The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

Bracketology By D...

I’m positively giddy. The only time of year that makes me happier as a sports fan is late September into early October, when baseball wraps up, football kicks off, and the NHL & NBA are just about to gear up and roll out for their seasons.

March into April is a very close second. As I type this, I’m watching a Red Sox/Yankees game (preseason, sure. But still… Also, would it kill NESN to show the games in HD? They’ve got the capabilities… just pack the cameras and set them up. Sorry, had to rant), checking in on the latest NFL free agency, all while filling out my bracket and reading roughly 271,419 different “expert” opinions on how this year’s tournament is going to shake out, which teams got jobbed over, what storylines I’m going to be talking about (read: going to be beat over the head with) for the next five weeks, etc.

Today is a good day. And just to top it all off, Remy & Orsillo just had one of their patented “thirty seconds of dead air” while they giggled like 12-year old girls over some comment about the meaning of the word “philanthropy”. Triple word score for Remy – he challenged Orsillo to use it in a sentence. That brought the house down.

Anyway, since I’m reasonably good at picking brackets (or at least, the first round…), I figured I might as well give you all the “inside scoop”. And while I realize that my readership has recently tripled (now in double digits!), and most of the new readers are playing in the same ESPN Tournament Challenge group(s) as I am, all I ask is that if you copy my picks exactly, you don’t threaten bodily harm when we finish tied for last place.

East Rutherford:

UNC over E. Kentucky

Marquette over Michigan State

USC over Arkansas

Texas over New Mexico State

GW over Vanderbilt

Wash. State over Oral Roberts

Texas Tech over Boston College

G-Town over Belmont

UNC over Marquette

Texas over USC

Wash. State over GW

G-Town over Tx. Tech

Texas over UNC

G-Town over Wash. State

Texas over G-Town

San Antonio:

Ohio State over Central CT State

BYU over Xavier

Tennessee over Long Beach State

Albany over Virginia

Louisville over Stanford

Texas A&M over Pennsylvania

Creighton over Nevada

Memphis over North Texas

Ohio State over BYU

Albany over Tennessee

Texas A & M over Louisville

Memphis over Creighton

Ohio State over Albany

Texas A & M over Memphis

Ohio State over Texas A & M

St. Louis:

Florida over Jackson State

Purdue over Arizona

Butler over Old Dominion

Maryland over Davidson

Winthrop over Notre Dame

Oregon over Miami (OH)

UNLV over Georgia Tech

Wisconsin over Texas A&M – CC

Florida over Purdue

Butler over Maryland

Oregon over Winthrop

Wisconsin over UNLV

Butler over Florida

Wisconsin over Oregon

Wisconsin over Butler

San Jose:

Kansas over Play-In Winner (does it really matter? OK, fine - Niagara)

Villanova over Kentucky

Va. Tech over Illinois

S. Illinois over Holy Cross

Duke over VCU

Pittsburgh over Wright State

Gonzaga over Indiana

UCLA over Weber State

Kansas over Villanova

S. Illinois over Va. Tech

Pittsburgh over Duke

UCLA over Gonzaga

Kansas over S. Illiinois

UCLA over Pittsburgh

UCLA over Kansas

Final Four:

UCLA over Wisconsin

Ohio State over Texas

Championship:

Ohio State over UCLA, 74-68

And you have no idea how much, as a Michigan fan, that hurts to type.

So jump in to the ESPN.com Tourney Challenge, and join any or all of the groups I’m in (“Daily Quickie Readers”, “D---spin Pants Party”, and “Deadspin Pants Party”) and let’s see just how awful I am at this.

Lata.

Labels: 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, Bracketology, Brackets, I'm awful at this

posted by Big D @ 9:04 PM