Some uneasy bracket thoughts

This year’s NCAA tournament leaves me feeling incredibly uneasy. I’m not sure how I feel about the higher seeds, but I feel good about a lot of the mid range seeds. Still, that doesn’t mean that the tournament will be rife with upsets. The high seeded teams are there for a reason. I made a lot of picks I wasn’t comfortable with.

At the same, rather than writing the ending first, I looked at matchups more closely. What team could beat another? What team would? That made me feel a little bit better, but it led to two tough situations. First, Michigan versus South Dakota State. I feel like that game will be closer than anyone wants (except maybe the Jackrabbits), but if the Wolverines can get out of it, I think they have the horses to run with almost everyone in the South. The other is Indiana squaring off in their Sweet 16 game. I just, again, have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that they are poised to slip up somewhere. It’s been a long time for the Big Ten and Indiana. Things sometimes don’t go as well as we would hope.

So below, in every region, I have listed my first round upsets, and my elite 8 teams, as well as a game that I am particularly uneasy about.

MIDWEST
Upsets: (9) Missouri over (8) Colorado State, (12) Oregon over (5) Oklahoma State, (13) New Mexico State over (4) St. Louis, (11) St. Mary’s over (6) Memphis
Elite 8: Louisville over Michigan State
Unsettling: Michigan State vs. Duke (S16) – I’ve been on the Duke bandwagon all year, but their recent play bumped me off. They seem beatable, and Michigan State is a great tournament team. They always are. If Duke gets past Michigan State, I like them over Louisville. Of course I am feeling a bit queasy about all those first round upsets.

SOUTH
Upsets: (9) Villanova over (8) North Carolina, (11) Minnesota over (6) UCLA
Elite 8: Florida over Michigan
Unsettling: I already mentioned the Michigan-South Dakota State game, where I think South Dakota State is one of the stronger 13 seeds out there. They just happen to be playing one of the stronger 4 seeds. I also want to note San Diego State versus Georgetown, a game I have in the 2nd round. The Mountain West was the top conference this year, while the Big East has done very poorly in the tournament of late. It felt weird, but I went with San Diego State

WEST
Upsets: (9) Wichita State over (8) Pittsburgh, (11) Belmont over (6) Arizona, (10) Iowa State over (7) Notre Dame
Elite 8: Ohio State over Gonzaga
Unsettling: New Mexico over Belmont. I’ve noted that New Mexico basically is Minnesota, with a bit better defense. I am putting them in the Sweet 16, and that feels funny.

EAST
Upsets: (9) Temple over (8) North Carolina State, (13) Montana over (4) Syracuse
Elite 8: Indiana over Miami
Unsettling: I mentioned I have a funny feeling about Indiana, but I picked them to move on because I like their matchup every step of the way. What I don’t like is UNLV, who was terrible on the road, and Marquette, who is from the Big East, in the Sweet 16. But I picked it anyways.

My winner is Indiana, even though I am uneasy about it. That’s how this tournament is. Also, Indiana winning would hurt me deeply, and that’s sort of how this year has gone, sports-wise.