Bracket Monday

Wow there was a lot to digest over the weekend. The unveiling of the brackets, the end of championship week, NBA heating up into the home stretch, and baseball less than 3 weeks from starting off. Good time to be a sports fan. The main focus today will be, however, the brackets. The "stache" will breakdown the regions for you and give you some hints on who to pick and give you some idea into my final brackets for this weekends beginning of the NCAA Tournament.

I'll begin with the Midwest Region, headed up by the number one overall seed, Louisville. Obviously the selection committee liked how the Cardinals won both the regular season and Big East tournament final. At initial glance I thought this was a pretty tough region, but looking at it again, I saw many top teams with some flaws. Michigan State, while dominant in the regular season, struggled in their conference tournament. They have some veterans and some returners off of last year's Sweet 16 team. They have a veteran head coach in Tom Izzo, who has won a NCAA title recently, and always seems to have his teams ready to go. I expect them to make a good run out of this region. There are a lot of quality coaches in this part of the bracket, Kansas' Bill Self, the defending champion team, brings a young team into this tournament led by Sherron Collins. They are an interesting case because of their youth it is hard to project how they will do. Wake Forest may be as talented as any team out of this region and in the tournament in general, but they have been maddeningly inconsistent at the end of this season. They play a lot of close games, and rely a lot on their defense and Jeff Teague's ability to make plays on the offensive side of the ball. The number 5 seed for Utah seems high and I think Arizona will give them all they can handle and more in the first round. West Virginia is dangerous because they come from the rugged Big East and will not be intimated by anybody. They can knock down the 3, and are well coached by Bob Huggins. Boston College-USC may be one of the more intriguing match ups of the 1st round, USC has a ton of talent but has not been healthy this year. Boston College is tough, well coached and has a great player in Tyrese Rice. Look for the favorites to advance through this region, there may be an upset hear or there but I don't foresee anything earth shattering.

The West region is set up for a Connecticut-Memphis regional final, man this would be a great match up to see. Two very talented, defensive minded teams who can also score in bunches if necessary. Before I get ahead of myself, there are a couple of team I like in this region. Missouri plays an uptempo style, and could thwart the UConn-Memphis game. Washington and Purdue have some solid veterans on their squad and could pose a threat to UConn in the Sweet 16 round. Purdue has finished the year strong by winning their conference tournament. I admire Marquette's toughness, but losing Dominic James a few weeks ago, really hurts their cause. It would be a stretch for them to make it to the Sweet 16, unless they really turn up the defensive intensity and some of their key players knock down some shots. Once again I do not project many upsets out of this region. Although Mississippi State should scare you if you like Washington to advance a couple rounds, so keep an eye on them. I don't think this region is very strong top to bottom.

The East region brings us a lot of the tough, blue collar type teams. Teams that are not flashy and they come at you at the defensive end. I really like Pittsburgh's style of play, they seemed to have adapted the persona of their city. Tough minded, hard working, probably comes from their coach Jamie Dixon. This team struggled in last years tournament losing in the second round to Michigan State, after winning the Big East tournament last year. I think by going out early, this team will be fresh and ready to deep in the tourney. If they can keep DeJuan Blair out of foul trouble they should do fine and advance far. The bottom half of this bracket is intriguing with Duke, Villanova, UCLA, Texas, among others representing this region. Duke is an interesting case, they could go out early or they could make it all the way to Detroit for the Final Four. By adding Elliot Williams to the starting lineup, it has given them a more defensive presence and some more athleticism to the squad. Villanova gets to play there first two games in Philadelphia, their hometown. Lets hope they do not slack off because of this. This is a team that relies heavily on its guards and has a lack of NBA talent, so there margin for error is limited more than other teams. UCLA has been to three straight Final Fours, but they face a very tough Virginia Commonwealth squad led by Eric Maynor, who helped to upset Duke a couple of years ago in the tournament. This is another match up I cannot wait to see. UCLA is very tough defensively and has some quality players in Darren Collison and Josh Shipp. Florida State at the number 5 seed is led by all-ACC guard Toney Douglas. The fifth year senior has really developed and is poised to make a Stephen Curry like run in this tournament (Stephen Curry's Davidson squad advanced all the way to the Elite 8 last year.) They are very dangerous. Very interesting region, a number of teams could come out of this region, all depending upon how the ball bounces.

The South region is set up for North Carolina. I do not foresee anyone knocking off the Tar Heels, they may have some tough games but I do not think anyone has the experience, or the versatility to beat them. They start off in Greensboro, NC, very close to their home in Chapel Hill. Oklahoma has really struggled coming down the stretch even after Blake Griffin has returned. They are a pretty weak number 2 seed in my mind. Syracuse is an interesting squad, they may be a bit over seeded at 3, but they nearly ran the gauntlet through the Big East tournament, winning a few games in dramatic fashion. It will be interesting to see whether they have the strength and stamina to advance far. Playing a zone defense helps them a lot because of the amount of energy they can save. Gonzaga has got some really good players, but they have struggled recently in the tournament, they lost to Davidson in the first round of last years tournament. I expect them to do well this time around. Illinois, I would trust them very much at all. I would not trust many Big 11 teams to be honest with you, but I could be wrong. Arizona State has one of the best players in the country in SG James Harden, think Brandon Roy-like of the Portland Trailblazers, formerly of the Washington Huskies. Can do a lot of things to beat you. I am hesitant with this team because of how they finished out the Pac-10 tournament, blowing a lead against USC to lose in the championship game. Clemson should scare the sh** out of you if you are trying to figure out what they are going to do. They have the talent to go to the Elite 8 but they may end up losing to a hungry Michigan Wolverine squad in the first round. Very enigmatic squad to say the least. I expect a couple of upsets in the early rounds of this region, but I expect the cream to rise to the top in this one.

I will be back later this week to give you my picks for each region. I hope you enjoyed the latest edition of "the stache." Feedback is once again, always welcome. Take care.

Mb