Took these notes stream of consciousness as the brackets were announced. I reserve the right to change my mind, probably at least 45 times between now and Thursday at noon.

-A gift to Arizona to keep their streak. Awful road team. No really big time wins. Playing horribly. KY is probably in based on this bullshit.

-BC’s gotta be hating seeing USC there. You’d much rather see a sinking 10 than a rising one.

-WVU/Dayton should be a good one.  Dayton playing in the A10 hurts them because WVU has played three Number 1 seeds. Dayton has played Xavier. But WVU is so young so more prone to stumbles. Plus it’s a Huggs team. They will be out by round 3.

-This region sucks. Louisville can be beaten, they are far from dominant. MSU could be tough.

-How is Purdue a 5? They seem like a 4 at least.

-Same rising team problem for Wash facing Miss St. You’d rather see a team that barely gets in than a team who is clicking at the right time.

-Memphis/UCONN is a much more dangerous region than MSU/Louisville.

-Maryland a 10? I don’t see it. St. Mary’s had better be in…

-Missouri is going to crush Cornell. Of course I know nothing about Cornell. But Missouri a 3? Second round special right there…

-Utah St can take Marquette esp without James. Utah State is tough. In fact, they have an outside shot at the sweet 16. I think they can take Missouri too.

-OK ST/Tenn should be great. I think OK St should take it, but Ten has the talent. Either one is going to be a bitch of an out in round 2.

F-l. St. should rock Wisco. But it’s a 5/12 so who knows. I think FLA St. can score well enough to win a 60-50 type game If Fla St beats Wisco, I don’t think X has a prayer against Fl. St. Fl. St is the kind of team that can made a run.

-UCLA has to HATE getting VCU. That’s almost a death sentence. Almost. And I like UCLA  a lot. But VCU is so well-coached. I’d be shocked if they do anything other than play their best game. I have been reading up on VCU because it’s been whispered their coach is the next big get, so I’m looking at whether he’d be an upgrade over Cronin.

-LSU is an 8? Wow.  That’s a screwjob to get Butler. Butler could be tough for UNC, let alone LSU. LSU should’ve been a 4-6 seed tho. 8 is retarded.

-WKU upset special. Everyone will pick it. Let’s see if it happens. I love them. This is their game to lose.

-Gonzaga is under the radar this season. If that’s even possible for them anymore. But they could really get on a run.

-Blake Griffin, more than any single player, could use this tourney to make a personal run at glory ala Kevin Love.

-Cuse all the way to a three! Their zone is gonna kill Stephen F. Austin and should carry them into the sweet 16. Who knows what they have left in their legs after the BEAST Tourney though.

-St. Mary’s gets jobbed, especially for bullshit Arizona.

-My top 5 rooting interest teams in this order 1) WKU 2) WVU 3) Morehead 4) Louisville 5) UNC. Most hated in this order 5) Syracuse 4) USC 3) tOSU 2) Duke 1) Xavier. If Cuse didn’t have Devendorf, they’d be in my top 5 rooting interest teams.

MIDWEST

- OSU/Louisville will be tough (assuming Siena doesnt take out OSU, which I’m not sure is a safe assumption)

-Wake could get to the elite 8 or even all the way to the final four depending on the breaks. If Lousiville is on their game, they should run this bracket. MSU is always a tourney fave of mine, so I’ll be looking long and hard at them as well. Lou goes through stretches where they can’t score, but their defense has really gelled. I’d expect that to carry them through the bracket.

Initial Reaction:
Sweet 16 teams Lou, Wake, WVU, Msu

Final 4 – LOU

Dark Horse – Wake
Upset Special – Siena, ND St., USC.

WEST

-Uconn cakewalk to the final four is my first reaction. My guess is Memphis could be upset, but I don’t see the team down there to do it. But Uconn can waltz. I will have to look and see if any of the teams they could face compare favorably to Pitt. Otherwise they should roll.

-The rest of this bracket sucks. Good upset games in it though.

Sweet 16 – Conn, Purdue, Utah St, Cal
Final Four – Conn

Dark Horse – Purdue (but I don’t see it as very likely though their shooting is tough.)

Upset Specials – Cal, Utah St, Miss St.

EAST

-Pitt could go down in round 2 or go all the way.

-This is the bracket most full of teams who could make a run. I could conceivably see any one of the 1-6 teams as a final four team. And I could see any of them getting beaten before the Sweet 16 except Duke.

-Pitt is going to be screwed in round 2. The Big East will either have taken it out of them to the point of loss or battle tested them enough to win it. Either way it’s a screwed up game for them.

-Duke’s gotta be loving it’s half of the bracket.

-I like VCU a lot as I said above. Nova too. And Fl. State to the sweet 16.

-Best round 1 game OK/ST Tenn.

Sweet 16 – Pitt, Fl. St, Nova, Duke.

Final Four – Duke

Dark Horse – Nova or VCU could make a run. Heck, UCLA could too.

SOUTH

-God I am already creepily drooling over the possibility of seeing Griffin/Hansborough.

- UNC has the mother of all nightmares with LSU or Butler in Round 2. Man the 8/9-1 games are tough this time out.

-I love WKU. But Gonzaga is a Dark Horse for me big time. If UNC somehow loses in round 2, the Zags could just keep going into the final 4. UNC should take them though. Cuse is almost guaranteed into the sweet 16 I think. Temple could be tough because they shoot so well, but they will have to take out an angry ASU team which I don’t see happening.

-I don’t know enough about OK’s guards to call them vs. Cuse. But if their asst numbers are high, I think they can beat the zone enough. The zone will neutralize Griffin to an exent. Then it becomes about the counterpunch.

Sweet 16 teams
UNC, Zags, Cuse, OK

Final Four
UNC

Dark Horse
Zags, Cuse

Upset Specials
LSU or Buter, WKU.

Final Four
Since day one of this year I’ve thought it’s UNC’s year.

But any one of about 5 or 6 more teams could beat them. If they play their best ball, almost no one can.