Let the Madness Begin 2013!!!

March is arguably one of the best months on the sport’s calendar.  You have Spring Training and the smell of baseball in the air, NFL free agency is in full effect, the NFL draft prep is starting, if you care about the NBA it’s almost playoff time, and of course, it’s MARCH MADNESS!!! 

One of the finer events in sports, March Madness brings much excitement and enthusiasm to even the casual sports fan.  Hell, even Mrs. Armchair fills out a NCAA Tournament Bracket; all in the hopes of beating and proving me wrong of course.  She hopes to prove me wrong in that she fines it amusing that I spend countless man-hours researching and filling out a bracket when she thinks it isn’t a science and that it’s mostly pure luck.  Just because she picks VCU to make the Final Four one time (golf clap, babe)…. 

I digress.  Every year I do about 5 “draft” brackets and run it through the ESPN Bracket Analyzer before finally settling on my “Sheet of Integrity” (yeah, I know; stolen from Mike and Mike).  Anyway, here is a 2013 NCAA Tournament Bracket, also known in bracket challenges as “Hoosier Bracket Master??!!”  Let the Madness Begin!!!

Midwest Region –

Second Round –

Louisville (1) v. NC A&T (16) – LOUISVILLE.  One seed v. Sixteen seed.  No explanation needed.

Colorado St. (8) v. Missouri (9) – COLORADO ST.  They rebound well and have an experience starting five.

Oklahoma St. (5) v. Oregon (12) – OREGON.  Oregon under seeded coming off winning Pac-12 Tourney.

St. Louis (4) v. New Mex St. (13) – ST. LOUIS.  Beat VCU in A-10 tourney; a much underrated conference.

Memphis (6) v. St. Mary’s (11) – MEMPHIS.  I can’t have all 6^th seeds losing in the first round. 

Mich St. (3) v. Valpo (14) – MSU.  MSU better not take Valpo lightly.  Still going MSU though. 

Creighton (7) v. Cincy (10) – CREIGHTON.  Saw them play live.  Can’t go against Dougie McDermott.

Duke (2) v. Albany (15) – DUKE.  Duke will not lose in the first round two years in a row.

Third Round –

Louisville (1) v. Colorado St. (8) – LOUISVILLE.  Louisville will be too strong defensively for the Rams.

Oregon (12) v. St. Louis (4) – ST. LOUIS.  This will be a good game, but St. Louis is too athletic for Oregon.

Memphis v. Mich St. (3) – MSU.  Not quite ready yet to go against tourney master Coach Izzo.

Creighton (7) v. Duke (2) – DUKE.  No doubt it will be raining three’s, but I think Duke gets them here.

Regional Semifinals –

Louisville (1) v. St. Louis (4) – LOUISVILLE.  Potential upset, but Louisville is peaking at the right time.

Mich St. (3) v. Duke (2) – DUKE.  Can’t get a better coaching matchup.  Gotta roll with Coach K here.

Regional Finals –

Louisville (1) v. Duke (2) – LOUISVILLE.  The analysts talked me into this pick.  Initially, I couldn’t see Louisville emerging from this region.  Of the four #1 seeds, I thought Louisville had the hardest path to the Final Four, which is a shame because supposedly they are the overall #1 seed.  But after looking into it deeper, it just made too much sense.  Mich St. and Duke have been too inconsistent of late.  Louisville seems to be peaking at the right moment and their leader, PG Peyton Siva, is playing outstanding right now.  Everyone knows how important PG play is, so I’m taking Siva over Duke’s PG Quinn Cook.      

West Region –

Second Round –

Gonzaga (1) v. Southern U (16) – ZAGS.  Again, no explanation needed.

Pitt (8) v. Wichita St. (9) – PITT.  Taking the team from the major conference here.

Wisconsin (5) v. Ole Miss (12) – WISCONSIN.  Guards the three well, the only shot Ole Miss ever takes.

Kansas St. (4) v. Boise St. / La Salle (13) – K-STATE.  This has upset special written all over it.  I’m scared. 

Arizona (6) v. Belmont (11) – BELMONT.  Popular upset pick.  Belmont shoots lights out. 

New Mexico (3) v. Harvard (14) – NEW MEX.  New Mexico is legit.  They could go to the Final Four.

Notre Dame (7) v. Iowa St. (10) – IOWA St.  Like Colorado St., I love how experience Iowa St. is.

Ohio St. (2) v. Iona (15) – OHIO ST.  Might be the best 2 v. 15 matchup this year.

Third Round –

Zags (1) v. Pitt (8) – ZAGS.  Gotta give the Zags a little credit here and pick them.

Wisconsin (5) v. K St. (4) – WISCONSIN.  I should have had K St. losing in the first round.    

Belmont (11) v. New Mex (3) – NEW MEX.  Again, too many good players not to move on.

Iowa St. (10) v. Ohio St. (2) – OHIO ST.  PG Aaron Craft will “will” this team to the Sweet 16. 

Regioinal Semifinals –

Zags (1) v. Wisconsin (5) – WISCONSIN.  This is where not playing a tough schedule catches up w/ Zags.

New Mex (3) v. Ohio St. (2) – OSU.  Great game, great athletes!  But I’m going with the Big Ten.

Regional Finals –

Wisconsin (5) v. Ohio St. (2) – OHIO ST.  Talk about two teams that know each other well.  A rematch of the Big Ten Tournament Championship game, I think Ohio St. takes it again.  While this will undoubtedly be another typical, low-scoring Big Ten game, I think Ohio St. has the better tournament team; featuring both an outstanding PG in Aaron Craft and a skilled big man in F DeShaun Thomas.  Craft is the best on-ball defender in the college game, and will reke havoc on the Wisconsin guards.  While Wisconsin’s defense is tough, OSU has too many horses that they can keep running on to the court.    

         

South Region –

Second Round –

Kansas (1) v. Western Kentucky (16) – KANSAS.  Ditto.

UNC (8) v. Villanova (9) – UNC.  UNC has been coming on of late, finally settling on a starting lineup. 

VCU (5) v. Akron (12) – VCU.  Might be a better team this year than the one that went to the Final Four.

Michigan (4) v. S. Dakota St. (13) – MICHIGAN.  Will be a great matchup of PG’s, but Michigan takes it.

UCLA (6) v. Minnesota (11) – MINNESOTA.  UCLA is without Jordan Adams and can’t rebound.  Done. 

Florida (3) v. Northwestern St. (14) – FLORIDA.  Can you even name the State N. Western St. is in?

San Diego St. (7) v. Oklahoma (10) – SD ST.  Gotta go with the local kid, Chase Tapley, and SD St.

Georgetown (2) v. Florida Gulf Coast (15) – G-TOWN.  One name: double O, double T (Otto), Potter.

Third Round –

Kansas (1) v. UNC (8) – KANSAS.  The “Roy Williams” game goes to Kansas yet again.

VCU (5) v. Michigan (4) – VCU.  I really want to pick Michigan here, but just too inconsistent for me.

Minnesota (11) v. Florida (3) – FLORIDA.  Florida has the bigs to matchup with Minny on the glass.

SD St. (7) v. Georgetown (2) – G-TOWN.  Again, double O, double T, POTTER.  Just. Too. Strong. 

Regional Semifinals –

Kansas (1) v. VCU (5) – KU.  I think people are under estimating KU.  Withey & McLemore are studs.

Florida (3) v. G-Town (2) – FLORIDA.  Had them as a preseason final four pick.  Gotta ride with them.

Regional Finals –

Kansas (1) v. Florida (3) – KANSAS.  I’ve went back and forth with this pick, and I finally came to the conclusion that while I may have had Florida as a preseason final four team, I had Kansas as a preseason NCAA Tournament Championship team.  I really like Kansas.  The inside-out game with C Jeff Withey and SG Ben McLemore is awesome when on, and PG Elijah Johnson is starting to finally play like a NCAA Tournament PG.  Also, the way Withey defenses the rim will cause problems for Florida’s big men.  If this game is close in the final minutes, I like Kansas to pull away and win.    

East Region –

Second Round –

Indiana (1) v. LIU Brooklyn (16) / James Madison (16) – INDIANA.  Who cares who Indiana plays?

NC State (8) v. Temple (9) – NC ST.  They had a disappointing season but I still like them to win a game.

UNLV (5) v. CAL (12) – CAL.  Total homer pick here in a virtual home game for Cal playing in San Jose. 

Syracuse (4) v. Montana (13) – CUSE.  While Montana does have a tourney win, can’t pick them here.

Butler (6) v. Bucknell (11) – BUCKNELL.  Butler is way over-seeded.  I think their tourney magic runs out.

Marquette (3) v. Davidson (14) – DAVIDSON.  Other 3 seeds are 10+ point favors.  Quette, 3½.  Upset!   

Illinois (7) v. Colorado (10) – COLORADO.  PG Spencer Dinwiddie will shut down Illinois PG Brandon Paul.

Miami (2) v. Pacific (15) – MIAMI.  Great story w/ UOP coach Bob Thomason retiring, but Miami wins.

Third Round –

IU (1) v. NC St. (8) – INDIANA.  NC St. is not the team to derail IU. 

CAL (12) v. Syracuse (4) – CUSE.  I may be a homer, but I’m not that crazy.  Cuse beat my Bears in SJ.

Bucknell (11) v. Davidson (14) – BUCKNELL.  Upset matchup game.  Bucknell’s big Mike Muscala is legit. 

Colorado (10) v. Miami (2) – MIAMI.  Colorado’s Dinwiddie is good but not lock-up Shane Larkin good.

Regional Semifinals –

Indiana (1) v. Syracuse (4) – IU.  Too much Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo for Syracuse to handle. 

Bucknell (11) v. Miami (2) – MIAMI.  Miami is too hunger and too good to lose this soon.

Regional Finals –

Indiana (1) v. Miami (2) – INDIANA.  If Miami were in any other region not featuring Indiana or Kansas, I would have them going to the Final Four, possibly the National Championship game.  I love Shane Larkin at the PG position and their bigs, Kenny Kadji and Reggie Jackson, are both over 6’ 10”.  But I just can’t bring myself to pick them over Indiana.  Indiana has been strong all season, featuring two of the top 5 player in the nation in C Cody Zeller and G Victor Oladipo.  I think Indiana will get just enough PG play from Jordan Hulls and Kevin Ferrell, and will make it pass Miami and punch their ticket to Atlanta.    

Final Four –

Kansas (1) v. Indiana (1) – INDIANA.  Again, if these two teams were on opposite sides of the bracket, this would be my Championship game, and I wouldn’t have a clue on who to pick.  These were the two teams I favored to win the NCAA Tournament, so the selection committee killed me here.  I think it’s going to be a very close game, featuring a great low-post matchup in Cody Zeller v. Jeff Withey.  At points in the game, they’ll each get the better of each other.  But the x-factor is Victor Oladipo.  He is just too much to handle on the court both offensively and defensively.  Indiana takes it. 

Louisville (1) v. Ohio St. (2) – LOUISVILLE.  This was a difficult pick only in the sense that I don’t like any team coming out of either the Midwest or West region.  I think Kansas, Miami, or even Florida would beat any team coming out of either region.  But since I have to pick a team, I’m sticking with Louisville.  They’ll stay hot and ride their streak through the tourney and onto the National Championship game.  Peyton Siva came back for his senior year for this moment, and he is finally showing us the potential everyone knew he had when they picked Louisville to advance far into the tourney the past three years.

National Champion –

Louisville (1) v. Indiana (1) – INDIANA.  President Obama and I are going against the pundits on this one and picking Indiana to win the NCAA National Championship.  They won arguably the toughest conference in the country in the Big Ten and have been consistently at or near the top of the rankings the entire year.  They were one of my two preseason favorites to win the NCAA Tournament, so I can’t turn my back on them now.  I just love the combination of Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo; both players who will be in the NBA someday.  Louisville at times has difficulties scoring the ball, which they won’t be able to get away with on a team like Indiana.  One shining moment will be played for Indiana.     

Mr. Armchair Speaking –