March Madness: South Region Preview...

All you Duke haters, start your engines. Duke somehow managed to be the third #1 seed (how are they higher than Syracuse??) AND have the easiest path to the Final Four. This region is so much easier than any other one it isn't even funny. Let me break this down: You have the most overrated one seed, a reeling two seed in Villanova, a 3 seed in Baylor that is talented but totally unproven and only a few years removed from being really really bad. Then you have a Purdue, which lost it's last game by like 1000 points and clearly is not the same team without Robby Hummel, followed by Texas A&M, which has not gone past the second round in forever, and Notre Dame, which must have collaborated with Duke on how to undeservingly get a high seed because they weren't even in the tournament a month ago. I would venture to say that this might be the first time in the history of the bracket that seeds 1-13 have a chance to get to the Final Four. That might lead to some interesting results, but it doesn't make it easy when we're filling our brackets.

Other observations on the region:
-Everybody loves to pick against Duke, but they have actually been pretty solid this year, sharing the regular season ACC title and winning the ACC conference tourney. If anything, the lack of an elite challenger should make you feel more comfortable about them getting to Indianapolis. Or you can have them lose in the second round. That's what I'm doing, but I strongly dislike Duke and emotional feelings are usually not a good basis to go on.
-A lot of people are thinking Siena over Purdue, but it might be a safer bet to pick Utah St. to knock out Texas A&M. Coach Stew Morrill always has his teams fundamentally prepared, and A&M will have to play a consistent and turnover-free game to knock off the other Aggies.

It's hard for me to pick against a Villanova team when you have a player as clutch as Scottie Reynolds, but I just don't think this team has the complimentary pieces inside (losing Dante Cunningham was bigger than people think) to get all the way to the Final Four. And I've already discussed how my hatred for Duke inhibits me from picking them. So I'll go with Baylor. They definitely have the talent, with former Michigan defensive stalwart Ekpe Udoh helping to complement the solid (and All-Name) backcourt of Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn. Their mascot is also the Bears, and since my Cal Bears have no realistic chance of getting to the Final Four, I've gotta at least pick a team that has the same mascot.



Oh no you didn't (Actually. Yes you did, Why did you leave Michigan Ekpe? We would have been so good!)