking off Duke.  Really the best reason I can give to validate Sparty in that one is that Duke could very easily be upset by Creighton, whereas I think Tom Izzo (right) is as safe a pick to make some noise in March as anyone.

Elite 8

I’ve got Sparty over St. Louis and advancing to the Final 4.  Too much talent, balance, and Izzo.

West

Round 1

I’m picking both the 11-6 and 10-7 upsets here with Belmont over Arizona and Iowa State over Notre Dame.  Arizona hasn’t impressed me this year and they’re just having a down year.  Sean Miller is taking that program to good places, but an inconsistent team like the Wildcats are ripe to get knocked off by Belmont. 

Notre Dame has failed to show me much of anything this year and I like the experience and balance of Iowa State’s high scoring attack.  With 6 seniors at the helm, the Cyclones will survive the Irish.

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Round 2

I’ve got Belmont advancing again on the backs of their shooters.   I see some Northern Iowa potential in Belmont, because a team that shoots 3’s well can get hot and beat much better teams in March.  Give me Belmont over New Mexico.

Sweet 16

I’ve got Gonzaga and Ohio St. restoring order in this region and taking care of business.  A 1 vs. 2 in the Elite 8.

Elite 8

I like Gonzaga over the Buckeyes because of their momentum heading into the tournament.  The key matchup here is obviously Kelly Olynyk (right) vs. Deshaun Thomas, but I’ve liked Olynyk’s game far more in what action I’ve seen of the two this season.  Gonzaga advances to the Final 4.

South

Round 1

My upset pick here is that the lower seeds will go 8-0 and there will be no upsets. 

Round 2

I’ve got San Diego St over Georgetown in a 7-2 upset.  Both teams are well-coached and play stingy defense, but I like SDSU in the experience factor.  I’m inadvertently picking a lot of Big East teams to get upset.

I also have VCU over Michigan.  How in the hell did Michigan get a 4 seed?  That’s unbelievable to me, and I really like VCU (no, I  really like VCU) but I’m not happy they have such a tough second round matchup.

Sweet 16

Florida tames SDSU, and VCU upsets top seeded Kansas to advance to the Elite 8.  Kansas is very talented but they have been hot and cold this year.  They’ve also been susceptible to mid-majors in the past (Bucknell, Northern Iowa) and VCU is a better shooting team.

Elite 8

VCU topples Florida as they force an up-tempo game to get Florida out of their spectacular half-court defense.  Both teams can shoot it and have scoring prowess, but VCU has momentum and magic.  VCU to the Final 4.

East

Round 1

Another region with no first round upset picks.  Chalk it up.

Round 2

Butler knocks off Marquette.  Brad Stevens devises a defense to limit Davonte Gardner, and Marquette doesn’t have enough shooting to win an ugly game.

Sweet 16

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Indiana shoots through Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, and Butler knocks off Miami in a defensive struggle.  The Hurricanes dominate the glass but Butler plays efficient enough on both ends, and Brad Stevens (right) just edges Jim Larranaga (the George Mason guy) in the coaching battle.

Elite 8

Butler.  Indiana.  It’s real life Hoosiers, only the Hoosiers are big bad Indiana and upstart Butler knocks them off on a crazy buzzer beater.  Everyone lives happily ever after.  Butler to the Final 4.

Final 4

Two Atlantic 10 teams square off, but VCU matches up too well with Butler.  Better shooting, pressure defense, VCU turns up the volume and advances to the National Championship Game.

Gonzaga and Michigan St. play a more traditional brand of basketball than the A-10 hooligans, as Mark Few and Tom Izzo trade philosophical punches in a chess match for the ages.  Gonzaga prevails on the back on Kelly Olynyk, the best player in the game.

Final

VCU fulfills their destiny and shocks the world by beating Gonzaga for the National Championship.  Dating back to their Second round win over Michigan, this gives them their second tournament victory over a team that was ranked #1 this year, as well as the #1 seed in their region.  The only person who goes down as having a better, more genius tournament than Shaka Smart is Jack Andrade.