Monday, March 12, 2007

Bracket Breakdown: West


The West Regional finds the Kansas Jayhawks as the #1 seed, thanks partly to UCLA's loss of their last two games in a row. Still, the Bruins only have to fly to NoCal for both rounds of the tournament, as they are bracketed for Sacramento and San Jose, before a possible trip to the Final Four.

There is no subregional in Kansas City, Wichita, Emporia, Leavenworth, or anywhere reasonably close to Lawrence this year, so the Jayhawks spend the opening weekend in the Windy City of Chicago. They also draw the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between Florida A&M and Niagara. If this were a band competition, FAMU would win hands down. But, Niagara feels hosed by having to play in this game, and should take out their frustrations on the Rattlers. The Purple Eagles then get a first round game with Kansas. Good luck with all that. KU wins their first opening game in three years, after losing to Bucknell and Bradley the last two years.

Awaiting the Jayhawks will be the winner of the Wildcats vs. Wildcats matchup between Kentucky and Villanova. It's hard to believe that Tubby Smith's job may be on the line. Some schools are excited to make the tournament every year. At Kentucky, national championships are expected, and the Big Blue hasn't won one since 1998. Kentucky basketball=Oklahoma football. Nova is a dangerous team, and will knock out the team from the Bluegrass.

One of the last teams chosen for the field are the Fighting Illini of Illinois. They draw the Hokies of Virginia Tech. Look for plenty of orange in this game. Illinois was just good enough to get into this tournament, but not good enough to get past Zabian Dowdell and the Hokies. Ya gotta pick a team with a guy named Zabian.

The Illini's downstate neighbors, the Salukis of Southern Illinois, are in the other game in Columbus. Their opponents are the Holy Cross Crusaders. Upset alert here, as Holy Cross can play. Holy Cross, Batman! The Uncaped Crusaders get the win over the Salukis.

This is a down year for the Duke Blue Devils. They are in the tournament as a #6 seed, and are grateful to be seeded that high. Their reward: a trip to beautiful downtown Buffalo, and a date with the Rams of Virginia Commonwealth. VCU is the regular season and tournament champion of the Colonial Athletic Association, the league that gave us George Mason. Mason's magic shifts down I-95 to Richmond, as the Rams knock off the Dukies, and make half of the college basketball world very happy.

Also in Buffalo are the Pittsburgh Panthers, and their opponent, the pesky Wright State Raiders. This is a potential upset. This will be close, but I'm not biting on this one. Give me Pittsburgh.

The bottom of the bracket takes us to Sacramento. Kelvin Sampson enters his first tournament as coach of the Indiana Hoosiers with a matchup with everyone's darling, Gonzaga. The Zags recovered from the dismissal of C Josh Heytvelt (possession of a narcotic mushroom) to win both the regular season and tournament in the West Coast Conference. Indiana, when last we saw them, scored 4 points in an overtime against Illinois. Give me the Zags.

Awaiting that winner will be UCLA. UCLA gets a first-round game against coach Ben Howland's alma mater, Weber State. Weber's not bad for the Big Sky, but this is UCLA. The Bruins bounce back.

In the second round, Kansas gets a stiff test from Villanova, and needs every ounce of energy and luck, but gets by the Wildcats. The Jayhawks get a matchup with the Hokies of Virginia Tech, who end the dreams of Holy Cross.

The dreams of VCU also suffer an end at the hands of the Pittsburgh Panthers. Pitt prepares for the winner of a great second round matchup between Gonzaga and UCLA. The Bruins win the rematch of a thriller from last year's tournament.

The HP Pavilion (great name for an arena-maybe Dell can sponsor an arena and call it the Inspiron) in San Jose hosts the Sweet 16 matchups of Kansas-Virginia Tech, and Pittsburgh-UCLA. KU handles Zabian and company in one matchup. Ben Howland and UCLA get the best of his former team and assistant, Jamie Dixon.

Which gives us the matchup we all want in the regional: Kansas and UCLA. This matchup radiates tradition. This will be up and down, and down to the wire, but Bill Self finally gets to a Final Four, after reaching the Elite Eight with three different schools (Tulsa, Illinois, KU).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You were right on 6 teams total from your February 5th post. You had 6 teams in the right positions..., not necessarily the right Regions, just the right seeds. You missed badly on Air Force as #3 seed. I think you had 14 teams in that didn't even make the tournament.

Your bad bracket cost me $$$

John said...

A month is an eternity in college basketball. On February 5, Air Force was a Top 15 team. On March 5, they were doing well to be a top 50 team.

I would have lost money betting on my own bracket projections, as well. It's for entertainment purposes only.