Casually Late to the dance

I know I'm a few days late to the NCAA party but I've been on vacation for the past week...so suck it! And I mean that in the nicest, most proverbial way possible, I love everyone. I just feel like dropping some bracketology knowledge on someone so I might as well drop it on the world. And by 'the world' I mean the 14 people that actually read this thing. I think big, what can I say?

I didn't have the best opening round ever, but 22-10 ain't bad. More importantly, I have 14 sweet 16 teams still alive. And, since Georgetown forgot how to play basketball for the most inconvenient 40 minutes of their season, I'm pretty sure everyone would potentially max out at 15 of 16.

Everyone picks differently, but me...I use my brain.

I picked Murry St. over Vandy in the opening round. Actually, I was 1 of only 4 people in a pool of 23 friends to pick Murry St. so the Racers made me look like a genius for a day. Let me start by saying: 'WOW! What a finish!' More or less, I got lucky on this one. Murry St. simultaneously hit a game winner and a bracket saver for me as time ran off the clock. But why did I pick the 13th-seeded Racers over an experienced, 4th-seeded Vanderbilt team who, by the way, comes from the much more prestigious SEC? Probably for the same reason I picked Houston and Montana...come to think of it, I should probably never mention those picks again...

Moving on, if you do some research, you'll see that Murry St. has one of the most balanced offenses in the entire country. Albeit somewhat small, they have 6 guys averaging 10 ppg...So mathematically, the starters alone will give them 50 ppg with a strong option coming off the bench...that's huge in college basketball. The have a respectable RPI at 59 and they've only lost 4 times all year for God's sake! So if you have to pick some upsets, why not start with Murry St?

Another solid upset pick: Cornell. On a personal note, I was the only 1 out of 23 to pick both Murry St. and Cornell in the first round so obviously I'm way smarter than all my peers.

I picked Cornell because they are one of the best shooting teams in the nation. If you go to Cornell and play basketball, I'm pretty sure the only thing you can do with a basketball is shoot it. I don't see many upper-middle class white boys practicing dunks on their garage basketball hoops while driving through my neighborhood. That being said, these Big Red guys must have spent hours in their driveways practicing shooting form because they shot the hell out of the ball on opening day! Add in the fact they have a 7-footer to gobble up any missed shots under the rim and you have the recipe for an upset or 2, or 3. Call me crazy, but I have Cornell in the sweet 16.

In general, my strategy is to look for mismatches in experience and/or shooting vs defense. I also like to pick teams with a stud to win against most any other team because on a big stage such as the NCAA tournament, I want to give them a chance to shine. Aubrey Coleman and Anthony Johnson are the reasons I picked Houston and Montana. They must not have gotten my memo to step up their games...I guess I was having trouble with my TPS reports this week.

On a side note, I just want to point out the obvious...so far this has been a great tournament. One of the best opening rounds of recent memory. I can only hope the upcoming games are half as entertaining.

By the way...I'm writing this as I'm watching the Gaels make Villanova look like a JV squad. My bracket says: "this is embarrassing!" 10 points for anyone who can tell me what a Gael is without looking it up.