Let the Madness Begin!!!!!

The greatest sporting event, at least of March, is upon us. I don't really watch college basketball during the regular season, but I do follow and keep up with the teams. The following is the bracket I have entered into my online tournament league.
Click the title of the post if you would like to join us--the more the merrier. Group ID is 60640 and leave the password field blank.

Here are my picks within this league.

EAST REGION
First Round Winners:
North Carolina--Duh!
Arkansas--I hate Indiana, but I think the Razorbacks are the better team as well.
Notre Dame--I hate Notre Dame, but they have a good enough team to make it out of the first round. They should be able to ride Harangody, Big East POY, a few rounds at least.
Washington State--Had a horrible conference record but were lights out outside their conference. Going 13-1.
St. Joseph's--The Sooners are hurting and the Hawks are deadly from outside.
Louisville--Rick Pitino. Good coaching of a good team is always good for at least one win. Granted the Cardinals are a really good team. Should have no problem with Boise State.
South Alabama--I think these teams are pretty evenly matched so I picked the upset just to be different. Either one (South Alabama or Butler) is good for only one win anyway.
Tennessee--The Vols are hot and are the only team to beat Memphis so far this year. Very good team.

Second Round Winners:
North Carolina--UNC is probably the tournament winner in a majority of the brackets. Could be a good game as Arkansas did take out Tennessee in the SEC tournament.
Washington State--I hate Notre Dame. Washington State's shooting takes the advantage of Harangody away.
Louisville--Rick Pitino. St Joe's run ends against the Cardinals. Louisville is too tough defensively.
Tennessee--South Alabama or Butler should not be a problem for the hot Vols. Yes they lost in the SEC tournament, but that was a fluke.

Regional Semi Winners:
North Carolina--Washington State will not be able to answer for Hansbrough.
Louisville--This will be a great defensive game. I think Louisville's offense is just better enough to pull this game out.

Regional Finals Winner:
North Carolina--The best team of the region earns their trip to the final four.

MIDWEST REGION
First Round Winners:
Kansas--Duh!
Kent State--Evenly matched teams, but if UNLV gets cold from downtown, then it will be over quick. Kent State produces a lot of turnovers.
Clemson--Nova has had some good runs, but they should not be in this tournament. They got here on name only. The Tigers will have there way with the Wildcats.
Siena--My Cinderella team. Vandy can't shoot the ball away from their home court and Sienna doesn't turn the ball over. Should be a good game.
USC--Beasley is the best in the nation hands down, but he can only do so much. No help from his teammates will equal an early exit for K-State.
Wisconsin--I'm not too keen on the Badgers but they have a solid team and should handle CSU Fullerton with ease.
Davidson--Davidson is better than people realize and should pull off a mild shocker against Gonzaga.
Georgetown--The Hoya's should have won the Big East, but they ran into the buzzsaw that is Pittsburgh. They will fare better in this tournament.

Second Round Winners:
Kansas--Kansas should have no trouble keeping Kent State grounded. Their superior defense and offense will prevail.
Siena--The Saints will pull off their last upset in beating Clemson. Tigers are one of the best rebounding teams though, so if the Saints mis the mark too much I will be wrong.
USC--The Badgers will not be able to contain Mayo who will light them up and lead his team into the Semis.
Georgetown--The Hoyas should take the wind out of the Wildcats' sails. Davidson didn't really play anybody outside their conference so a powerhouse like G'Town will be a big problem.

Regional Semi Winners:
Kansas--The best team in the bracket will not have any trouble with Siena or Clemson or Villanova or Vanderbilt.
G'TownThe Mayo era at USC comes to a close with the Trojan's loss to Georgetown.

Regional Finals Winner:
Kansas--They are too balanced for the Hoyas to keep up.

SOUTH REGION
First Round Winners:
Memphis--Duh!
Mississippi State--Good match-up here could go either way. Oregon could just as easily win this game as the Bulldogs.
Michigan State--Temple is a decent team, but Tom Izzo is one of the best tournament coaches of all time.
Pittsburgh--My sleeper of this bracket. The Panthers have their two best players back from injury and are playing their best basketball of the year right now.
Marquette--Another Big East team. Kentucky will be a crowd favorite, but they just do not have it this year.
Stanford--The Cardinal should send the Ivy League rep (Cornell) packing easily. Ivy League teams have not won a tournament game in a long time.
St. Mary's--St. Mary's is great at stopping the three and Miami is good at shooting them. Stopping or at least altering shots is easier than making them....St. Mary's will win.
Texas--Beat Tennessee, UCLA, and Kansas(once). Shouldn't have any trouble with Austin Peay.

Second Round Winners:
Memphis--Ducks or Dogs....doesn't matter. The Tigers will eat them alive (as long as they don't have to win it from the line).
Pittsburgh--Here come the Panthers. Rough style will be too much for the Spartans.
Stanford--The Cardinal and their twin towers (Brook and Robin Lopez) will be too much for the under-sized Eagles.
Texas--Texas is too good to lose this early.

Regional Semi Winners:
Pittsburgh--I always liked Panthers better than Tigers. The physical style of Pittsburgh will keep Memphis at the line. Memphis sucks from the line. Game to Pittsburgh.
Stanford--The twin towers will prove the difference. Defense will be the key and Stanford had one of the best D's inside the arc.

Regional Finals Winner:
Pittsburgh--Again, the physical style of Pitt will get the twin towers into early foul trouble making it easier for the Panthers to score.

WEST REGION
First Round Winners:
UCLA--Duh!
BYU--Pick'em game between BYU and Texas A&M. Another 8v9 match-up that is way to close to call.
Drake--Drake is lights out from beyond the arc. Even with some cold shooting they should be able to make it past the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky.
UCONN--San Diego is no match for UConn. UConn is the #1 blocking team in the country and plays some tough D.
Baylor--Fluke loss to Colorado in the Big 12 tourney. Baylor is much better than their 11 seed.
Xavier--Georgia played WAY above themselves in the SEC tourney. The Minutemen will shoot their bubble out and bring them crashing back to earth.
West Virginia--WVU is the better team and will keep Arizona from playing in Phoenix later in the bracket.
Duke--Coach K.

Second Round Winners:
UCLA--The Bruins will run over whoever they face in this round.
Drake--UConn plays great D against the short stuff, but Drake will bomb the Huskies right out of the building.
Xavier--Minutemen are well balanced and should end Baylor's run. Probably will be a pretty high scoring game.
West Virginia--Joe Alexander will dominate the boards and any pathetic body Duke gets close to him. Duke relies too much on their 3's and has no defense what-so-ever. They also have absolutely nobody to challenge Alexander in the paint.

Regional Semi Winners:
UCLA--Too much for the Bulldogs of Drake. Drake may be able to rain the 3's on you but they also have to stop the multi-faceted offense of the Bruins....something that won't happen.
Xavier--The Minutemen are more balanced and more disciplined than the Mountaineers. Close game that will go Xavier's way in the end.

Regional Finals Winner:
UCLA--Dominant team that will dominate. Even more balanced than Xavier. Will move into yet another Final Four.


FINAL FOUR
Game 1:
Kansas--Kansas will finally end their futility against North Carolina. Defense will be the key to the Jayhawks win. The Jayhawks play better D than the Tar Heels and have a good enough offense to out score North Carolina in the end.

Game 2:
Pittsburgh--The beast from the Big East will pound the Bruins into the ground. As long as the ref's don't hand the game to UCLA (like they did in the PAC-10 tourney) then Pitt will grind the Bruins down over the course of 40 minutes.

FINALS
Kansas--Kansas will play the rough style of Pitt and still beat them. The Jayhawks are the best in the nation in both offensive and defensive efficiency.