I thought it’d be: Kansas-Clemson
Original pick: Kansas
My pick now: Kansas
Game: Wisconsin-Davidson
I thought it’d be: Wisconsin-Gonzaga
Original pick: Wisconsin
My pick now: Wisconsin
Thoughts on last weekend
I wrote a whole paragraph about how Vandy would bomb in this tournament, but didn’t have the guts to pull the trigger on the Siena pick. I didn’t think Siena’s defense could win a tournament game, and in their second-round game against Villanova I looked right.
Clemson blew their opportunity to make me look good; they blew a big lead on Villanova.
After the ACC tournament run the Tigers made, it is still shocking to me that the reason they lost was a lack of composure. But that’s the way things go sometimes. The Tigers would have dominated Siena just like Nova did, but they blew it in the first round.
I am not bothered by missing the USC-K-State game. I flipped the coin the wrong way. I think this one surprised a lot of people
It turns out the bandwagon underdog pick lived up to the hype this year.
Stephen Curry is as good as advertised, which I never disputed. But, the fact of the matter is Gonzaga played well enough to win that game. Curry hit big shots down the stretch, but the Bulldogs were the more physically sound team, playing better basketball as a unit.
Curry got hot and won the game, but if they were playing again tomorrow I would pick Gonzaga.
The nature of the beast is that an upset can happen when a team hits 3s and catches some breaks, but I don’t think my Gonzaga pick was bad. I had the Zags beating Georgetown, and if I could have picked on Saturday, I would have had Davidson winning.
The Wildcats deserved to win both games, but I stand by my thought that Gonzaga was the best team in this four-team pod.
As for the Hoyas, they blew a 16-point lead, and Roy Hibbert only played 16 minutes. Sixteen!
I know that every coach freaks about playing a guy with fouls, but you have to get Hibbert on the floor for half the game. They coached and played their way out of a win here.
But let’s celebrate Davidson for this week and give their kids all the credit in the world. Their wins weren’t flukes; they have a good basketball team.
Thoughts on this weekend
As with the East region, I love the picks I have for this weekend.
Like North Carolina, Kansas didn’t give anyone a reason to doubt that it can make a deep run in this thing. The Jayhawks are my pick to win it all, and I feel as confident in them as I could in any other team.
Again, like the East region, I love the weekend that Wisconsin had as a 3-seed.
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