MidWest Bracket

The next bracket that I am going to dive into today is the Midwest. There are a lot of mixed feelings about this bracket. Where you have the overall #1 seed and a couple of bubble teams that made it into the field late. Let's get right into my predictions and view of the Midwest bracket.

My MidWest Bracket

1) Louisville vs. 16) Play in Winner

8) Ohio State vs. 9) Siena

5) Utah vs. 12) Arizona

4) Wake Forest vs. 13) Cleveland St

6) West Virginia vs. 11) Dayton

3) Kansas vs. 14) North Dakota St

7) Boston College vs. 10) USC

2) Michigan St vs. 15) Robert Morris

The first team selected into the MidWest bracket ended up being the overall #1 seed in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Did you know that Louisville, though given this great achievement, did not hold as the #1 team in the nation in the AP or Coaches Poll at any point during the season? Then you have the bubbles teams. Right off the bat, the selection of Arizona as a 12 seed hits the television screen, crushing the other teams that are on the bubble. To make matters worse, some say another bubble team in Boston College goes on the list of 65 just a couple of slots later. My overall view of this bracket is that it can potentially be the weakest of all the brackets, but it can also be the most exciting. Meaning that, in the lower part of the bracket besides Robert Morris, I can see any of these teams advancing into the Elite Eight. It can be potentially the weakest by Louisville not getting to play a single competitive team if Wake Forest ends up not advancing to the Sweet Sixteen, and the Cardinals breeze through their competition unscathed. And Wake could very well find themselves in trouble right away with the Horizon League Champs in the 1st round. If the Demon Deacons refuse the shoot well on the perimeter they will be in some serious trouble, this will be not only in the 1st round but with whoever they face in round two. The obvious best match up in the first round is the 7-10 game. The 10 seeded USC Trojans won their way to the Tournament by winning the Pac-10 title, but they have never faced a point guard that controls the game like Tyrese Rice. I think that the Trojans have no shot in this match up, just like the Utes from Utah in the 5-12 game. Any time the past few years a team that many thought shouldn't be in the tournament, ended up winning their first round game. And that is exactly what is going to happen when the Arizona Wildcats play the Utes on Friday. In the second round the lower half of the bracket should be paid attention to the most. Like I said before any team can come out of this part of the bracket. I went with the Mountaineers over the Jayhawks just for the simple fact that Huggins is overdue for a tournament run. In the other match up I went with the Spartans because coach Tom Izzo is the ultimate motivator and will get his team to the Elite Eight...I hope. Louisville up in the top half will have a fun match up with the Wake Forest in the Sweet Sixteen, a match up that totally plays in the hands of the Demon Deacons. If Wake can get by the first two match ups which will really test them, I don't see why they can't win a game in the Sweet Sixteen playing the style of ball that won them 24 games this year. So in the Elite Eight game I have Wake Forest against the Spartans from Michigan State. As much as I think that this bracket is really going to kill me because I am so tossed, and have been trying to over think every scenario, I am going to go with Jeff Teague and the Demon Deacons advancing as a 4 seed to Detroit. Teague is the best player in the MidWest Bracket in my opinion and he will bring Wake to the Final Four...if I am wrong it is because they couldn't get past Cleveland State, watch.