I didn't do any seedings or anything but these are my predictions for the 65 teams in the Tournament and then I skip ahead to the Final 4. Conference winners are in bold.
Albany Xavier North Carolina Duke Boston College Florida State Maryland Georgia Tech Wake Forest Virginia Lipscomb Kansas Texas Texas A&M Kansas State Oklahoma State Texas Tech Georgetown Connecticut Villanova Pitt Marquette Syracuse Louisville Montana Winthrop Ohio State Illinois Indiana Wisconsin Michigan Michigan State Long Beach State Hofstra George Mason Memphis Houston UAB Loyola, Chi. Penn Iona Oral Roberts Kent State Delaware State Wichita State Creighton San Diego State Monmouth Samford UCLA Washington Arizona Bucknell Florida Tennessee Kentucky LSU Alabama South Carolina Davidson Stephen F. Austin Alabama State Western Kentucky Gonzaga Nevada
FINAL 4
Florida over Ohio State North Carolina over Kansas
Okay, heres my 2007 NCAA Tournament Predictions, I changed my predictions on some of the teams that are going to make the tournament and I also tweaked my Final 4 prediction. Here's how it goes-
Play-in Game: Albany over Alabama State
East Rutherford - First Round
#1 Florida over #16 Albany .#9 Kentucky upsets #8 Michigan #5 Creighton over #12 San Diego State #13 Western Kentucky upsets #4 Texas #3 Texas A&M over #14 Iona #11 South Carolina over #6 Boston College #10 Louisville upsets #7 Gonzaga #2 Duke over #15 Davidson
San Jose - First Round
#1 LSU over #16 Oral Roberts #8 Illinois over #9 Maryland #12 Wake Forest upsets #5 Washington #4 Memphis over #13 Loyola, Chi. #3 Arizona over #14 Long Beach State #11 Xavier upsets #6 Marquette #10 Georgia Tech upsets #7 Syracuse #2 Ohio State over #15 Lipscomb
San Antonio - First Round
#1 North Carolina over #16 Monmouth #9 Hofstra upsets #8 Florida State #5 Wichita State over #12 Kent State #4 Alabama over #13 Bucknell #3 Pittsburgh over #14 Penn #6 Texas Tech over #11 UAB #10 Indiana upsets #7 Oklahoma State #2 Georgetown over #15 Delaware State
St. Louis - First Round
#1 Kansas over #16 Stephen F. Austin #9 Nevada upsets #8 Kansas State #12 George Mason upsets #5 Tennessee #4 Wisconsin over #13 Winthrop #3 UConn over #14 Samford #6 Villanova over #11 Southern Illinois #7 Michigan State over #10 Houston #2 UCLA over #15 Montana
East Rutherford - Second Round
#1 Florida over #9 Kentucky #5 Creighton over #13 Western Kentucky #3 Texas A%M over #11 South Carolina #2 Duke over #10 Louisville
San Jose - Second Round
#1 LSU over #8 Illinois #12 Wake Forest upsets #4 Memphis #11 Xavier upsets #3 Arizona #2 Ohio State over #7 Georgia Tech
San Antonio - Second Round
#1 North Carolina over #9 Hofstra #4 Alabama over #5 Wichita State #6 Texas Tech upsets #3 Pittsburgh #10 Indiana upsets #2 Georgetown
St. Louis - Second Round
#1 Kansas over #9 Nevada #4 Wisconsin over #12 George Mason #3 UConn over #6 Villanova #2 UCLA over #7 Michigan State
East Rutherford - Sweet 16
#1 Florida over #5 Creighton #3 Texas A&M upsets #2 Duke
San Jose - Sweet 16
#1 LSU over #12 Wake Forest #2 Ohio State over #11 Xavier
San Antonio - Sweet 16
#1 North Carolina over #4 Alabama #6 Texas Tech over #10 Indiana
Wow, Texas goes down in the 1st round? What do you see in W. Kentucky to make you predict that?
You really like Texas A&M this year, huh? I like them too. There's a lot of excitement in College Station, and Billy Gillespie has that team on the right track.
I would take Wichita State over Alabama if those two teams were to play.
Did you hear Duke guard Greg Paulus is out indefinitely? Does that change your predictions?
It's not really what I see in Western Kentucky as much as what I dont see in Texas. They're kind of a team without a heart. Every March it seems as though they don't have any inspiration to go out there and win.
The Wichita State/Alabama game was almost a toss up for me so I just went for the team from the tougher conference that will be more battle tested.
Paulus out doesn't change my prediction. The selection committee always overrates them and either way I dont think they would lose to Davidson or Louisville.
What were some of the matchups that you liked in it? I really like the Tech/UAB game between Bobby Knight and Mike Davis and the Tech/Indiana game in the Sweet 16 speaks for itself. Could you see the Red Raiders going as far as I have them going?
Texas never goes this distance, but they always make it to the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight.
I'm not a big fan of Paulus anyway. I don't see what all the commotion is about him.
I'd probably have Tech going to the Sweet 16, but an Elite Eight appearance isn't out of the question.
Some matchups I liked:
Florida-Kentucky: I love watching these two teams play because they hate each other. This could be the 4th meeting of the year, assuming they clash in the SEC Tournament.
Kansas-Nevada: These two have a history, so it would be fun to watch them battle it out in the NCAA Tournament.
By the way, I wouldn't pick Villanova over Southern Illinois. I think this could be a down year for them.
