March Madness Bracket Tips Pt. 2

Now that the brackets are official and I'm looking at the field, here are some interesting matchups and a few tips for your reading pleasure. (I hope). Looking at the Midwest region where Florida is the #1 seed (and #1 overall according to the selection committee), it's hard to pick against the Gators to go to the Final 4 at least. Yes, they stumbled a few times, but their performance in the SEC Tournament was outstanding, and they know exactly what it takes to win it all having all 5 starters returning from last year's National Championship team. To top it off, the Final 4 is in Atlanta this year, a venue Florida is quite familiar with, winning the just concluded SEC tourney in the Georgia Dome. The Gators can be beaten, but if they play anything like they did the last 3 games, good luck to the rest of the field.

In the West region, Kansas is #1 but the Jayhawks have had problems in the Big Dance the last few years and a date with either Kentucky or Villanova is slated in the 2nd round. As someone married to a Kentuckian, I can tell you that there is no love lost between the two and when Kentucky is hitting the three they can beat anyone. Of course, they might not get past Villanova in a very even matchup, but if they do it will be a great battle between two of the marquee teams in college basketball. And when filling out your bracket, do not put "Wildcats" on the line to advance as both of the teams use that nickname.

Looking down the rest of the region, UCLA, Pittsburgh, and Southern Illinois are all dangerous and I predict that one of them will win this region. If I had to go with one Pittsburgh would be the choice as a #3 seed. A second round game of interest could be S. Ill. vs the Illini of Illinois. The coach of Illinois, Bruce Weber, formerly coached the Salukis of SIU before moving on to "greener pastures". Ironic. SIU is a #4 seed, Illinois a #12. Don't look for Duke to get too far, they might even lose in the first round. Yay!