Monday, March 15, 2004

Special Early-week column... It's all about the BRACKETS!

OK, many of you have signed up for the FalconeShow.com NCAA Tournament Pick-'Em contest that I am participating in. Well, I'm the scorer, but here's the deal. Those of you that haven't filled out your brackets yet, her's a quick insider look at how it's gonna go down. I can't play an actual bracket in the contest, but I filled one out for fun anyway. Here's my picks:

St. Louis Region (Midwest):

Lehigh will win the play-in game, but get destroyed by Kentucky. Not even close, I'll say Kentucky by about 35. Washington will squeak past UAB, Providence will not be the annual 12-5 upset. Kansas will dominate UIC (I don't even know what UIC stands for). BC, well I hate to say it, but they will advance past Utah, and G-Tech should have no trouble with Northern Iowa. Finally, Michigan State and Gonzaga will advance into the next round.

In the second round, Kentucky and Providence will move to the sweet 16, and so will G-Tech and Gonzaga. Kentucky and G-Tech will move to the Elite 8 with Kentucky moving to the Final Four.

East Rutherford Region (East):

St. Joseph's, although a shaky #1, shouldn't have much trouble with Liberty. Tx. Tech, Florida, and my biggst Round 1 upset VCU will advance. Wisconsin won't have any trouble with the Spiders, Pitt will CRUSH UCF (How the hell is Pitt, a team that was 29-4, a #3 seed? PUH-LEEEEEZE). South Carolina and Oklahoma St. will round out the first round.

St. Joe's will send Coach Knight home, and VCU's cinderella story will only have 1 chapter after meeting Florida. Pitt and Oklahoma St. will advance to setup the best Sweet 16 game this year, which Pitt will win. Finally, the Panthers wil take out St. Joe's in the Elite 8, setting up a game with Kentucky in the Final Four.

Atlanta Region (South):

Duke, well I've got them going for awhile, so Alabama St. shouldn't pose much of a threat. I think Arizona will take out Seton Hall (Sorry Vin), while Murray St. is my 12-5 upset pick this year. Cincinnati is a good looking teamthis season, as are UNC and Texas. Xavier dominated previously undefeated St. Joe's, and I think they can roll over crumbling Louisville, and finally, Mississippi St. got jobbed by having to be in this bracket with Duke.

Second round, Duke over Zona, Cincinnati over Murray St., Texas over UNC, and Miss. St. over Xavier (no surprises). Third round, Duke rolls again, but it will be a tough game against the Bearcats. Texas, yes TEXAS, I think can take out Miss. St. Finally, Duke can and will drop Texas to reach yet another Final Four.

Phoenix Region (West):

Stanford?! Shaky as hell, but they can take out UT-San Antonio. Southern Illinios, now we've found my dark horse for this year. The Saluki's are a pretty solid team that went 25-4 this year in a tough conference. Watch them go far. Otherwise, I've got Syracuse over BYU, Maryland (sooooo underrated) over UTEP, W. Michigan over Vanderbilt (waaaay overrated), NC State over UL Lafayette, Dayton over Depaul and UCONN over Vermont.

Now in the second round, here's the upset of the second round, S. Illinois can and will take out Stanford. Syracuse will take down Maryland, NC State shouldn't have much trouble with W. Michigan, and Dayton will take out UCONN because Emeka Okeafor will be sore after his first round game. In the third round, The Salukis will beat Syracuse, and NC State will take out Dayton. Final Four time.... Yeah, Southern Illinois, at a #9 seed, will make it to the Final Four.

Final Four:

Duke, Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Southern Illinois. These are three great teams and team that is playing very good basketball. Unfortunately, Southern Illinois won't have enough to take out Duke, and Kentucky - Pitt will be a great game to watch, with Kentucky taking a close one.

Finally, I think Duke takes it all, with an 84-76 win over Kentucky in San Antonio.

So good luck with your brackets, and if I'm wrong, oops.


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