NCAA Bracket Selections

Thursday has come, everyone has filled out their brackets and opening tip-off of the 2010 NCAA Tournament is just hours away. The first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA Tournament have a certain buzz about them, kind of like we are watching something great develop in its infant stages. I, of course, have taken the afternoon off and a vacation day on Friday to watch all of the action. I will be blogging, semi-live, throughout today’s games with my thoughts on all that is happening. Be ready for betting updates, upset alerts, buzzer beater reactions and much more as we take in all of the action in today’s opening games!

Before we get to the games, however, it is time to unveil the “official” People’s Quarterback bracket. I call it official because like so many of you, I fill out too many of these things to keep track of. This one, however, is the one I am holding myself accountable for, as Regis used to say, “final answer!”

Before I give my picks, I must admit that I have watched more college basketball this year than I can ever remember. When you have a pregnant wife that goes to sleep at 8pm and a new sports blog, you have both a reason and an excuse to watch as much sports as possible, and in this case college hoops.

For instance, I have seen three, yes three, Utah State home games. I say this because their home court advantage is awesome. They squeeze around 11,000 people into their arena, cheer the whole game, have their student section behind the visiting teams’ hoop in the second half and have one student, a rather large man, dress in skimpy costumes and stand on a table and dance around when the visitors shoot free throws. In two of the games I saw, he was dressed as Robinhood and Cupid. Highly entertaining, but I bring this up because how many people outside of Utah or that are not alumni have seen one Utah St. game ever, let alone three home games in one year. I know that Isaiah Thomas of Washington was named Isaiah because his father lost a bet on a Detroit Pistons playoff game when Thomas’ mother was pregnant with him. I also know his mother allowed the name because it was a biblical name.

I know the Pac 10 stinks, the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West are strong, I know transfers are making a big deal across the country, like Jordan Crawford at Xavier (formerly Indiana), Taylor King at Villanova (Duke), Wes Johnson at Syracuse (Iowa State), and Derrick Caracter at UTEP (Louisville). I know that Kansas and Kentucky are the two best teams but that Syracuse and Duke were rewarded with the two easiest paths to the Final Four. I know how teams have done against the spread, at home, and on the road. Quite frankly, I know way more than I should about way more teams, conferences and players than I will ever need to know.

So what does that all mean, absolutely nothing! That is what makes March Madness so great and so many people across the country love it. My bracket has the same chance as my wife’s, who may have seen Pitt play one time all season as her only basketball watching experience and who picked North Texas to reach the Sweet Sixteen. So without further ado, here is the first official People’s Quarterback bracket:

Midwest

Kansas over Lehigh
UNLV over N. Iowa
MSU over New Mexico St
Maryland over Houston
San Diego State over Tennessee
Georgetown over Ohio
Georgia Tech over Oklahoma State
Ohio State over UCSB

Kansas over Michigan State
Ohio State over Georgetown

Kansas over Ohio State

West

Syracuse over Vermont
Gonzaga over Florida State
UTEP over Butler
Murray State over Vanderbilt
Xavier over Minnesota
Pitt over Oakland
BYU over Florida
Kansas State over North Texas

Syracuse over UTEP
Kansas State over Pitt

Syracuse over Kansas State

East

Kentucky over ETSU
Texas over Wake Forest
Temple over Cornell
Wisconsin over Wofford
Marquette over Washington
New Mexico over Montana
Missouri over Clemson
West Virginia over Morgan State

Kentucky over Wisconsin
West Virginia over Marquette

Kentucky over West Virginia

South

Duke over Ark-Pine Bluff
Louisville over California
Texas A&M over Utah State
Siena over Purdue
Old Dominion over Notre Dame
Baylor over Sam Houston State
Richmond over St. Mary’s
Villanova over Robert Morris

Duke over Texas A&M
Baylor over Villanova

Baylor over Duke

Final Four

Kansas over Syracuse
Kentucky over Baylor

Kentucky over Kansas