I'll have brackets Wednesday, but for right now, the play in predictions.
South: Western Kentucky
West: BYU
Midwest: Lamar
Midwest: Cal
If Berkeley wins, I'll take them over Temple in the 12/5.
It's Wednesday.
Okay, I have two essential brackets I fill out each year; I call them the "smart" bracket and the "fun" bracket.
The smart bracket is largely chalk, I don't mean necessarily higher seeds or Vegas favorites, but the teams that the advanced metrics suggest are most likely to win. If Belmont and Georgetown play ten times, who wins more often? Georgetown, so they advance in the smart bracket.
The fun bracket picks upsets, not whimsical upsets, but upsets in places where the metrics suggest upsets are most likely. Belmont and Georgetown aren't going to play ten times, they're going to play once, and since its reasonable to think Belmont wins that meeting, they advance in the fun bracket. I may edit through Wednesday, but am unlikely to get to it again Thursday AM.
Smart Bracket First.
South
Rnd One Winners: UK, UConn, Wichita, Indiana, Vegas, Baylor, X, Duke
-I've done more brackets with Iowa St than UConn, and I'll have them in the fun bracket; I've done more brackets with Notre Dame than Xavier, but X is all you'll see in this post.
Rnd Two Winners: UK, Wichita, Baylor, Duke
Sweet Sixteen Winners: UK, Duke
-I've got a bracket with Baylor beating Duke.
Elite 8 Winner: UK
I don't have a single bracket where Kentucky doesn't go to the final four.
West
Rnd One Winners: Mich St, Memphis, NMex, Louisville, Murray, Marquette, UF, Missouri
-All of my high percentage brackets look like that.
Rnd Two Winners: Mich St, NMex, Marquette, Missouri
Sweet 16 winners: Michigan St, Missouri
Elite 8 Winner: Missouri
-About half of my brackets have Michigan St coming out.
East
Rnd One winners: Syracuse, KSt, Vandy, Wisconsin, UC, Florida St, WVA, Ohio St
-Most of my brackets have Texas and Gonzaga winning.
Rnd Two winners: Syracuse, Wisconsin, Florida St, Ohio St
Sweet 16 winners: Syracuse, Ohio St
-I've got a smart bracket with Wisconsin coming out.
Elite 8 winner: Ohio St.
-All of my brackets have Ohio St in the Final Four
Midwest
Rnd one winners: UNC, Alabama, Temple, Michigan, NC St, Georgetown, Purdue, Kansas
-I have Cal beating Temple and then going to the Sweet 16 in every other bracket. I'm a west coast guy, but I don't have a single bracket with either SD St or St Marys winning a game.
Rnd two winners: UNC, Michigan, Georgetown, Kansas
Sweet 16 winners: UNC, Kansas
Elite 8 winner: North Carolina
-Half of my brackets have Kansas coming out.
Final Four: Kentucky over Missouri
-I have UK in the title game in every bracket.
Final Four: Ohio St over North Carolina
-Half of my brackets have Ohio St, a quarter have Kansas, a quarter have Carolina
Winner: Kentucky
-One of my brackets has Ohio St.
Fun Bracket:
South
Rnd One Winners: UK, Iowa St, Wichita St, Indiana, Vegas, South Dakota St, X, Duke
-The problem knocking out Baylor is I think they might make the elite 8.
Rnd Two Winners: UK, Wichita, South Dakota St, Duke.
Then chalk - Kentucky and Duke, then Kentucky.
West
Rnd One Winners: Mich St, Memphis, LB St, Davidson, Murray St, Marquette, UF, Missouri
Rnd Two Winners: Mich St, Long Beach St, Marq, Missouri
Then its just like my smart bracket - Michigan St and Missouri, then Missouri
East
Rnd One winners: Syracuse, Kansas St, Harvard, Wisconsin, Texas, St Bonaventure, WVA, Ohio St
Rnd Two winners: Syracuse, Wisc, St Bonaventure, Ohio St.
Then Wisconsin and Ohio St, then Ohio St.
Midwest
Rnd One winners: UNC, Bama, Cal, Ohio U, NC St, Belmont, Purdue, KU
Rnd Two winners: UNC, Cal, Belmont, KU
Then just like my smart bracket - UNC, Kansas, then Carolina
The final four plays out the same way.
Enjoy the games
