March Happiness

It's finals week and I couldn't be happier. The weather is getting warmer, I've never really considered finals week a real week anyway and most of all...TOURNAMENT BASKETBALL (the commercial for ESPN's Tournament Challenge says the phrase, "give into the insanity." How sweet is that??). So needless to say, Winter quarter's grades are gonna have to take a hit, because it's basketball season.

What I'm going to do is reveal one round at a time while not changing my original bracket. We'll have to use the honors system here that I'm not changing anything but I don't think too many picks should be shared before everyone makes their picks. I also think it'll be more fun this way. So, without further ado, here is my first round (the left margin area will be used for my status within my pool, by the way)!

Midwest

1 Louisville over 16 Whoever

No point in explaining. Rule of thumb: if the match up is between a number 1 seed and "whoever," go with the 1-seed.

8 Ohio State over 9 Siena

Liiiiitle nervous about this one for obvious reasons. First, I attend Ohio State University and am emotionally invested in this game. Second, Siena is the type of team I usually pick to upset somebody (cool name, probably haven't seen them play, have a history of doing well in the tourney...). OSU has Evan Turner and a bunch of hot/cold guys. I guess I haven't really written a damn thing about Ohio State this year (odd since I have season tickets) so let's put it this way: This team has three potential (POTENTIAL) pros and none of them are named "BJ."

12 Arizona over 5 Utah

First upset of the day!! Wooooo!!!! Arizona has two guys who will probably go in the first round of the NBA draft (Budinger...?). Seems like a solid upset pick to me.

4 Wake Forest over 13 Cleveland State

I like Wake when Wake is good. By the way, any statements like that which have no backing and sound a little ridiculous...those are just tournament rules I live by. Everyone has these and they don't have to make sense. I'd like to pick a team from Cleveland but it seems like a terrible idea.

6 West Virginia over 11 Dayton

Last season when Dayton played OSU in the NIT, two drunk ladies of questionable character were talkin' some stuff to some fine young Ohio State gentlemen while Dayton had the lead. The ladies made a bet for a 6-pack of whatever horrible light beer they wanted. These harlots ended up leaving when OSU took over in the second half and never honored the bet. Dayton, you're in the dog house.

Also, not to give away my future round picks...but I don't hate West Virginia.

3 Kansas over 14 North Dakota State

Not a lot to say here. I think some white dude on NDSU scored 60-something points this year in a loss. Fun fact.

10 Southern California over 7 Boston College

I hate Boston College all the time. This is not a rule, it's just a fact. I do not love the ACC.

2 Michigan State over 15 Robert Morris

I don't love MSU, but I've never met Robert Morris.

West

1 Connecticut over 16 Chattanooga

Uhhhh...

9 Texas A and M over 8 BYU

I used to like the Mormons but they haven't rewarded it as of late.

5 Purdue over 12 Northern Iowa

Where is this game being played? What, NOT in Indiana? I wish I had heard of Northern Iowa, because I would have clearly picked them over the Purdue Zebras if I could. Maybe next round??

4 Washington over 13 Mississippi State

I like writing "Wazoo" on my bracket. Not to mention...Isaiah Thomas?

6 Marquette over 11 Utah State

On top of predicting this game, I will also predict that I get this game wrong. How's that for ya?!

3 Missouri over 14 Cornell

I used to make it a rule that I pick the Ivy League winner every time no matter what just as a gut check of sorts. Well, it almost never works, plus I think Mizzou is a little scary (as you may find out in later posts).

7 California over 10 Maryland

I'm not totally sure why Maryland is in the tournament. I had to watch them a weird amount of times during the year and this Vasquez character is generally unimpressive. No thanks.

2 Memphis over 15 CS Northridge

Memphis should feel pretty comfortable in this game because they are playing a shitty team nobody has ever heard of. Just like their entire regular season!

East

1 Pittsburgh over 16 Eastern Tennessee State

Feelin' pretty good about this one.

8 Oklahoma State over 9 Tennessee

Tennessee is one of my least favorite teams. I can't bet on a coach that willingly takes a backseat to Pat Summitt, and yes, that is a sexist comment. Nice suit, by the way. Stop groping Erin Andrews.

5 Florida State over 12 Wisconsin

Wisconsin is like Utah in the NBA because they have a huge home court advantage and are weirdly white. The difference is Wisconsin isn't good at anything.

13 Portland State over 4 Xavier

What can I really say? I am picking this for absolutely no reason. A game like this happens every year and this is mine. Sorry.

11 VCU over 6 UCLA

This is the part of my bracket after the first round and see a whole lot of red. I like Eric Maynor obviously and I've had to root for UCLA the past million years and it hasn't been pretty. I'd like to try rooting against them once.

3 Villanova over 14 American

I'm an American and I think I would lose to Villanova.

10 Minnesota over 7 Texas

Texas didn't seem that great this year and I love Tubby. By the way, have some of that Kentucky. You have sucked ever since you fired this guy. Have fun having the most idiotic racist fans in America.

2 Duke over 15 Binghamton

This might be the biggest blowout of the first round. I don't know why.

South

1 North Carolina over 16 Radford

At least I'll probably get this one right.

8 LSU over 9 Butler

Butler is the type of team that would go far as an underdog but too many people know about them. Butler might just be too white for LSU, we'll see.

12 Western Kentucky over 5 Illinois

This is my actual reasoning on this pick:

I think Illinois is really good because they whooped OSU twice which I witnessed. They are a team I wanted to pick to go far but I would be surprised when they lose. Also, we played as Western Kentucky in NCAA Football '08. Do those reasons make any sense at all?? No. Isn't March Madness the best?

13 Akron over 4 Gonzaga

LeBron bump.

6 Arizona State over 11 Temple

Two guys I wanted to pick to win no matter what, James Harden and Dionte Christmas are playing each other. I really hate when that happens.

3 Syracuse over 14 S.F. Austin

I like my Johnny Flynn.

10 Michigan over 7 Clemson

Michigan seems to play well against teams that aren't Ohio State. Clemson is a dumb school.

2 Oklahoma over 15 Morgan State

Wow! What a crazy one to end on!!

Not really. I hope the Griffin Brothers don't seduce me like the Lopez twins did last year. Sometimes teams like this have the worst guards of all time and can't do a single thing against good teams. Willie Warren might be the difference for me with Oklahoma.


More to come in further rounds. I would say "good luck," but I don't wish any of you good luck.