Dude Report: March Madness Preparation

Two dude reports in a row! I will get back to posting about being a stay at home dad soon. The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is one of my favorite sporting events of the year. Now that we are over half way through February the countdown to March is really heating up.

This weekend is BracketBuster Weekend . A select group of mid-major teams hoping to improve their chances of making the NCAA tournament play each other. To celebrate this weekend I wanted to post my current throughts about the fast approaching NCAA tournament.

The Mountain West is for real. Both San Diego St and BYU will make the Elite Eight and one will make the final four.

I want to predict that Duke is an early upset target, but Nolan Smith and Coach K will not let it happen. They will be beat by a better team in the third or fourth round.

The ACC and is very weak this season. Duke and North Carolina are the only teams worthy of making it out of the first round.

The Big East will put 10 teams into the NCAA tournament. As a Wisconsin native I hope the tenth team is Marquette, but it is more likely to be Cincinnati.

Notre Dame has quietly had a very, very good season. They have earned a 2 or 3 seed and if they shoot well could make a deep run in the tournament.

It will take a very good performance by any team in the tournament to eliminate Pittsburgh. West Virginia and Syracuse on the other hand will likely eliminate themselves because they can’t put the ball in the bucket enough.

Upsets very much depend on matchups but Florida, UConn, Kentucky, and Louisville are four teams that should earn a four seed or better that could lose first round.

My final four for this year’s “tournament darlings” are: George Mason, Old Dominion, Wichita State, and Cleveland State. With two teams coming from the Colonial Athletic Association, you could say I am a fan of the conference. This also this means that George Mason or Old Dominion will need to get an at large bid.

Living in Big Ten country I have to believe Ohio State and Wisconsin are equip to make a deep tourney run. With that said, Purdue is the team to watch. Many wrote them off when Robbie Hummel went down again, but they have NBA talent and have beaten many good teams.
Some of the toughest teams to bracket include Tennessee, St. John’s, and Kansas St. These three teams have proven they can beat and lose to anyone on any night.

The final net of the season will be cut down by Texas. They will win the tournament with defense.

In the words of Mike Tice, "Enjoy the season!"

In the words of Andy Williams, "It's the most wonderful time of the year!"