Ball So Hard Sports is breaking down each of the 4 regions before giving you our Final Four and title picks as well as unveiling our full bracket for you to compete against. First up, the overall #1 Louisville Cardinals and the Midwest region.
Before the seeds and match-ups came out, I had started talking about the Cardinals in Atlanta. Winning the Big East only helped my cause. You always have to lean on guys like Pitino (even though I hate the guy), Izzo and Coach K when March rolls around. Those guys are ALWAYS in the mix. Unfortunately, they are all in the mix right here. The Region of Doom. Yikes. It almost feels like the winner of this bracket should be the national champion, but only because they'll have nothing left when they get to Atlanta. With that being said, let's break down the bracket:
Favorites: The #1 seed is the tourney's overall #1, so Louisville is definitely a favorite of many to win the region. Duke is going to be loved by their fans and hated by everyone else, but with Ryan Kelly, this is a different squad. They only lost once with him in the lineup. They could be dangerous. Michigan State is coming from the loaded Big 10 and has the team to win 4 and move on. St. Louis is riding high on emotion and there wouldn't be a better story than seeing the Billikens play on Final Four weekend.
Sleepers: Memphis ran trough C-USA undefeated and can score. They could play giant killer and take the Spartans and Blue Devils out. Oregon is coming together at the right time and just won the Pac-12. The seeding for the Ducks is an absolute joke and they may be able to use that slight as motivation to make a deep run.
Best First Round Game: Colorado St./Missouri. The Rams had a great season in the nation's top-rated conference, the Mountain West. The 8 seed might have been a little low. Missouri is a bit of an enigma, but if Phil Pressey shows up, this game could go down to the last possession for the right to take on the Cardinals.
Best Potential Late Round Game: Duke/Louisville. Pitino vs. Coach K. Kelly vs. Siva. Winner heads to the Final Four. You could sub Michigan State for Duke here, but either way, the Elite 8 contest in this bracket is the one to look for provided no big upsets hit.
Ball So Hard Pick: Louisville. As much as it kills me to go against the Cameron Crazies in favor of Rick Pitino, this team is probably the best all-around team in the country and should be cutting down nets on a Monday in April. If I had seen Ryan Kelly for a few more games before the tourney things might be different, but right now Louisville's vets are the play.
Showing posts with label Duke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Duke. Show all posts
Monday, March 18, 2013
Let The Madness Begin!
Forget Christmas, THIS is the most wonderful time of the year for me as a sports fan. The NBA is in full swing heading toward playoff mode, golf is picking up steam as we get closer to Augusta, Spring Training has everyone thinking about summer and mock drafts fill the blogosphere. Oh, yeah, and March Madness is here, shutting down offices and stirring debate like no other sporting event around.
Look, anyone with a bracket and a pen (or keyboard) has a chance. We all have our opinions, our alma maters, our favorite teams, you name it. The receptionist in the office who thinks a Jackrabbit is way cuter than a Wolverine has just as good a shot of winning the office pool as the guy who thinks he's smarter than Jay Bilas and the guy who gloats about staying up every night to watch the west coast games and says that's why he is going to win.
The truth is: this year, its anyone's title to win. We've seen the VCU's and Butler's crash the party the last couple of years and that was when there were heavy favorites. Now we enter a tournament where realistically, any of the top 4 seeds in each region could head to Atlanta and cut down nets. Not to mention, there are probably 2 or 3 lower seeds in each region that could surprise and advance. That's around 20 teams out of the 68 that could make it. Pretty good odds for everyone heading into Thursday and Friday's first round (Yes, first round. These 4 Dayton games are play-ins, stop kidding yourselves, NCAA!) match-ups.
Here at Ball So Hard Sports, we're trying real hard to take our San Diego State Alumni hat off (I swear, this team can get hot and be playing in the Sweet 16...but just as likely is one and done) and not pick our favorites like we do every year (Hey, Berman had SF and Buffalo in the Super Bowl for like 15 years, why can't I have Duke, Syracuse, Arizona and Michigan in my Final Four AGAIN?) and pick the best teams to go to Atlanta.
With that said, here's how the BSHSB is breaking down the brackets:
-Region-by-region analysis: Favorites, sleepers, upset specials. We'll give you all the tools to pick your brackets and be ready for the office pools.
-Final Four picks: Learn who Ball So Hard has cutting down nets and heading to Atlanta.
-The Full Monty: See our bracket and go head-to-head with us.
Six blogs. All coming your way over the next two days. Keep checking back for updates and send us your Final Four, upset and sleeper picks on Twitter.
Look, anyone with a bracket and a pen (or keyboard) has a chance. We all have our opinions, our alma maters, our favorite teams, you name it. The receptionist in the office who thinks a Jackrabbit is way cuter than a Wolverine has just as good a shot of winning the office pool as the guy who thinks he's smarter than Jay Bilas and the guy who gloats about staying up every night to watch the west coast games and says that's why he is going to win.
The truth is: this year, its anyone's title to win. We've seen the VCU's and Butler's crash the party the last couple of years and that was when there were heavy favorites. Now we enter a tournament where realistically, any of the top 4 seeds in each region could head to Atlanta and cut down nets. Not to mention, there are probably 2 or 3 lower seeds in each region that could surprise and advance. That's around 20 teams out of the 68 that could make it. Pretty good odds for everyone heading into Thursday and Friday's first round (Yes, first round. These 4 Dayton games are play-ins, stop kidding yourselves, NCAA!) match-ups.
Here at Ball So Hard Sports, we're trying real hard to take our San Diego State Alumni hat off (I swear, this team can get hot and be playing in the Sweet 16...but just as likely is one and done) and not pick our favorites like we do every year (Hey, Berman had SF and Buffalo in the Super Bowl for like 15 years, why can't I have Duke, Syracuse, Arizona and Michigan in my Final Four AGAIN?) and pick the best teams to go to Atlanta.
With that said, here's how the BSHSB is breaking down the brackets:
-Region-by-region analysis: Favorites, sleepers, upset specials. We'll give you all the tools to pick your brackets and be ready for the office pools.
-Final Four picks: Learn who Ball So Hard has cutting down nets and heading to Atlanta.
-The Full Monty: See our bracket and go head-to-head with us.
Six blogs. All coming your way over the next two days. Keep checking back for updates and send us your Final Four, upset and sleeper picks on Twitter.
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