First, about the SEC teams in the brackets.
UK fans are upset. They don't like their seed, their bracket, or that Florida got a 2 seed. My opinion: They deserved the 4 seed. They dropped a few games they shouldn't have but ended the season very strong. They probably should have gotten in the bracket that fellow 4 seed Wisconsin or Louisville is in. Texas is also a good 4 seed. UK just can't make it past Ohio State in my opinion.
Florida is a good team... balanced and well coached. I have them in my final 4. I think a 2 or 3 seed is well deserved.
UT. I don't understand UT. They lost every other game for the last month of the season. I think they are a talented team, just not well coached. I thought they should have been on the bubble a little more than they were, but I'm not complaining they got in. That one win over Pitt helped. They did have the #2 SOS going for them. They can put it on Michigan or they can be one and done depending on which UT team shows up. They could play with Duke, but I think Duke will move on.
Vanderbilt. This is one pick I keep going back and forth on. I have them in the Sweet Sixteen. But no team can disappoint in the dance like Vandy. They are either hot or they're not. And Brad Tinsley just isn't a great point guard. I see Louisville putting them out, but yet I've picked Vandy for some reason.
Georgia (the unbiased version). They deserved to be in the dance although I thought the two loses at the end of the season to Bama almost killed us. We did not have a single bad loss until Bama, and even Bama had a pretty good year, although their SOS was poor pre-conference and in the SEC west. UGA lost to Notre Dame (2 seed), Xavier (6 seed), and Temple (7 seed). We played everyone close. But UGA has a problem (a big one)... choking. Of our loses, we blew double digit leads in almost all of them. UGA can play with all 64 teams in this bracket because they are athletic and well coached. They can hold teams to fewer points. But UGA's offense has to kick in on all cylinders. We can struggle on the perimeter. I guarantee Washington will be playing zone defense. UGA can win that game. And they can give UNC a run. But I've watched the Dawgs too many times this season and that's why I only went as far to pick them to win against Washington and go out against UNC.Ok... on to the rest of the teams.
Overrated teams. The entire Big East. Good teams, yes. Great teams, not convinced. All eleven teams with 20+ wins deserved to get in? No way. Virginia tech and Colorado got screwed because of the selection committee's love affair with that conference. Sorry, but I don't have a Big East team in the Final Four.
Other flops: BYU, SDSU.
Surprises. Usually, i'm good at picking upsets in the first round. I'm not excited about round one this year because I don't see much of that happening. My only picks where the lower seed moves on (an none of them would be bracket busters)... Villanova over George Mason, UGA over Washington (biased pick), UT over Michigan, Missouri over Cincy (biggest upset per seeding), Old Dominion over Butler, and Gonzaga over St Johns. As much as all of Nashville would like to see Belmont be that sleeper team, I think Wisconsin is going to prove to be a little too much for them.
Teams I think could really make some noise and make the final 4 but I didn't have the balls to pick them for my one bracket (because I didn't want to break down and make multiple brackets): Missouri as an 11 seed, Arizona (5 seed), Texas (4 seed), Purdue (3 seed), Kansas St (5 seed).
So, who are my final four: OSU, Duke, Kansas, and Florida. And as much as I hate it, I have OSU winning it all over Kansas.
Oh, and I really don't like Joe Lunardi.
Good luck picking your brackets. And GO DAWGS.
