OK, let’s get down to it; let’s fill out the bracket.
I always start with the easy ones: picking all of the 1 and 2 seeds to win in the first round. Yes, I know; there have been 2 #16 seeds that have won in recent history, and much more #15 seeds that have won over the years, but… I’ll take my chances. Easy button; don’t complicate it. How about the 3 seeds? Well, I should follow the same logic, but… I ended up taking one #14 seed; I took the one that will probably be the least taken. Yes, I’m taking Oakland over Kentucky; boom! It’s a long shot, I know, but again, that’s what this tourney is all about. I’m following that same path with the #4 seeds; I took one #13, this time, it’s Charleston. Not as long of a shot, but I like it. Now to the famous 5 vs 12 seeds; how many #12 seeds will advance? Last year, none of them, but over the years, this has been upset central. In that spirit, I’ll take one. This one is a popular one, but yeah, I’m going with James Madison; I’m taking all the other 5 seeds. OK, 3 major upsets so far…
Once you get into the 6-11 seeds, it’s a little more wide open, yet I only picked one #11 seed; I went with Duquesne. I am picking all 4 #10 seeds; yes, here we go. Now we’re talking. I didn’t think it was that difficult of a decision either. I split the 8 vs 9 matchups down the middle, with Northwestern, MSU, Nebraska, and Utah State. That’s the first round; let’s proceed.
Pencil in all the #1 and #2 seeds to the Sweet 16? Hold the phone. I’m picking Utah State over Purdue, the first 1 seed to go down; hey, at least they won their first round game! Other than that, I’m sticking to the script, and moving 7 of the total 8 top seeds into the Sweet 16. I only have 2 #3 seeds with Illinois and Baylor; remember Kentucky is already eliminated, and yes, I’m taking Oakland to move on in the 2nd round as well. Then, I’m taking my sleeper team South Carolina to beat Creighton; OK, 4 teams to go. Duke, Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, and San Diego St complete that group. Now it gets really good…
Which other #1 seed will NOT make the Elite Eight? I have Duke beating Houston. I’m moving both UCONN and NC through to the Elite Eight. How about the #2 seeds? I have South Carolina beating Tennessee and Baylor beating Arizona; I’m moving Marquette and Iowa State ahead. The final Elite Eight team is Gonzaga. My Final Four will be UCONN #1 seed, Baylor #3 seed, Marquette #2 seed, and South Carolina #6 seed. My final is UCONN vs Marquette. If you’ve followed all year, you know these two teams have met 3 times; UCONN has won all of them. Well, in this case, the 4th time is the charm. I’m picking Marquette as my National Champ.
I like my bracket. Who knows how it will pan out. One smart thing I read is… don’t tie in your bets with your bracket; that may be tough, but is definitely the smart way to play. Now that my bracket is done, now I need to identify my bets. Let’s continue…
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