Before the bracket was announced on Sunday I thought of a few teams I liked as "sleepers" in this year's tournament. The freshmen, as pointed out in previous articles, have taken over college basketball the last few years. Therefore, how could O.J. Mayo's USC team and Michael Beasley & Bill Walker's Kansas State squad both not make a serious run in the dance as dark horse teams? Well if they have to play each other in the 1st round, that's how. In the Midwest region you will see #6 USC vs. #11 K-State set for Thursday. Not what I was looking for. Other quick notes on the bracket:
*Similar to USC and K-State, I really liked Jerryd Bayliss and Arizona as well as West Virginia. Maybe they can pull off some upsets? Also playing each other. Check out the West region 7 vs. 10 match up.
*The number 1 seeds are a combined 127-9. It's hard to imagine UNC, Kansas, UCLA, or Memphis losing prior to the Elite 8. But that's why they call it March Madness, right?
*UNC doesn't have to leave their state until the Final 4.
*As Besse pointed out yesterday, you could have an Elite 8 of: Notre Dame vs. Louisville, Villanova vs. Georgetown, Pittsburgh vs. Marquette, UConn vs. West Virginia. Haha looks like the same teams that participated in the Big East quarters last week in MSG.
*Mascot Breakdown: 65 teams, 5 Wildcats, 5 Eagles (counting the Golden Eagles from Marquette and Oral Roberts), but I give the edge to the dogs. 5 Bulldogs, along with 1 Hoyas, 1 Retrievers, and 1 Huskies.
*My early lean on the Final 4: Tennessee, USC, Memphis, UCLA.
*Double digit seeds to look out for: Villanova, Davidson, Temple, Saint Mary's.
*Besse will enlighten everyone with his thoughts on the bracket as well, so keep reading.
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