Sports Talk, Rumors and Other Contrarian Insights

Ok, So Parlay Pete and D-Dolla are about to throw down with our Sweet 16 Picks to see once and for all who is the blogger battler that will reign supreme (in college basketball bracket pick ‘em)?  So, without further ado:

ALLEZ BRACKETS!

D-Dollas Sweet 16 Picks

MIDWEST:

In the Midwest, I am taking all the top 4 seeds.  So, that means I have:

1) Kansas;

2) Ohio State;

3) Georgetown; and

4) Maryland

This has been widely considered the most difficult bracket and I think it also has the best overall collection of top 4 seeded teams.  I am not saying that an upset is not possible, but I just don’t see it.  Kansas is legit with many NBA players.  Ohio State has the best individual talent in the tournament, Evan Turner.  Georgetown, when on, is one of the best in the country.  Maryland is underrated as a 4 seed because they did finish with an identical ACC record as Duke, yet Duke is a 1 and Maryland is a 4? That disparity is too great.

EAST:

I have a  little mix-up at the top

1) Kentucky;

2) Temple;

3) Marquette; and

4) West Virginia

Picking Kentucky, I just made the obvious choice.  Temple is led by Fran Dunphy who has won in the tournament with Ivy League talent, now he will get a chance to play with a bigger deck.  Marquette was one of the best teams late and got lost in the Big East Shuffle.  I like West Virginia because of Bob Huggins and their athleticism.

WEST:

1) Syracuse;

2) UTEP;

3) Pittsburgh; and

4) Kansas State

Here I have a major upset with UTEP, a 12 seed, making the Sweet 16.  They come out of a weak bracket and have two very good big men in Arnett Moultrie and Derrick Caracter, of whom, I think you will be hearing his name quite a bit in this tournament.  Syracuse was a tough pick because Jim Boeheim has a history of losing in the NCAA’s as a one seed, but I think they will make it this far.  Pitt is tough and well-coached.  Kansas State is a team I don’t particularly care for, and I don’t think they have a great coach, but they are big and athletic and that can carry you in the tournament.

SOUTH:

1) Duke;

2) Utah State;

3) Baylor; and

4) Richmond

Here is my upset special supreme: Utah State.

Hear me out.

They have a star in the Wally Sczerbiak-mold, Taj Wesley.  He is 6′ 7″ and knows how to score.  He isn’t a three point shooter, but he shot 57% from the field for the season, and has an absurd true shooting percentage of 63.6.  He is the kind of guy who could carry a team, couple that with 4 players with over 100 3pt attempts, of which, three of them shot over 42% from beyond the arc, and we have a team that can score in the tournament.

As for the rest, Duke is an obvious choice, and people picking them for an early exit are being redick-ulous.  Baylor is big, strong, defensive and have a good coach in Scott Drew.  Lastly, I think Richmond is the team that is undervalued at its seed, due to lack of respect for the A-10.

Pete’s Picks are coming…soon

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 9:42 am and is filed under Random Thoughts, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.