Top Seeds
1. Kansas
2. Georgetown
3. Florida
4. Michigan
Sleepers
Is VCU still considered a sleeper? No? OK, then Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are a tough team to figure out. They started the year 15-1 but finished 5-11. They've beaten the likes of Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Memphis. The biggest problem they have is inconsistent scoring. If Andre and Austin Hollins can shoot better than their 40% averages this team has a chance to win a few games. They play good defense and Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams like to pound the glass.
First Round Upset Alerts
4 Michigan vs 13 South Dakota State - This seems to be eerily similar to last years NCAA tournament for Michigan. Ranked a 4-seed and going up against a team with a star guard. Last time it was Ohio and D.J. Cooper (the only player ever with 2,000 points, 900 assists, 500 rebounds and 300 steals) who upset the Wolverines, this year Nate Wolters and South Dakota State will get their shot. And shoot is what Wolters will do as he pours in 22.7 a game. Michigan has struggled on defense all year, but the good thing for them is they are basically playing a home game at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Oh yeah, and they have Trey Burke.
6 UCLA vs 11 Minnesota - The clear pick for an upset, not only by my standards but Las Vegas as well. The sportsbooks opened this game with Minnesota as a 2.5 point favorite. The 11 favored over the 6? When you see things like that, it usually means the professional handicappers know something. The biggest reason is UCLA's second leading scorer, Jordan Adams, suffered a broken foot in the Pac-12 tournament. Look for the Gophers to take this game.
Possible Matchups
Kansas vs North Carolina - A second round matchup that looks a like a championship game. Roy Williams going up against his old team Kansas for the third time. So far the Jayhawks and Bill Self has gotten the best of Roy's Heels in the first two showdowns. Even though they are an 8-seed UNC still has some quality players in James Michael McAdoo and Reggie Bullock. But they will have a hard time containing Ben McLemore on the perimeter (16.4 ppg) and Jeff Withey inside (8.4 rpg, 3.8 bpg).
Georgetown vs Florida - This game was scheduled for the season opener on a ship but was called at halftime. Florida is a team that scores and plays defense, but played in the SEC, the worst of the power 6 conferences. All 26 of their wins were by double-digits, which is a good and bad thing. Good for obvious reasons, bad because that means when this team plays close games they can't seem to finish (see the Arizona game). Georgetown fell short to Indiana in OT in November and lost only one more game against a ranked team the rest of the year, in the Big East semis to Syracuse in OT. The winner of this game will most likely represent the South in Atlanta and it should be a doosy.
My Pick
This is tough but...Georgetown. Kansas will have a difficult time finding points against the Hoyas and Withey will get lost trying to defend their Princeton style offense. As for Florida, it's for the sole reason of the Gators not being able to win close games. At some point in the tournament every team is faced with adversity and need to either come back or hold on late in games. Florida is great when they blow teams out but in crunch time they wilt. Otto Porter on the other hand seems to thrive in those situations and will be the difference maker as Florida has nobody that can matchup with the Big East player of the year.
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