Bracket Breakdown: Scouting Each Region

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

The two conferences that competed all season for the right to call themselves the best league in the country will have a chance to settle it once and for all in Indianapolis in April.

Two teams from the Big East and the Big 12 will reach the coveted final weekend in Big 10 country.

Kansas and Syracuse are easy picks, but two surprises -- Baylor and Marquette -- will spoil the party for many.

MIDWEST: Kansas sails through this region with an Elite Eight defeat of Georgetown, which proves too big and physical for Ohio State in the Sweet Sixteen.

Houston beats Maryland in this region's biggest first-round upset, derailing a potentially excellent second-round game between the Terps and Michigan State. The second-rounder between Oklahoma State and Ohio State, however, will be a great one, featuring two of the nation's top individual players in James Anderson and Evan Turner.

WEST: Syracuse has recovered from its shipment out West and will mow through its first two games without Arinze Onuaku.

Xavier and Pittsburgh will be a nice second-round game that Pittsburgh should barely win. Another interesting matchup in the round of 32 will be No. 12 UTEP vs. No. 13 Murray State, surprise early winners over Butler and Vanderbilt, respectively.

Kansas State will come out of the bottom sub-regional, then beat Pittsburgh before falling to Syracuse if AO returns for the Orange.

EAST: Kentucky's talent level is no secret, but I don't think the young Wildcats, not seasoned the way a Big 12 or Big East team might be this time of year, will have the psychological toughness to grind past the Elite Eight.

That's why Marquette gets my pick to come out of this region. The Golden Eagles are nice on the perimeter but they can play a physical game as well. Marquette also is well coached and seems to prefer playing in the kind of nerve-wrackingly close games its fans absolutely hate. Marquette beats Bob Huggins' No. 2 West Virginia team and slips past Kentucky in the Elite Eight.

Wofford is capable of beating Wisconsin, but the Badgers I think will sneak by in a close one. In the same sub-regional, Temple dismisses the cute Cornell team that everyone has been jocking on for four days.

SOUTH: The sub-regional below Duke's gives the Blue Devils an easy Sweet Sixteen win, but it's the second-round game against probably Louisville that could be troublesome in the first weekend. Still, Duke is a smarter team that comes to play each night out, whereas the Cardinals are inconsistent. Duke wins a tight one, then advances to that Sweet Sixteen round, where some low-hanging Texas A&M fruit awaits.

The bottom half of this bracket is very interesting. A Sweet 16 matchup between Baylor and Richmond puts the winner into the Elite Eight against Duke. Baylor wins both and advances to Indianapolis.

FINAL FOUR: Kansas beats Syracuse and Marquette beats Baylor. And in the final, the Jayhawks show the nation the Big 12 is best in an easy defeat of an exhausted team of Golden Eagles.

Comments

[Brandon B]

yucky