Well the 1st weekend of the NCAA Tourney is in the books and we had a little bit of everything from nail biters to upsets and boy did that Norfolk State upset of Mizzou shock the entire world! That was a legit BRACKET BUSTER 99% of all brackets got JACKED UP from that upset nobody saw that one coming LOL! but hey its March Madness and like I said earlier anything can happen. I will say I was surprised that we had no buzzer beaters this weekend but it was still a very exciting first weekend.
Now I'm going to go back over my thoughts and predictions that I did decide to share with you guys and give myself final grades. Now there was one big upset that I did pick that I will tell you guys that I did not share or mention in my last blog because lets just say I had a little inside info LOL! and I wanted to hold that info for myself lol!
Reflections of my predictions from my previous blog:
In my previous blog I mentioned these teams I felt were over-seeded and over-rated
1. Georgetown
2. louisville
3. UNLV
4. Southern Mississippi
I also Mentioned the teams I felt were under-seeded and under-rated
1.) Memphis
2.) Florida
well of the 4 teams I said were over-seeded only 1 (Louisville) made it to the sweet 16 and even they barely got past New Mexico in the 3rd round. So I will say I did a fair job in picking the right teams that were over-seeded. Final Grade A-
Of the two teams I said were under-seeded only 1 made it to the sweet 16 which was Florida. Granted Florida did face a #15 seed but they put no doubt in every body's mind that Norfolk State didn't even belong on the floor with Florida! I will take the heat for picking Memphis I really felt they were under-seeded because they dominated Conference USA and were a very explosive team but they were out coached and out executed by Saint Louis I did not see that one coming. Final Grade B-
Now lets go on to the upset picks that I decided to share with you guys
#11 Colorado over #4 UNLV - Correct upset pick
#8 Memphis over #1 Michigan St. 3rd round - Wrong pick (Memphis lost in 2nd round)
#12 Long Beach St over New Mexico/#4 Louisville - Way Wrong pick (Had LBSU in the sweet 16)
#10 Ohio over #7 Michigan - Correct upset pick
#14 Belmont over #3 Georgetown - Wrong Pick
So out of the 6 upsets that I shared with you guys I only got 2 right I hurt myself and a lot of you guys that took my advice on the LBSU upsets! I saw LBSU play a handful of times this year and they were a very good team with excellent guard play and with the match ups they were facing I really felt they had a very strong chance to make the sweet 16!
Final Grade D+
Now a lot of you guys that follow me on twitter probably already know what BIG upset I picked that I didn't share on my blog but for those that didn't know I picked the #15 seed Lehigh over #2 seed Duke! Now you may be asking how in the hell did you even give that upset a thought its Duke vs a school that I don't even know what state its in let alone what conference its in LOL! I picked that upset because a good friend of mine who played college basketball in the philadephia area told me about Lehigh and said they were a legit team that was not a #15 seed they dominated the Patriot League and they have 2 great guards on their team (McCollum and Mcknight) and CJ McCollum is an NBA talent who will be drafted. Now I watched Duke a ton this year and they never impressed me Duke was a very un-athletic team that didn't have a dominant post presence and they shoot a ton of 3's. I said on twitter weeks before the brackets were even released that Duke is a team that's tailor made for mid major and small schools and Duke will not make it to the sweet 16! When I put all that together I took the gamble knowing with Lehigh's great guards and Dukes style of play I knew it would be a close game! and Lehigh got the big upset. Being honest if it wasn't for their cold shooting in the 2nd half they would've beaten Xavier. Lehigh was a very good team and clearly was not a #15 seed!
Overall I did an ok job my bracket is still in pretty good shape as I picked 9 of the 16 sweet sixteen teams correct in my bracket. The Lehigh upset made up for the Shocking Norfolk St upsetting Mizzou because that one hurt BAD I had Mizzou in my Final Four. So in the end if you guys followed my advice you should still be in decent shape! So I will have another update at the end of this weekend and I'll let you guys know how my final four turned out!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
FAB MELO! OUT
This is Huge and had to post it because this will impact your bracket! Syracuse top player Fab Melo is out and will not play in the NCAA tourney! That's Huge so consider that when filling out your bracket with Syracuse
How to Set-Up and win your bracket pool!
So its officially NCAA tourney Time and everybody is getting ready to fill out their brackets! every year I always finish in at least the top 2 in my pools. Granted last year I would've won it but VCU messed that up for me LOL! but that's in the past! But I'm very successful and here are the things I do to set up and have a potentially highly successful bracket. But always remember this is March Madness and anything can happen!
First lets start off with 3 basic key rules that I personally say you must follow when making your picks for your bracket.
1.) In the history of the NCAA tournament only once (2008) have all 4 #1 seeds made the Final Four. So what does that tell you never put all #1 seeds in your Final Four it never happens.
2.) Never pick the #16 seed over a #1seed its never happened in the history of the men's tournament and its only happened once in the women's tournament. Granted I truly believe that upset will happen one day but not this year.
3.) of the past 27 years of the NCAA tournament 25 times there has been at least on double-digit seed #10 or higher (preferably #10seed-#14seed) has made the sweet 16. So when filling out your bracket have at least one double digit seed in the round of 16.
NOW LETS GET STARTED WITH THE GOOD STUFF! PICKING UPSETS!
Upsets happen every year its what makes March Madness so crazy. The key to having a great tournament bracket is picking the right upsets. That's the difference between winning your pool and losing your pool! Here are some tips and things I look for when picking upsets.
1.) The first thing I look for is schools from bigger conferences that are what I call over-seeded. These are teams that I say get too much credit and the benefit of the doubt just because their a school from a bigger conference and aren't as good as they are seeded.
Teams I feel are over-seeded:
#3 Georgetown (they were a 5 seed in the Big East tourney and lost in the quarters their not as good as advertised)
#4 Louisville The Selection Committee had no choice in this seeding because Louisville won the way overrated Big East conference tourney this year but they were very mediocre for a good stretch this season they are over seeded!
#5 UNLV (Granted they beat UNC very early in the season but they finished 9-5 in the Mountain West #Over seeded big time)
#9 So. Miss (My dad may disown me for this one because this is his Alma mater LOL!) but the Golden Eagles are over-seeded!
The Second thing I look for is the exact opposite. These are teams that I feel are under seeded these are the teams that can make strong cases to pull off upsets in the 1st weekend:
#8 Memphis man this is a HUGE under seed I was shocked when I saw Memphis seeded that low. this is a serious team that dominated Conference USA and played a ton of tough non-conference games! they are even a threat to #1 Michigan St in their region. Look out for Memphis.
#7 Florida Granted the SEC was not as deep or talented this year as in years past but still a solid conference Florida just couldn't get past Kentucky who just happens to be the #1overall seed in the tourney! Florida is a better team than a #7
Now when getting down to it picking upsets has a lot to do with knowing basketball as well! you kind of haft to look at it from a coaches standpoint. in Basketball the best way to beat a team that has more talent than you is 1 key thing Execution. When teams make very few mistakes and execute flawlessly it cuts down on the huge gap of talent and makes it very difficult for Major schools to beat mid majors! (I always use the example of last years VCU PG Joey Rodriguez in the 5 games to the final four he had 45assists to only 5 turnovers) So the key thing to look for in Mid Major match ups are teams that have low turnovers, great guard play, and play great defense.
Mid Majors that fit this criteria:
1.) Murray State (they are a 6 seed but still a mid major)
2.) Long Beach St (LBSU)
3.) Belmont
4.) Ohio
if your going to pick upsets I would suggest to start looking with those 4 teams there
Now here are my upset picks. Now nothing is a 100% guarantee but these are the ones I think have the most potential to happen!
#11 Colorado over #4 UNLV
#8 Memphis over #1 Michigan St. in round of 32
#12 Long Beach St. over #5 New Mexico St./ #12 Long Beach St. over #4 Louisville
(This follows into what I was talking about earlier with rule #3 double digit seed in sweet 16 I think LBSU will be that team and I have Louisville as one of my over seeded teams)
#10 Ohio over #7 Michigan
#14 Belmont over #3 Georgetown
(This is my risk taking upset I think Belmont's fast paced guard play can cause Georgetown issues and Georgetown has always laid huge eggs in big games)
Now I'm not going to give away my entire tournament bracket but I was going to give out a few tips and knowledge on setting up your bracket! So I hope everybody thinks my blog is very helpful and good luck to everybody filling out their brackets!
Lastly always remember this is March Madness anything can happen!
First lets start off with 3 basic key rules that I personally say you must follow when making your picks for your bracket.
1.) In the history of the NCAA tournament only once (2008) have all 4 #1 seeds made the Final Four. So what does that tell you never put all #1 seeds in your Final Four it never happens.
2.) Never pick the #16 seed over a #1seed its never happened in the history of the men's tournament and its only happened once in the women's tournament. Granted I truly believe that upset will happen one day but not this year.
3.) of the past 27 years of the NCAA tournament 25 times there has been at least on double-digit seed #10 or higher (preferably #10seed-#14seed) has made the sweet 16. So when filling out your bracket have at least one double digit seed in the round of 16.
NOW LETS GET STARTED WITH THE GOOD STUFF! PICKING UPSETS!
Upsets happen every year its what makes March Madness so crazy. The key to having a great tournament bracket is picking the right upsets. That's the difference between winning your pool and losing your pool! Here are some tips and things I look for when picking upsets.
1.) The first thing I look for is schools from bigger conferences that are what I call over-seeded. These are teams that I say get too much credit and the benefit of the doubt just because their a school from a bigger conference and aren't as good as they are seeded.
Teams I feel are over-seeded:
#3 Georgetown (they were a 5 seed in the Big East tourney and lost in the quarters their not as good as advertised)
#4 Louisville The Selection Committee had no choice in this seeding because Louisville won the way overrated Big East conference tourney this year but they were very mediocre for a good stretch this season they are over seeded!
#5 UNLV (Granted they beat UNC very early in the season but they finished 9-5 in the Mountain West #Over seeded big time)
#9 So. Miss (My dad may disown me for this one because this is his Alma mater LOL!) but the Golden Eagles are over-seeded!
The Second thing I look for is the exact opposite. These are teams that I feel are under seeded these are the teams that can make strong cases to pull off upsets in the 1st weekend:
#8 Memphis man this is a HUGE under seed I was shocked when I saw Memphis seeded that low. this is a serious team that dominated Conference USA and played a ton of tough non-conference games! they are even a threat to #1 Michigan St in their region. Look out for Memphis.
#7 Florida Granted the SEC was not as deep or talented this year as in years past but still a solid conference Florida just couldn't get past Kentucky who just happens to be the #1overall seed in the tourney! Florida is a better team than a #7
Now when getting down to it picking upsets has a lot to do with knowing basketball as well! you kind of haft to look at it from a coaches standpoint. in Basketball the best way to beat a team that has more talent than you is 1 key thing Execution. When teams make very few mistakes and execute flawlessly it cuts down on the huge gap of talent and makes it very difficult for Major schools to beat mid majors! (I always use the example of last years VCU PG Joey Rodriguez in the 5 games to the final four he had 45assists to only 5 turnovers) So the key thing to look for in Mid Major match ups are teams that have low turnovers, great guard play, and play great defense.
Mid Majors that fit this criteria:
1.) Murray State (they are a 6 seed but still a mid major)
2.) Long Beach St (LBSU)
3.) Belmont
4.) Ohio
if your going to pick upsets I would suggest to start looking with those 4 teams there
Now here are my upset picks. Now nothing is a 100% guarantee but these are the ones I think have the most potential to happen!
#11 Colorado over #4 UNLV
#8 Memphis over #1 Michigan St. in round of 32
#12 Long Beach St. over #5 New Mexico St./ #12 Long Beach St. over #4 Louisville
(This follows into what I was talking about earlier with rule #3 double digit seed in sweet 16 I think LBSU will be that team and I have Louisville as one of my over seeded teams)
#10 Ohio over #7 Michigan
#14 Belmont over #3 Georgetown
(This is my risk taking upset I think Belmont's fast paced guard play can cause Georgetown issues and Georgetown has always laid huge eggs in big games)
Now I'm not going to give away my entire tournament bracket but I was going to give out a few tips and knowledge on setting up your bracket! So I hope everybody thinks my blog is very helpful and good luck to everybody filling out their brackets!
Lastly always remember this is March Madness anything can happen!
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