How's Your Bracket?

Well...I think it's time to accept defeat for my March Madness Bracket.  After the 1st round I had 2 brackets that were doing great.  One was in the 99.8 percentile on ESPN.  I only missed 2 picks out of the first round.  Unfortunately one of those was Louisville, who I had going to the final 4, and another was Michigan State who I had going to the Sweet 16.  So two costly errors, but I was still looking pretty good.

Then the 2nd Round started.  That's where the disaster was.  Really there was only one problem with the 2nd round.  Unfortunately, that had a huge impact because my pick for National Champion was knocked out in the most ridiculous finish I have ever seen.  I am obviously talking about the Pitt/Butler game

So, Pitt won the regular season title for the best conference in the country.  Sure they had a couple of more losses than the other #1 seeds, but I have no doubt they deserved a #1 seed also.  ON top of that, they seemed to me to be a team built perfectly for the tournament.  Good point guard play, and good big men.  And they play physical.  So my question is, what happened to the refs swallowing their whistles at the end of the game?  You almost never see fouls like that called at the end of the game.  They're too impactful.  And while both teams kind of suffered from interesting (to say the least) foul calls at the end, the last one that sent the Butler player to the line in a tie game with no time on the clock was one of the dumbest calls I've ever seen.

I don't know...maybe I'm just bitter that Pitt underachieved in the tournament yet again, and that my National Champion pick is gone after the 2nd round.

My Initial Bracket

This comes without doing much research, so it will possibly change.  But this is my initial impression on the brackets:

Top Half

Bottom Half

Championship Game

You should be able to click on the to make them larger, and feel free to argue with my choices.  I actually welcome it.  And I'd love to hear your opinions.

The Brackets Are In!

Selection Sunday has come and gone, and the brackets are complete.  March Madness has officially begun!  Fill out your bracket here!

I just want to hit on a few topics to get the wheels turning as you consider your brackets before the games start on Tuesday.

Top Seeds

I believe the top seeds are all very deserving.  Ohio State, Kansas, and Duke all won their conference tournaments, and you can't really argue with that.  Pitt also won the regular season of their tournament.  And coming out of the Big East, that is huge.  The question is which one do you think has the best chance to win it all.  I have Pitt taking the title.  I've been a fan of theirs all season, and they are always good.  I feel like this is their breakthrough year.

12/5 Upsets

Their always seems to be a 12/5 upset.  Which will it be this year?  You have UAB or Clemson vs Kentucky, Richmond v Vanderbilt, Memphis v Arizona, and Utah St. v Kansas St.  My pick for the upset is Richmond.  They have a history of upsets in this tournament, and I really don't think Vandy is all that good.  The other 5 seeds I think are pretty legit.  Kansas St had some down time this season, but they are peaking at the right time.  Kentucky is always a solid team.  I'm not as sure about Arizona, but Memphis isn't as good as they have been since Calipari left, so I think they are fine.  So I have Richmond in the upset over Vanderbilt.

Cinderella Team

The Cinderella pick is always the most difficult for me.  The teams that actually qualify as Cinderellas I never know enough about to pick them to go a long way.  I guess the biggest surprises I have are Penn State and Michigan State going to the Sweet 16, although I don't really feel like either one of those is a Cinderella.

So that's my initial evaluation of the brackets.  I haven't had too much time to research.  I'll follow up with my full bracket and maybe some more analysis later.  Have fun filling out your brackets.  Let me know what your picks are.