Tuesday, March 13, 2007

My NCAA Tournament Picks

As promised, below I give you my bracket breakdown by region. Scroll to the end of the post to see my picks for the regional finals and beyond.






EAST: Georgetown over North Carolina
This has the trappings of an awful matchup for the Tar Heels. They love to get out and run, while the Hoyas are the anti-Heels, cutting down on possessions and playing a patient half-court game. I'm not sold on UNC as a championship contender and think the Hoyas are clicking on all cylinders. The team that dictates the pace of the game will win - I think that will be Georgetown.
SOUTH: Texas A&M over Ohio State
I know that the Buckeyes have more talent and some NBA team's future franchise player in Greg Oden, but I just believe in point guard Acie Law IV and Coach Billy Gillespie. They've done the unthinkable by making Aggies basketball relevant. Now they'll cement their status as part of the college basketball elite by advancing to the Final Four.
WEST: UCLA over Kansas
Despite their first round loss in the Pac-10 tournament, I still believe that the Bruins have been the country's most consistent, well-rounded team this year. And they have the edge on experience as well. No key Jayhawk has won an NCAA Tournament game, while UCLA will be burning to make the Final Four for the second consecutive year.
MIDWEST: Florida over Oregon
As smoking hot as Oregon looked in the Pac 10 tournament, and as much as part of me wants to make the bold move and pick against the Gators, I just can't make myself do it. The Gators will overwhelm the Ducks with their talent, depth, experience and drive to advance to the Final Four.
NATIONAL SEMIFINALS:
UCLA over Florida
If this matchup happens, I could see it being an epic battle. I don't see any way this year's game would be anything but close after the Gators trounced the Bruins in the title game last year. However, I think Florida's bid to repeat ends here while UCLA makes another championship game appearance under coach Ben Howland.
Georgetown over Texas A&M
This would be a matchup of two disciplined, well-coached teams and would probably be close all the way. But I'd go with the Hoyas since both Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert have the potential to dominate any given game. The Aggies don't have a dynamic duo as imposing as those Green-Hibbert.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:
Georgetown over UCLA
My head tells me that this game could go either way. Both teams can play smothering defense, both have go-to conference players of the year in Aaron Afflalo for UCLA and Jeff Green for Georgetown. So in a toss-up, I'll take that as reason enough to go with the Hoyas to win it all. Hey, you didn't think I was going to choose against my alma mater in my own blog, did you?









3 comments:

RAG said...

no upsets? you've got only first-third seeded teams meeting in the final four. upsets are the name of the game in march madness...

SAMO said...

I also have UCLA in the finals, but losing to Ohio State! March Madness is so exciting! I can't wait!

By the way, at WBRS we will be live-blogging all day and all night on Thursday if you want to stop by and leave a comment or two!

Thanks, Mini Me

Johnny said...

Reema, upsets are the name of the game in the first rounds of March Madness. Once you get to the Final Four it's a different story. Yes, last year had George Mason, and basically 3 other surprises, but that's not the norm. I'm not saying that Sami's right, but I'm also not saying he picked "no upsets." Oral Roberts in the Sweet 16 is an upset. What is a little surprising is that he only has 1's through 3's in the Elite 8. That's a little rarer in my book.

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