the tindog coffeehouse

It’s March Madness time again, and once again I’m going on record with my picks for the tournament. And once again, the only thing I’m certain of is that I’m totally and completely wrong. But at least I have enough sense to not bet cash money on it, right?

A few sidenotes: First, I don’t care about college basketball in the slightest. The only time I pay any attention to it is in March, and I lose interest after about halfway through the second round when all my Final Four picks have been beaten. Second, there are precisely zero teams from the state of Texas in the tournament, which means that my interest level is even less than normal. And third, even though I’ve made my picks, I’m not comfortable with most of them. About the only one I feel remotely happy with is Indiana, which means they’ll probably be beaten in the first round. Awesome.

With that said, let’s do this thing.

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Well, here it is. March Madness. The NCAA Tournament of 2012. And my fourth year of posting my picks to win the whole enchilada. As you probably know by now, I stand absolutely no chance of picking the actual winners, so as always, I strongly advise you against betting my picks. You’ve been warned.

Alrighty, here we go:

South Region. Maybe the toughest region of the tourney, and possibly the toughest to predict. A lot of games could go either way. The odds are in Kentucky’s favor, and they’re my pick to reach the Final Four, but I’ll still be rooting hard for Baylor. Sic ‘Em!

West Region. This is probably the most interesting region. The “experts” are bullish on Iona to be the Cinderella team of the year. I don’t really know anything about them, but I like the band, so I’m going with them to reach the Sweet 16. Memphis probably has the greatest upset potential, but I still think it’ll come down to Michigan State and Mizzou for the Final Four, and I’m taking the Tigers to beat Sparty.

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It’s only the end of first round of the NCAA tournament, and my bracket is already pretty bruised. Out of the 32 first-round games, I missed 9, giving me a percentage of 72%. Ouch.

Biggest upset: Murray State’s win over Vanderbilt, who I’d picked to make it to the Final Four. Seriously, did anyone in America pick No. 13 Murray State to pick off No. 4 Vandy? No, of course not! Not even the mother of the Murray State coach. Other big upsets: No. 14 Ohio over No. 3 Georgetown, No. 12 Cornell over No. 5 Temple, and No. 11 Old Dominion over No. 6 Notre Dame.

Upsets I actually got right: No. 11 Washington beating No. 6 Marquette and No. 9 Northern Iowa beating No. 8 UNLV.

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I normally don’t follow college basketball; there are just too many games. But I do tend to get caught up in March Madness. Not to the point of bringing a TV and rabbit ears to work like a former co-worker of mine used to do every year, but I do enjoy watching games when I can.

That said, here are my pics for the men’s tournament. Yes, most of them are safe bets while a few are probably long shots. (Predicted winner in parentheses) Discuss.

Sweet 16.
Pitt vs. Florida State (Pitt)
Duke vs. Villanova (Villanova)
Louisville vs. Wake Forest (Louisville)
Kansas vs. Michigan State (Kansas)
LSU vs. Gonzaga (LSU)
OU vs. Syracuse (OU)
UConn vs. Purdue (UConn)
Missouri vs. Memphis (Memphis)

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