Bracket of Integrity

OK, so technically, I'm writing this post after midnight. But obviously, I made my Sheet of Integrity before the games started.

Before I give you my picks, I have to say, for all the days I could've missed all the games because I stupidly signed up for a 2pm-9pm shift at Borders, today was probably the best. I even caught the last 4 minutes of the Duke-Belmont game on the ride home. (I found myself pulling for Belmont. 8 years ago I would have been rooting for Duke. But graduating from Syracuse has sucked some of the energy out of my Duke fan-ness. Granted, they're still my second favorite team, but it's a much more distant second.) My only regret was missing the Mayo-Beasley game, which I couldn't even TiVo because it over-lapped with loss.

Without further ado, here's my bracket of integrity:

Round of 32 Results

East
UNC over Indiana

Notre Dame over Washington State

Louisville over Oklahoma

Butler over Tennessee

Notes: Butler is probably my third favorite team in college basketball, so there's a little emotion in that pick. But I think AJ Graves is good enough to be one of Those Guys and lead his team to the sweet sixteen, maybe further...

Midwest
Kansas over Kent State

Villanova over Vanderbilt

Wisconsin over Kansas State

Georgetown over Gonzaga

Notes: Yeah, I'm going Big East heavy this year. But I think Villanova has talent on par with Clemson and Vanderbilt (neither of which scare me), and I like Jay Wright as a coach. There's often a double-digit seed from a major conference who makes a run. I like Villanova in that role this year.

South
Memphis over Oregon

Michigan State over Oral Roberts

Stanford over Kentucky

St. Mary's over Texas

Notes: I liked the Oral Roberts pick because the last team to win the Big East tournament by playing four games was worn out for the tournament (The Gerry Run). I like St. Mary's out of the solid WCC (Gonzaga and San Diego) to knock out Texas before they can get back to their home state soil.

West
UCLA over BYU

Drake over San Diego

Purdue over Georgia

Duke over Arizona

Notes: I liked Georgia as a low seed from a major conference, and they almost pulled it out. Maybe they were tired from their conference tournament. This is a good but not great UConn team, and could certainly be upset by the WCC tournament champ.


Elite Eight Results

East
UNC over Butler

Midwest
Georgetown over Villanova

South
Stanford over Memphis

West
UCLA over Duke

Notes: Butler and Villanova are your Cinderellas, for reasons discussed above. Plus, the potential 1985 championship rematch in the midwestern regional final is too juicy not to happen. In the south, I'm picking Stanford because I don't trust Memphis out of their conference, and I already knocked out Texas. Stanford is solid enough to sneak into the Final Four. Out west, the UCLA-Duke game could be the game of the tournament, because UCLA won't be able to blow the game open and their defense will be tested with all the Blue Devils' weapons. Ultimately though, the superior Bruins will prevail.


Championship
UCLA over UNC

Notes: It's the Bruins' - and Ben Howland's - year. If I was a UCLA fan, I'd be in love with this team. No star, but everyone is freaking good. Lot's of fun-to-root-for role players. Everyone is good at something different. In this game, I think the Bruins can contain Hansbrough inside. Also, Roy Williams may be a hall of fame coach, but I'm taking Ben Howland in the tournament any day.