Bracketology with Aaron: Part 1

The 1^st round of the tourney is over. Not too many surprises from how I see it. My bracket is still very much alive. The Midwest bracket took the brunt of the upsets but no worries for me because my team out of this region Michigan State is still kicking. The second round should be much more of an indicator of who will go far and who is just holding on by their fingertips.

Let’s review some of the big wins and potentially unexpected losses from the first round. In the Midwest region, I had Siena over the Buckeyes of Ohio State. The Buckeyes are very young and Siena has done the unexpected in the tourney before, beating Vanderbilt last year. Arizona was too much to handle for Utah as I expected. The Wildcats underperformed in the regular season but I expect them to get back to the Sweet 16 this year. USC was another team that I would have bet money on in the first round. The Trojans are on a roll and Boston College just wasn’t that good this year. The two games in the Midwest that I missed were Dayton and Cleveland State. Wake Forest decided not to “wake up” for their game and Dayton’s win demonstrates another instance of a Tom Izzo disciple getting big wins in the tourney. Dayton’s coach Brian Gregory was on the bench with Izzo for many years before getting the job with the Flyers.

Moving on to the West region I came out unblemished. The one game that was most difficult to pick in this region was the Washington vs. Mississippi St. game which ended up being much less of a game than expected. Based on my ties to the Huskies and their scrappy never give up style of play I went with Washington and it proved worth it. I also had the Aggies over BYU. To me this was a given because Brigham Young is just not meant for basketball. It’s not in their blood. Winning is in the blood of the Maryland Terrapins who always seem to stir it up in the tourney. I have them losing to Memphis in round two but I could easily see an upset in that one.

Halfway down and two more regions to go. In the East region, Pittsburgh gave me a slight scare with their lackadaisical play against East Tennessee State but talent prevailed. In the next game I chose Oklahoma State over Tennessee. The Cowboys are on a roll and Tennessee seems to enjoy “volunteering” their spot in the next round each and every year. I picked Wisconsin over Florida State although I think the Badgers could possibly be the ugliest team to watch in every sport. Somehow they get the job done though. Texas is another team like Arizona that flopped in the regular season but has potential and therefore I had them moving on. The most difficult pick in this region was the UCLA vs. VCU game. Let’s face it, UCLA is just not good this year and they are riding on tradition. I picked them over VCU reluctantly in the first round but I would bet money they are out come Sunday.

Last but not least we have the South region where UNC showed Radford who their daddy is by stomping them 101-58 without their best player Ty Lawson. They will face LSU in the next round who I had losing to Butler. I thought the 3-point shooting of Butler would turn the lights out on LSU but I was mistaken. I did however pick the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky to beat Illinois. You can’t stop a guy with a name like Orlando Mendez-Valdez! The only other game of question was the Michigan vs. Clemson game. Nobody could predict this game with any real confidence. These two teams are the most inconsistent and inpatient teams in college basketball. They chuck 3-pointers up from half court and both are known for throwing some elbows at opponents. I did pick the winner Michigan in this one but that was just a pick out of a hat. Michigan will not be able to handle Oklahoma in round two and will be handed a ticket home come Sunday.

That concludes this Bracketology session for the 1st round games. The 2nd round starts today (Saturday) and this round will be much more of an indicator of who is real and who is just playing “unreal”. Here are some of the teams I have in the sweet 16 besides the obvious #1’s: Arizona, Kansas, Michigan State, Purdue, Missouri, Memphis, Wisconsin, Villanova, Duke, Gonzaga, Syracuse and Oklahoma. With this said, I think that Washington could definitely take out Purdue and I could see Texas beating Duke. As stated earlier I think Maryland could end Memphis’s glory ride. USC will give Michigan State a run for their money but will fall short in the end and the Spartans will move one step closer to the Final Four in Detroit.