The first year I ever made picks for the event, I won my dad $200 in a pool he was in. It was a round-by-round format for picking, but still, I called some pretty important upsets and basically guided him to make most of the right picks that year.
I highly doubt that my bracket is going to do anything but completely implode this year, but I figure it's always worth a shot. Here's my full bracket via the ESPN challenge site:
Here's a quick rundown of a few of the more "interesting" picks...
Midwest Region
1st Round: (14) NDSU over (3) Kansas
Kansas is young and inexperienced; definitely prone to make mistakes. They went down to Baylor in the Big 12 tourney, which is pretty lame if you ask me. You can't really factor in last year's title run to this year's squad. Plus with Albert Lea (my hometown) native Ben Woodside scoring mad points for NDSU, anything is possible for this Cinderella candidate. I'd say the odds of an upset are really only about 20%, but that's good enough for me to at least take a shot at picking it.
(6) West Virginia in the Elite 8
If Kansas does go down to NDSU, West Virignia's 1-3-1 defense only needs to get past Michigan State in the Sweet 16. However, Tom Izzo is a great tournament coach and might be able to get around that 1-3-1. Then again, do I trust the "best" team from the overrated Big Ten when they couldn't even win their conference tourney? Then again, many other top teams went out early in their conference tourneys this year, so everything is kinda up in the air on seeding and such. Michigan State probably should've been put in Kansas's 3 seed spot anyway, and vice versa.
West Region
1st/2nd Round: (13) Miss St over (4) Washington and (5) Purdue
I have no East or West coast bias in me (Midwest represent!), but I can't really trust that the Pac 10 was that special this year. Neither was the SEC (probably even worse), but Mississippi State is a hot team that won their tourney. Purdue won the conference tourney in a grossly-overrated conference (my Big Ten) and isn't really that interesting anyway. Besides, I've gotta go with the hot team in this case, and a hot 13-seed taking down a 4 and a 5 doesn't seem like that big of a stretch anyway.
1st/2nd Round: (11) Utah St over (6) Marquette and (3) Missouri
I feel like Utah St could've been a 7 or 8 seed considering their record and RPI. Sure the WAC might've been down a bit, but winning 30 games in any conference is a huge confidence boost for a team. However, taking down a team from the best conference (Big East) and the Big 12 tourney champion (albeit they only had to beat Baylor in the final) is a pretty tall order. Just keeping my fingers crossed to say the least.
East Region
Nothing too fancy here, mainly just chalk and a easy-to-pick upset of (6) UCLA by (11) VCU. My (10) Minnesota Golden Gophers better damn well win at least one game by beating (7) Texas anyway...
South Region
1st Round: (12) Western Kentucky over (5) Illinois
The ever-popular 12-5 upset only appears once in my bracket. Western Kentucky took down top tournament seed Louisville by 14, and that's all I need to pick them over another team from the over-represented Big Ten.
(4) Gonzaga in the Final Four
I've known about this team ever since they beat my Gophers and made the Elite 8 as a Cinderella back in 1999. Since then, we stole (and fired) their coach and they got really, really good. Though they've been somewhat underachieving in the tournament with nothing beyond a Sweet 16 appearance since then, I believe this is their year to finally break through to the Final Four. If UNC's Ty Lawson and his toe aren't 100% (which is very likely at this point) I think the Zags could take them down, and (3) Syracuse will probably be out of gas (6 overtimes?!) by the Elite 8 after squeaking by (2) Oklahoma.
(11) Temple over (6) Arizona St
I picked three 11-6 upsets, though this one was basically on a whim. Temple won the A-10 tourney, and that's good enough for me.
Final Four
(2) Memphis over (1) Louisville
Memphis takes down their in-state rivals in an epic battle.
(1) Pittsburgh over (4) Gonzaga
As much as I love the Zags and their style, their run ends here.
National Championship
(2) Memphis 76, (1) Pittsburgh 69
Memphis returns to the title game and wins it this time, ending the year with a 31-game winning streak dating back to before Christmas.
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