South Bracket

Finally, the South Bracket! I know that I said that I thought that the East is the toughest bracket, but the South bracket is certainly bottom heavy and quite possibly could be the most competitive of all the brackets. Anytime the Toe would like to grace The Nutz with his picks, we would sure be appreciated. My Championship selection show will be posted tomorrow before the first game. Let's get to my views and predictions on the South!

My South Bracket

1) North Carolina vs. 16) Radford

8) LSU vs. 9) Butler

5) Illinois vs. 12) Western Kentucky

4) Gonzaga vs. 13) Akron

6) Arizona State vs. 11) Temple

3) Syracuse vs. 14) SF Austin

7) Clemson vs. 10) Michigan

2) Oklahoma vs. 15) Morgan State

What is the health of Ty Lawson? This quite possibly could be the biggest question heading into the NCAA Tournament. When watching the Selection Show and the South Bracket was being selected last, during the commercial break I ran off the top 6 seeds in my head, going by process of elimination which was pretty easy to do, so I ran them off: UNC, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Arizona State, Gonzaga and Illinois. Little did I know that the committee this year really...really downplayed the Pac-10 and gave Arizona state a 6 seed and rewarded Illinois a 5. That totally shocked me. Now you have one of the best possible match ups in the second round for the entire weekend. But, I'll get into that later. As for the first round match ups, I really wish the nation had a chance to appreciate the school of Radford but they get a 16 seed and will be out early, but if you get a chance check out their center. I have Western Kentucky making another run in the tournament this year with an upset over an injury filled Illinois squad. LSU should beat a young Butler team, but who honestly would put it past the SEC to go winless in the tournament this year. If you are a basketball lover though, the Clemson/Michigan match up is a dream. An up and down pressing style offense/defense verses a half court team with many defensive and offensive sets. I'll take the Michigan team that starts 4 guards and really can have anyone break the press of the Clemson Tigers, but the real key to the game is which team controls the tempo and hits outside shots. To the second round I love all the higher seeds to advance, except in the best match up in the second round for the weekend. Before the tournament I told the Pitbull that I will find it hard not to advance Herb Sendek and his Arizona State squad far in the tournament, and he agreed. Little did we know that they would be playing his team in the second round in Syracuse. That is tough, and I would be pissed if I was an Orangemen fan. Veteran leadership, a marquee play maker, and a different style of offense with a disrupting defense usually leads to nice tournament runs. And I really love the Sundevils to make one as a 6-seed.

"I'm a Sundevil, Jerry!"

And I think that they are able to beat Oklahoma as well. Oklahoma has had some problems as of late with their guard play, and I think Blake Griffin alone can only take you so far. As far as North Carolina is concerned, even with the uncertainty of Lawson, how can you not put them into the Final Four. It is very possible that this is a major concern for the Tarheels, but they might be just pulling our chains and trying their best to keep Lawson on the bench to rest until he is at 100%. What has me tossed though is...what if he is never at 100%? Will the Tarheels and Tyler Hansbrough get to the Final Four and make a bigger mark on his NCAA career. I think the answer is still yes. I picked the Tarheels to go to the National Championship at the start of the season and I am not about to knock them out before the Final Four now. So I got the Tarheels moving on to Detroit but it won't be easy. But it will be interesting!