MVB Bracketology - Midwest and South

We're getting closer and my legs shake every time I think about it. ITS MARCH MADNESS BABY.

THE MIDWEST

Games you must watch : The first round in the Midwest bracket showcases two of the most intriguing matchups. First, we have the epic showdown between two of college basketball’s freshmen phenoms. Pro Scouts will be lining up at the door to watch when 6th Seed USC and 11th seed Kansas State show up to play. O.J Mayo and Taj Gibson are the two superstars on USCs roster but KSU freshman Michael Beasley is THE main man in college basketball. He will no doubt be one of the top three players taken in the upcoming NBA Draft. It’s Mayo vs. Beasley on the brightest stage of them all.

Also in the first round, Clemson vs. Villanova. Clemson has been very impressive in recent weeks. They took it to Duke in the ACC tournament and nearly pulled off a huge upset against the tournament favorite UNC Tarheels. The medias opinion and general consensus amongst people I talk to is that Clemson is for real. They are a Cinderella story waiting to happen. Villanova may have something to say to the Tiger bandwagon. Even though they wield a puny 12th seed, they have a lot of experience against good teams. Throughout the season, they played a team significantly better then Clemson on 8 occasions. Though they only won twice (1 point win vs. Pitt and 2 pt win vs. Uconn), they know how to play when it counts.

Underrated : Villanova. Nova has struggled recently but they have the players, the experience and a boatload of talent to do some damage.

Overrated : Vandy. Other then their win against Tennessee on their home court (If you’ve ever watched Vandy play at home, you know how big of an advantage it is), they have no quality wins whatsoever. Clemson was much more deserving of their seed.

The winner : Surprise here? Not really. Kansas is going to be the squad that comes out of the Midwest with their heads held high. Whoever they play in the Elite 8 will not be the type of team that can play with Kansas. They are too deep, can score insane amounts of points and really don’t have any weaknesses. They are the most complete team in the tournament and it would be no surprise if they were the winners of the entire thing.

The bracket :


THE SOUTH

Games you must watch : In all honesty, the first round of this bracket is going to be a doozy. Other then the possibility of my Canes getting uspet because they stink, there isn't anything to exciting going on in the south.

Underrated : Nobody. In this bracket, there are very strong 1-5 seeds and very weak 6-15 seeds. None of the teams with poor seeds intimidate anyone when they look at the bracket.

Overrated : Miami. It pains me to type this but it's true. The Miami Hurricanes are a terrible basketball team. They win when they show up and even then, they scare me. The reason they are in this tournament is their win over Duke. That game was a fluke. The Canes led by more than 20 at one point and still had me shaking when regulation was about to expire.

The winner : This is the toughest bracket to predict the winner. Memphis, Texas, Stanford and Pitt all reside in the bracket and it's very possible that we see a Pitt/Memphis matchup and Texas/Standford one as well. Those two games would be the type of game that basketball fans long for.

If I had to choose, my winner would be Memphis. After their loss to Tennessee, who many have going to the final four, they never lost again. The word lose was taken out of Memphis' vocabulary. They have too much firepower. Their freshman Derrick Rose is unbelievable and their senior leader Chris Douglas-Roberts can score on anyone at any time. They are ferocious. It's hard to pick them because of the insane road to the final four that they have, but I am confident that the Tigers have it in them.

The bracket :