1st round upsets

[Jason G]

Montana was the biggest surprise for me so far. I figured UW-Milwaukee and Texas A&M had great shots at winning.

I also thought Pacific and Winthrop would play tough with BC and Tennessee but I had no idea they'd take it right to the wire like that.

Wow! We were awfully close to a Pacific vs. Montana second round game guaranteeing one of the two would be in the Sweet 16.

As it is now, Go Griz!

[Eric]

I am absolutely terrible at finding upsets. Get this: I picked Oklahoma, Nevada, and San Diego State (going to the Sweet 16 too), Syracuse, UNC Wilmington, and Xavier.

If that isn't terrible picking, I don't know what is. IT'S AWFUL and I can't stand it! Well, if I go 16-0 on Day 2 it won't be that bad!

[Jason G]

Eric, Don't beat yourself up about it. I had every one of those games picked the same way you did except I had GW over UNCW. However, I had Utah State over Washington. I also had Marquette in the Elite 8.

As far as day two goes, I got burned by Bucknell after I correctly called their upset last year. The worst, though, for my bracket was Northwestern State beating Iowa. I had Iowa playing UConn in the final game!

Needless to say, as far as my bracket goes, I'm done!

By the way, how about the mighty MAC? Only three teams in the postseason and only one combined win (although it was by the right team ) That is a terrible ending. I expected a lot more from Kent than what they showed. Miami got beat at the buzzer on the road in the NIT and Akron ran out of steam after having to play overtime on the road in Philadelphia and then going to Omaha less than 48 hours later. Hopefully the NIT will work on that scheduling situation.

[Eric]

Here's how mine looks after Day 3:

I picked UNC Wilmington, Syracuse, Iowa (although I did have an eerie feeling that NW State could win, don't you hate that because when you do listen to that, you lose, and when you don't you lose anyway!), Arkansas, Kansas, San Diego State, Xavier, Oklahoma, Nevada, and that was it.

I did pick George Mason and I did put Wichita State in the Sweet 16. I also picked Alabama and NC State, but those are the only highlights so far with my bracket!

[..fanatic]

Bradley moves to Sweet 16 with its win over Pitt. I thought Kansas may fall but I really didn't expect Brdaley to get to the 2nd round. Bucknell may do the same. I think NW State was the biggest surprise, so far.

I'm surprised that there have actually been a couple lower-seed surprises in the Women's bracket. #11 New Mexico crushed #6 Florida 83-59. #11 Hartford eliminated #6 Temple. Women's ball is getting much more competitive. It used to be that the higher seeds would steamroll everyone.

[Jason G]

Irish, so who are rooting for when George Mason and Witchita State meet this weekend? At least, no matter what happens, one of them is guaranteed to make the Elite Eight.

[Jason G]

The team I most want out is Duke. I have just NEVER liked those guys. After that the two teams I'd like to see go down the most are UConn and UCLA. I'd rather have the GMU-WSU winner play Washington than Connecticut and I think UCLA is tougher match-up for Bradley (if they were to beat Memphis) than Gonzaga would be. Gonzaga had trouble with Loyola Marymount in their conference. I think Bradley is somewhat similar to LMU but the Braves have more talent.

This mid-major thing isn't just an NCAA phenomena either. As I type this Old Dominion and Hofstra (both of the Colonial Athletic Assoc.) are playing for the right to go to the Final Four of the NIT. Missouri State of the MVC gets their shot at going to Madison Square Garden when that game is over.

I'm rooting for Witchita State in the NCAA but I'd like to see somebody like Hofstra make some more noise in the NIT.

[Eric]

I thought George Mason should've been invited, and I agree with an 11 seed. I didn't agree with Utah State, Seton Hall, Bradley, and Air Force. Don't get me wrong, all are pretty good teams. I thought that Cincinnati, Missouri State, Hofstra, and Houston should've taken their place. I guess Bradley proved me incorrect. I still think that C-USA is a 3 bid conference, even though there was the massive exodus of their elite teams. You can't have a 1 and a 9 seed come from a conference that has the caliber of 2 bids.

I know it all depends on how good the individual teams are, but I think C-USA was overlooked this year. The bottom isn't very good, but I thought that UTEP or Houston should've counted for one bid. Let's not forget that UTEP is a pretty good traditional basketball team. Houston had a couple solid wins too, most notably Arizona, and they did reach the 20 win plateau.

[Jason G]

Eric, I agree with you on two and disagree on two. I questioned the inclusion of Seton Hall and Air Force but I did think that Bradley and Utah State belonged in the field. Bradley was arguably the hottest team in the MVC the second half of the season. Utah State had only 6 losses all season and played in a very tough league. The Aggies are the type of team I like to see the commitee reward with a berth, otherwise you are sending the message that you need to win something like 25 games overall while being in a strong mid-major conference just to get one of the last at-large berths.

The teams I would have put in over Seton Hall and Air Force would have been Cincinnati and Missouri State. I have to admit, though, the CAA has looked incredibly impressive in both the NCAA and NIT tournaments with George Mason's success and Old Dominion beating fellow CAA member Hofstra to get to the NIT Final Four.

[Eric]

I really thought the WAC was awful this year. Nobody besides Nevada and Utah State were even close to tournament caliber.

I do have a suggestion for the NCAA tournament. How about you take the bottom 8 basketball teams and have a play-in round for 16 seeds? That way, the potential 16-seeders would play a better game against the 1 seeds (ex: Wintrhop) and you could fit 4 more teams into the tournament that should just about lay the disgruntlement of the fans. I know no matter what, teams that should be in get left out, I'm just saying this would improve the field.

For example:

Winthrop vs. Hampton
Belmont vs. Monmouth
Oral Roberts vs. Southern
Davidson vs. Albany

Then these schools would battle for a 16 seed, while opening up seeds for Florida State, Missouri State, Cincinnati, Hofstra/Michigan/Creighton/Houston.

This is just a thought, I do like to see the 16 seeds get in for a tournament appearance however. Even if the conference is terrible, they deserve some representation in the main tournament.

[Jason G]

True, the WAC did have a down year. Maybe I should have said that they played in a league that has a lot more talent and potential on the national scene than many conferences do.

Still I can't see giving the league champ a 5 seed and then having the second best team with only 5 losses all year not get in. Of course, the WCC only got Gonzaga in but what was the second best overall record in that league?

[Eric]

Gonzaga played in a terrible conference, and they got a 3 seed. I think the Zags should've gotten a 4 due to their close run-ins with horrible basketball teams and their lack of success recently in the NCAA tournament. The 2nd place team had 14 wins I think. Loyola Marymount was sub-.500, not pretty. I would have to rank the WCC ahead of only the SWAC, MEAC, NEC, Atlantic Sun, and Mid-Continent. So it was the 6th worst conference in the country, and there's how many conferences? A lot.

[Spence]

Well, UConn blew my bracket to pieces. UConn gone, Duke gone nothing left for me but the crying.

[Eric]

At this rate, do you guys seriously think that George Mason can win the national championship? If they hook up with Florida, or Villanova for that matter, they seriously can. How about a 4 seed and an 11 seed playing for the national championship?

I don't think anybody, with the exception of George Mason wishful thinkers, had the Patriots in the Final Four.

[Spence]

At this rate, do you guys seriously think that George Mason can win the national championship? If they hook up with Florida, or Villanova for that matter, they seriously can. How about a 4 seed and an 11 seed playing for the national championship?

It's a basketball tournament. A team can get hot for five or six games and win. So yes I think they have a shot. they have a shot until they lose, if they lose.