Keefe's Picks on the Record

Here are my picks for the tourney so you can follow along. Scroll down to see Besse's picks as well. Keepin it simple like Bess and going just with winners. Enjoy, and goodluck with your bracket.

East

North Carolina over Mt. St. Mary's
Indiana over Arkansas
Notre Dame over George Mason
Washington State over Winthrop
Saint Joseph's over Oklahoma
Louisville over Boise State
Butler over South Alabama
Tennessee over American

North Carolina over Indiana
Notre Dame over Washington State
Louisville over Saint Joseph's
Tennessee over Butler

North Carolina over Notre Dame
Tennessee over Louisville

Midwest

Kansas over Portland State
Kent State over UNLV
Villanova over Clemson
Vanderbilt over Siena
USC over Kansas State
Wisconsin over Cal St. Fullerton
Davidson over Gonzaga
Georgetown over UMBC

Kansas over Kent State
Vanderbilt over Villanova
USC over Wisconsin
Georgetown over Davidson

Vanderbilt over Kansas
USC over Georgetown

South

Memphis over Texas-Arlington
Oregon over Mississippi State
Temple over Michigan State
Pittsburgh over Oral Roberts
Marquette over Kentucky
Stanford over Cornell
St. Mary's over Miami
Texas over Austin Peay

Memphis over Oregon
Pittsburgh over Temple
Marquette over Stanford
Texas over St. Mary's

Memphis over Pittsburgh
Texas over Marquette

West

UCLA over Mississippi Valley State
Texas A&M ove BYU
Drake over Western Kentucky
UConn over San Diego
Purdue over Baylor
Xavier over Georgia
West Virginia over Arizona
Duke over Belmont

UCLA over A&M
UConn over Drake
Xavier over Purdue
West Virginia over Duke

UCLA over UConn
West Virginia over Xavier

Elite 8

Tennessee over North Carolina
USC over Vanderbilt
Memphis over Texas
UCLA over West Virginia

Final 4

Tennessee over USC
UCLA over Memphis

Championship

Tennessee over UCLA 77-71

Besse Predicts the Madness that will ensue

Editor's note: I decided to go Bobby Knight style and just give you the winners. The reason? Because no matter how much I may claim to know about college hoops, it gets thrown out the window this time of year. I did decide on a few changes from my column the other day, particularly deciding Duke would make it to the Sweet 16 and that Georgetown will last that long, as well.

East

First Round
UNC over Mt. St. Mary's
Indiana over Arkansas
Notre Dame over George Mason
Wash. St. over Winthrop
St. Joe's over Oklahoma
Louisville over Boise St.
Butler over South Alabama
Tennessee over American

Second round
UNC over Indiana
Notre Dame over Wash. St.
Louisville over St. Joe's
Tennesse over Butler

Third round
UNC over Notre Dame
Louisville over Tennessee

Midwest

First round
Kansas over Portland St.
UNLV over Kent St.
Clemson over 'Nova
Siena over Vandy
USC over K-State
Wisconsin over Cal St. Fullerton
Davidson over Gonzaga
G'town over UMBC

Second round
Kansas over UNLV
Siena over Clemosn
USC over Wisconsin
G'town over Davidson

Third round
Kansas over Siena
USC over G'town

South

First round
Memphis over Texas-Arlington
Miss St. over Oregon
Temple over Michigan St.
Pitt over Oral Roberts
Marquette over Kentucky
Standford over Cornell
St. Mary's over Miami
Texas over Austin Peay

Second round
Memphis over Miss St.
Pitt over Temple
Marquette over Stanford
Texas over St. Mary's

Third round
Pitt over Memphis
Marquette over Texas

West

First round
UCLA over Miss Valley St.
BYU over Texas A&M
Drake over Western Kentucky
UConn over San Diego
Purdue over Baylor
Xavier over Georgia
WVU over 'Zona
Duke over Belmont

Second round
UCLA over BYU
UConn over Drake
Xavier over Purdue
Duke over WVU

Third round
UCLA over UConn
Xavier over Duke

Elite 8
UNC over Louisville
Kansas over USC
Pitt over Marquette
UCLA over Xavier

Final Four
Kansas over UNC
UCLA over Pitt

Kansas cuts the nets with a 78-74 win over UCLA.

Quick Take on the Bracket

-Keefe

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.