Bread's Bracket Talk

Bracketology is here, and you can find me beneath a sea of printed out brackets. Of course, that’s when my kitty cat hasn’t decided to take a nap on them, making me wait for her to wake up to drown myself in March Madness mania once again.

Of course I will be going absolutely bonkers on the individual games, but for three days from the time that the matchups are announced to the opening tipoff, it’s all about the brackets for me. I’ve been in love with them for as long as I can remember. I used to skip school for the opening two days of the NCAA tournament. Now I take the days off of work. It is a magical time.

I ended up playing 10 brackets in all this year, partaking in three different pools. It’s been awhile since I’ve won anything, which is about par for the course. Perhaps this will be my year. For grits and shiggles, let’s take a little look at a breakdown of my picks. This way, you know what a winner looks like beforehand.

1 and 2 seeds aren’t going anywhere for awhile. I did however, leave a bit of room for a 14-seed upset of a 3. Montana has a minimal chance to beat New Mexico. The Lobos are probably happy just to be here. It could happen. You might also find an upset pick on one sheet of Georgetown, but to be honest, I’m just bitter with G’town over my Big East Championship moneyline loss.

If there is an upset to be seen by a 13-seed, keep an eye on Siena. Purdue doesn’t impress me and I’m sure that none of their opponents will be shaking in their boots. A 13-seed that has no shot is Wofford, because nobody is quite sure what a Wofford is. But seriously though, Wisconsin is going to hurt them.

Then there is the always-interesting 5 vs. 12-seed matchup. The secret has been out for years, and the 12-seeds have been making their backers happy for quite some time now. I’ll be paying close attention to the Cornell-Temple game. I caught several Temple games this year, and made several mental notes that they would be a good fade come tourney time. Well, that time is now. I have the Big Red in half of my sheets to represent the Ivy League to the fullest against the lackluster Owls.

The “upsets” become a lot less shocking at the 6 vs. 11-seed levels. I don’t think too many jaws would drop should Old Dominion take out Notre Dame. Actually, I’d be shocked if the Irish made it out of the first round. There is little chance that anyone is going to stop Baylor from advancing to the Sweet 16, but at least Old Dominion could make a game of it.

On 9 of 10 sheets I’ve declared that 8-seeded UNLV will beat 9th seed Northern Iowa. Usually these matchups are a toss-up, but I ain’t scared. This game could certainly make or break my bracket experience, so just root for the Rebels with me.

Not surprisingly, Kentucky (7), Kansas (5), Syracuse (5), Kansas St. (4), Villanova (4) and Duke (4) are leading the charge for my Final Four picks. Of course there are some random selections taken here and there just in case there is a repeat of the George Mason season, but for the most part you have to play it safe in the later rounds.

For overall winners, I’m leaning towards the Kentucky Wildcats. On half of my sheets I’ve marked them down to emerge as the ultimate winner of this wonderful mess. Next up I have Duke (3), Syracuse (1) and Kansas (1). Pretty lame to play 10 sheets and select all 1-seeds to win, but there you have it. Of course it’s all the little games in between that will separate he who gets paid from all those looking up at him. I could certainly use the money to replenish my beer tab. God bless March Madness.




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