Predictions For Friday's Sweet Sixteen Games

(Who will prove to be "the man" in the UNC/Gonzaga game?)

I went 3 of 4 in my predictions for last night's sweet sixteen games...not to shabby. Let's crank out the rest of these things so people can post their predictions (and rants) by game time.

Louisville over Arizona

Reasons:

• I'll be taking Rick Pitino (and the occasional white suit) over Arizona interim head coach, Russ Pennell, any day of the week. Pitino knows this is one of the best teams he'll ever have. He's not going to screw it up by losing to a No. 12 seed.
• Staying with the Coach Pitino theme...he has an all-time record of 8-0 in Sweet Sixteen games.
• Much has been made about Arizona's "big three" of Nic Wise, Chase Budinger, and Jordan Hill...who could all end up being NBA draft picks this year. But this group of talent couldn't help them roll through Pac 10 conference play? A league where no other teams but Arizona reached the Sweet Sixteen? Please.
• Louisville has Terrence Williams, arguably the player that should have been co-Big East Player of the Year along with Dejuan Blair (and not Hasheem Thabeet). He does everything for the Cardinals (24 points and 15 rebounds in the Siena game).
• The Big East is proving it's dominance...already 3 teams in the Great Eight. If you think I'm picking a Pac 10 team over a Big East team, you haven't been reading this blog.
• Confidence in this pick: 9.5

Syracuse over Oklahoma

Reasons:

• At this point, I'm just choosing every Big East squad to reach the Great Eight. I'm not even settling for 4 Big East schools moving on to the next round. I want all 5!!!
• Jonny Flynn and Eric Devendorf should be able to manhandle the guards from Oklahoma. It then comes down to Paul Harris, Arinze Onuaku, and Rick Jackson slowing down Blake Griffin enough to throw him off his game.
• Oklahoma head coach Jeff Caple has done a good job this year, and he should be a good to great coach for years to come. But he's still relatively new to the scene, and I'm going with the savvy, experienced Jim Calhoun to out-coach and win in this match-up.
• I have visions of Syracuse's infamous 2-3 zone giving the Oklahoma guards and wing players fits. I don't really have any proof to back this up. But I can just picture it happening.
• Blake Griffin is an outstanding player. But Eric Devendorf and the Syracuse Orange need to stick around a little longer for the sake of this blog.
• Confidence in this pick: 6.4

Kansas over Michigan State

Reasons:

• How ironic is this? Bill Self and I were involved in an epic blood feud for most of last year's tournament (blog). Now I'm back picking the guy I don't trust at ALL to advance to the Great Eight? Peculiar.
• DON'T TRUST THE BIG TEN! DON'T TRUST THE BIG TEN! DON'T TRUST THE BIG TEN! DON'T TRUST THE BIG TEN!
  
• Tyler Hansbrough and Josh Heytvelt will be getting all of the big man attention in the UNC/Gonzaga game. But Cole Aldrich of Kansas might just be the best (white) big man in the country right now. He's coming off consecutive double-doubles in his first two NCAA tournament games, including 20 rebounds against Dayton.
• MSU head coach Tom Izzo has the track record to trust him in these kinds of situations. However, the Spartans SHOULD have lost to USC in the second round and were thoroughly outplayed for a half against a scrappy Robert Morris squad.
• Much like rock, paper scissors...when playing college basketball knockout: Big East > Big 12 > Horizon League > Big Ten.
• Confidence in this pick: 7.6

North Carolina over Gonzaga

Reasons:

• Ummm...I need North Carolina to keep winning (for at least two more rounds) to continue dominating my NCAA pools.
• Does anyone in America honestly (and I mean HONESTLY) think that Tyler Hansbrough's career is going to come to an end before the Final Four? Honestly? He's seemingly been around forever! It's not going to come to an end in a regional semi-final. My apologies to all of the UNC haters out there, but it's not going to happen.
• If Ty Lawson proved what he can do on a bad toe in the second half of that LSU game, Gonzaga should be terrified of what he can do with a few more days rest.
• I wish Gonzaga was in another region because it would be quite fun to root for this team to advance. They have a bunch of characters on this team including point guard Jeremy Pargo (who has also seemingly been around forever) and the man with the dreamy locks, Matt Bouldin.
• Coach Roy Williams against Coach Mark Few...a definite win...but also much closer than you'd originally think. But ACC vs. WCC...that's a blatant mismatch.
• Confidence in this pick: 9.9

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Conference Tournaments Starting on March 11th

(Blake Griffin wants YOU to pick Oklahoma in your bracket)

Let me say it right now...you might be reading the worst post of this year's blog. I'm going to crank this one out with little to no research so I can start writing the epic post about Robert Morris' victory in the NEC Championship game. The Colonials are going to the Big Dance! But before we get there...7 more conference tournaments began on Wednesday. As always, my predicted champions are in bold.

• Big 12 Conference - Kansas - The Big 12 is a quality power conference, especially at the top. Three teams (Oklahoma, Kansas, & Missouri) are ranked in the top 11 with regard to RPI. Coach Bill Self and his Kansas squad won last year's national championship (you should know this). Oklahoma sports the likely National Player of the Year winner in Blake Griffin (you should probably know this). Iowa State is my aunt's current employer (you probably don't know this). I'm going with Kansas here because they have an easier draw than Oklahoma and Missouri. Also, the Jayhawks defeated Oklahoma on the road a couple weeks ago. Notable Seeds: #1 Kansas, #2 Oklahoma, #3 Missouri, #4 Kansas State, #5 Texas, #7 Oklahoma State, #9 Baylor, #11 Texas Tech

• PAC 10 - Arizona State - The Pac-10 is down this season. They only have one team among the top 25 in RPI (Washington). The Huskies are the easy choice, especially with UCLA being very underwhelming this season. Arizona has been on a nice roll of late, increasing their chances to make their 25 consecutive NCAA Tournament. I'm going against the grain and picking Arizona State. The Sun Devils were thrashing PAC 10 competition before a road trip where they lost to both Washington schools in overtime. ASU swept UCLA and Arizona this season. I like this team as the #4 seed. ALSO...you should know that Oregon State's head coach, Craig Robinson, is President Barack Obama's brother-in-law. Notable Seeds: #1 Washington, #2 UCLA, #3 California, #4 Arizona State, #5 Arizona, #6 USC, #8 Oregon State

• Atlantic 10 Conference - Xavier - I'm copping out and taking the one-seed here. I feel a little bad about it, but oh well. I just don't trust Dayton under any circumstance and Rhode Island is getting WAY too much "sleeper-in-the-conference-tournament" talk. When a non-front running team is getting a lot of hype...never EVER take them in a bet of any kind! I beseech you! Things Xavier has going for them: 1) I liked the name of the school since I was a kid, as any name with an "X" was instantly cool. 2) Xavier is a solid Jesuit institution. 3) As I learned in last year's blog...Xavier is the favorite team of Liz's grandmother, Nonnie. Notable Seeds: #1 Xavier, #2 Rhode Island, #3 Dayton, #4 Temple, #5 St. Joseph's, #7 Duquesne, #9 Saint Louis

• Conference USA - Memphis - It would truly be fascinating to see how Memphis would do in a conference other than this one. Memphis head coach John Calipari deserves some props here because he is a native of Western PA and is a graduate of Clarion University. This endears Coach Calipari to John and Jill...who are also proud Clarion University alumni. I'm not writing about anything else. Memphis isn't going to lose by 10 during this entire tournament. Notable seeds: #1 Memphis (that's it)

• Mountain West Conference - Utah - One wouldn't know it from living in the Midwest or the East, but this is a quality conference full of good teams. Four schools could legitimately win this tournament. San Diego State, the poster-boy for "bubble" teams right now, could win the automatic bid...or lose by 10 in the first round to UNLV. The Mountain West is that deep. My champion is Utah because they have a RPI that's off the charts and they've beaten every quality team in the conference at least once. Notable seeds: #1 BYU, #2 Utah, #3 New Mexico, #4 San Diego State, #5 UNLV, #9 Air Force

• Big West Conference - Long Beach State - I know nothing about this conference except that Pacific beat Pitt in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. This is known as the "modern-dark" era for Panther fans. Instead of breaking down the conference, I'm going to list every school along with their (VERY) amusing nicknames. Notable Seeds: #1 Cal. State Northridge Matadors, #2 Long Beach State 49ers, #3 Pacific Tigers, #4 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, #5 UC Irvine Anteaters (props to Alex), #6 UC Riverside Highlanders, #7 Cal State Fullerton Titans, #8 UC Davis Aggies

• Southwestern Athletic Conference - Alabama State - Low on info here. Alabama State and Jackson State are the two best teams and should make for a good conference championship game. I'm a big fan of Lewis Jackson, head coach of the Alabama State Tigers. The SWAC has the lowest RPI of any conference. The conference winner will probably be relegated to the "play-in" game again...which will cause me to go off on the hypocrisy and idiocy of the NCAA with regard to this "play-in" game. Give the kids a chance to travel to a regional site and play with the big boys! Notable Seeds: #1 Alabama State, #2 Jackson State, #3 Prarie View A&M, #4 Arkansas Pine-Bluff, #5 Southern, #6 Mississippi Valley State

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