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March 14, 2007
Zac Hunter chips in his two cents while bloggin' from Boston.Pencil? You're filling out your bracket in pencil? Get out of my face. If you want to get in my pool, you better bring a ball point. In the world of $10 office pools, you have to play for keeps. Coffee is for closers and pencils are for pansies. You see, I'm old school. I don't like online brackets. I like sitting with a gigantic stack of brackets and my green (wins) and pink (losses) highlighters. Eat your heart out Digger Phelps. And by the way Digger, my mom said you're not welcome in Allen Fieldhouse next year because of that stupid "Digger of Oz" nonsense you pulled. I shed a silent tear every year when I draw a giant pink X through Kansas' path to the Final Four. It's not as painful when they make it far enough that it doesn't murder my bracket. I laugh at my sister's undying love for Gonzaga. It doesn't matter what seed the Zags are, she's got them in the Final Four. One of these years it's going to pay off, but it won't be 2007. You see, I've constructed the ultimate West Region bracket. If you choose to keep reading, pencils down, pens up. If you don't agree to these rules, go read [All in the Wrist][1]. We'll start with the easy ones. Take out a Sharpie and write down Kansas and UCLA three times. The 'Hawks have a swagger to them and the Bruins might as well be playing in John Wooden's driveway. It's not hard. We already have our two Elite Eight teams. Now is where it gets a little bit tricky. The last couple years I've instituted a rule to stay away from the sexy pick. If you hear some other talking head on local radio talking about their upset special, run in the opposite direction. Following this advice will lead you to a couple certain conclusions in the West Region. The first is that as sure as Greg Paulus will slap the floor at half court on defense, Duke will beat Virginia Commonwealth in the first round. The Blue Devils always show up in the tournament. The second is that Villanova is toast against Kentucky in the first round battle of generic mascot names. Why won't Villanova win? The gang at ESPN pegged those Wildcats as a team that would challenge Kansas in the second round. It's the Bristol, Conn., kiss of death. Don't believe me? Think back to last year's sexy pick. That's right. Rock Chalk Jayhawk baby! Six games to go. Put down the pencil, Wristen. Let's finish off the bottom half of the bracket with the two teams that will lose to UCLA in the upcoming rounds. I'm not big on Kelvin Sampson in the tournament, because his goon ball is hit or miss. If the referees swallow the whistle, Indiana will beat Gonzaga by 10. If there are Pac 10 officials in the house, Gonzaga will be in the bonus before the first television timeout. I'm betting on a loosely officiated game and a win for Indiana. I don't like Pittsburgh. I never have. The Panthers seem to be overrated and always get bounced early. Everyone claims they play such great defense but that hasn't helped them in March. They're basically the University of Oklahoma of Pittsburgh. But this year they'll breeze through Wright State and have Coach K filming another Chevy commercial by Monday morning. Now we're on the fun part, the teams that will line up to get thumped by the 'Hawks in the Sweet 16. And as a special bonus, it's upset special time. I'm a big fan of teams that don't really belong in the tournament. Illinois is playing with house money and knows it. Take your spot in the second round, Illini. I gave the honors of picking Kansas' Sweet 16 opponent to some guy from a handicapping service who called me when I was about half way done with this blog. His name was Vinny. He asked how my betting on college basketball was going. I said I didn't gamble but I wanted his opinion on who Kansas would play in the Sweet 16. I figured the advice of someone who has to cold call potential gambling clients would know what he was talking about. Vinny said Holy Cross was a lock to play Kansas in the Sweet 16. When he asked for my credit card number I hung up, but I'm sticking with Vinny's pick. Since I didn't have time to ask Vinny who the winner of the West Region will be, I'll make this one on my own. It's Kansas. It has to be. I pick them in my bracket every year, regardless of seed. I have to be correct once, right? So you see, it's not that hard to create the perfect. All you need is some intuition, experience, a handicapper named Vinny and a ballpoint pen. Simple. * I want to thank everyone for reading my blog this basketball season. And while this isn't my last one, I'd like to reward one lucky GWH fan with lunch. All you have to do is submit your West Region bracket in the comments space below by Thursday afternoon. One point per win will be awarded. Play it all the way to the Final Four and whoever has the best bracket wins lunch. If there is a tie, we'll pick the winner randomly from those who had the winning brackets. I'll have to put a cap of $15 on the prize because the Journal-World doesn't pay me for my blog skills. If Ryan Greene can talk big wigs into a couple of bones per blog I'll make it $30 next year. Good luck. [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/blogs/all_wrist/
Comments
oldvet (anonymous) says...
first round
Kansas
Kentucky
Illinois
So Illinois
Duke
Pittsburgh
Indiana
UCLA
second round
Kansas
So Illinois
Pittsburgh
UCLA
third round
Kansas
Pittsburgh
champion
Kansas
Vermont Street BBQ
March 14, 2007 at 5:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
smhunter (anonymous) says...
I may always take the Zag's a long way, but let's not forget that I also pick the Jayhawks winning it all...every year! Great blog Pard! Rock Chalk :>
March 14, 2007 at 7:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
patton6 (anonymous) says...
To get to Sweet 16:
Kansas over Kentucky
So. Illinois over Va Tech
Pitt over vcu
ucla over Indiana
To get to Final Four:
Kansas over UCLA
March 14, 2007 at 7:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
peschker (anonymous) says...
If you guys want ANY chance in winning your pools, you will have Kansas losing before the Final Four, namely because everyone else in your bracket has them winning, so even if they do, you still have to hope the rest of your bracket is better, which it probably isnt. And when they do lose, you will be cashing in on some major points that they arent. Get smart boys
March 14, 2007 at 8:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hometownhawk (anonymous) says...
Only problem with your reasoning, peschker, is that the 'Hawks are going all the way, so that's just giving up points that everyone else is gonna get. No self-respecting Jayhawk fan cares enough about their bracket to betray their team anyway. Nice try.
March 14, 2007 at 9:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
fabio (anonymous) says...
peschker-There are 57 other games in the tournament that KU is not involved in to break all the ties when KU wins it. KU is a 1 seed for a reason, they are real good.
March 14, 2007 at 10:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jklein38 (anonymous) says...
Round 1:
Kansas
Villanova
Va Tech
Southern Illinois
VCU
Pitt
Gonzaga
UCLA
Round 2:
Kansas
Southern Illinois
Pitt
UCLA
round 3:
Kansas
Pitt
champ:
Kansas
March 14, 2007 at 10:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
live4h2o (anonymous) says...
Round 1:
Kansas
Nova
Va Tech
Southern Illinois
Duke
Pitt
Indiana
UCLA
Round 2:
KU
SIU
Duke
UCLA
round 3:
KU
UCLA
champ:
KU
March 15, 2007 at midnight ( permalink | suggest removal )
kevbo (anonymous) says...
1st Rd: KS, Vill, Va Tech, SIU, Duke, Pitt, Gonz, UCLA
2nd Rd: KS, SIU, Duke, UCLA,
3rd Rd: Kansas, UCLA
4th Rd: UCLA
March 15, 2007 at 12:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DSommersby (anonymous) says...
Round 1: KU, Kent., V-Tech, So. Ill, Duke, Pitt, iu, ucla
Round 2: KU, V-Tech, Duke, UCLA
Round 3: ku, ucla
Round 4: KU moving to the 4 to do so much more!
March 15, 2007 at 1:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ZILLAhawk (anonymous) says...
Round 1: KU, Kent., Ill., So. Ill., VCU, Pitt, Zaga, UCLA
Round 2:KU, So. Ill., Pitt, UCLA
Round 3: ku, ucla
Round 4: KU ( and on to Florida, and on to an 71-68 win over OState).
Good to see your enthusiasm Zac, I could almost hear you as I read.
RCJH :>
March 15, 2007 at 2:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
georgeJhawk (anonymous) says...
Rnd. 1: KU,Villanove,Illini,SIU,Dookies,Pitt, Indiana,UCLA
Rnd. 2: KU,SIU,Pitt,UCLA
Rnd. 3: ku,ucla
Rnd. 4: KU
Then on to the Final Four where they beat Florida and Georgetown to cut down the nets!!
Rock Chalk to the National Championship!!
March 15, 2007 at 8:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Jaminrawk (anonymous) says...
KU - Texas III, in the Final Game. Triple overtime with Matt Kleinmann, Jeremy Case, Rod Stewart, Brady Morningstar and Brennan Bechard starting, after both teams foul out their starters. Rod Stewart dominates the white dude with a from Texas. After Rod Stewart's amazing 20 point OT performance, the Hawk's all sing "Tonight's the Night (Gonna be Alright)" followed by "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy". Just as likely, statistically, as any other scenario.
March 15, 2007 at 9:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thetagger (anonymous) says...
KU beats Villanova, VaTech beats So.Ill, Pitt beats Duke, UCLA beats Indiana. And then to top it all off, KU gets to the Final Four after beating UCLA.
March 15, 2007 at 9:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SDKU07 (anonymous) says...
ku, uk, va Tech, So. Ill, Duke, Pitt, iu, ucla
ku, So. Ill, Pitt, ucla
ku, Pitt
KU
Pen, Heck. . . Etch that in Stone!
March 15, 2007 at 11:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KURUSH1530 (anonymous) says...
I-KU, 'Nova,Va Tech, Holy Cross, Duke, Pitt, iu, ucla
ii-ku, Va Tech, Pitt, iu
iii-ku, Pitt
IV-KU
March 15, 2007 at 3:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jhawkbill (anonymous) says...
KU and A&M in the championship
HAWKS win 97 to84
rock chalk!!!!!!
March 15, 2007 at 5:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hawkaholic_kaun (anonymous) says...
ku and UCLA in the championship
go kansas!!!!!
rock-chalk jayhawk
March 16, 2007 at 3:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zdh1145 (anonymous) says...
Nice job Patton. Who said there's no such thing as a free lunch?
March 29, 2007 at 10:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )