How’s your bracket?

By
Pat Dooley
-
9
310

Mine stinks. It’s wadded up and in the recycle bin.

The tournament has lived up to expectations even if my knowledge of college basketball has not. The late-game heroics, buzzer-beaters and zebra mistakes have given us an odd Sweet 16.

When Florida State and Virginia Commonwealth face off, it will be the first-ever meeting between teams seeded 10th and 11th. (Although you can spare me the talk that the committee got it right by putting VCU in the tourney. Who knows if Harvard or St. Mary’s could have made a similar run?)

The Southwest bracket is bizarre. The Southeast, of which Florida is a member, makes sense except for Butler being in. Here’s a look at how the Sweet 16 looks by seeds. And by the way, the Big East will never get 11 teams in again. Not with only two still alive. There are as many teams alive from Richmond as the Big East.

No. 1s: Three (Kansas, Duke, Ohio State).

No. 2s: Three  (Florida, North Carolina, San Diego State).

No. 3s: Two (BYU, UConn).

No 4s: Two (Kentucky, Wisconsin).

No. 5s: One  (Arizona).

No. 6s: Zero-point-zero.

No. 7s: Zero.

No. 8s: One (Butler).

No. 9s: Zero.

No. 10s: One (Florida State).

No. 11s: Two (Marquette, VCU).

No. 12s: One (Richmond).

And no 13, 14, 15 or 16 seeds.

Crazy tournament, eh? Any time you have as many 11 seeds as threes, it’s wild.

So here is my updated bracket.

Still like Ohio State coming out of the East. Still like Arizona coming out of the West. (I get some credit for that call, don’t I?) I now will take Wisconsin out of the Southeast. If Kenny Boynton were 100 percent I’d take Florida, but that ankle worries me. And Kansas out of the Southeast.

I think we’ll see a Kansas-Ohio State final. Like you would go with what I think. Tell me how your bracket is.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Purdue really screwed me by dropping the ball against VCU. Other than that, my other Final 4 picks are still in the hunt (UK. Duke. and Florida) while the Cats and Gators remain on a collision course for an epic National Championship game.

  2. Macklin will have to play much better for us to continue to move forward. He has been invisible on the glass this post season. When Walker gets as many rebounds as a 6’10” guy who’s supposed to be a senior leader, that indicates a lack of heart and desire to me. When Macklin goes up against a big guy, he just gets pushed around. He did a few good things offensively in the 2nd half, but defensively, everyone else played better than him. He needs to attach the boards like Tyus has been. That will keep us moving toward the final 4!

  3. Still have Ohio St/Kansas/Uconn/Florida – with Kansas beating Florida. Hope I’m wrong about that. Great games though, this has been the most entertaining first weekend I can remember. Go Gators!

  4. My bracket was great until the senior laden Irish failed to show up. I had Ohio St. SD State, Notre Dame and Florida in the final four. I guess I’ll go with the Jayhawks if they can get by Shaka Smart.

  6. I’ve picked half of the Sweet 16 teams in my brackets. The irony is that I did the worst in the SE bracket that had the gators in it. I’m wondering if i was picking the teams I hoped would win instead of picking with my brain.

    Both south brackets are a mess with only Kansas and UF as correct picks by me. My best bracket is by far the West bracket where I picked every game right except the Zona/Texas game. The east I gave Syracuse too much credit but otherwise still have OSU, UK, and UNC in the Sweet 16.

    Looking at my bracket, it would be much better if I cut the bracket in half and threw away the entire right side. :*(

  7. Wow John S. Maklin is such a huge part of why this team is where they are… how many rebounds do you think Tyus would have had were it not for Macklin dealing with a 345 pound load? Lack of heart and desire??? Macklin is a Gator through and through and his improved play is one of the biggest reasons this team is so much better than last year’s team. Get over yourself…