NCAA Brackets 2012: What Experts Are Saying About the Tourney's Midwest Region

The 2012 NCAA tournament is just around the corner, and that means it's time for all the experts in the country to break down each region.

The Midwest region sports some impressive teams, including No. 1 seed North Carolina, No. 2 seed Kansas, Georgetown and even some diamonds in the rough like St. Mary's.

Here's a look at what experts around the nation are saying about the Midwest Region.

Evan Jacoby of Rush The Court writes, via the Huffington Post:

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Greg McDermott’s Creighton team got a really rough draw. Consider that the Bluejays won their conference tournament and finished with five losses while Gonzaga lost in the WCC finals and finished with six losses, both with a similar strength of schedule, and Gonzaga received the better seed. Creighton has a beef that it should be on the #7 line.

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It doesn't help that offensive-minded Creighton is matched up with Alabama, a team that held high-scoring Florida to 66 points in the SEC tournament.

Myron Medcalf of ESPN wrote of North Carolina on Tuesday:

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Their potential for falling short of expectations is simple. Sometimes they don’t rise to the occasion. All that talent. All that ability. Yet they’ve been beaten up by Florida State. They couldn’t finish against Duke. They couldn’t run with UNLV. They needed a clutch play against Kentucky and couldn’t get one.

Yes, an opponent will have to play a near-flawless game to beat the Tar Heels. But an early loss is not unfathomable.

No. 15 seed Detroit is being seen as a potential Cinderella this year, but the Titans are going to have to stop Kansas' Thomas Robinson to have any chance of advancing.

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Oakland coach Greg Kampe, whose team took No. 4-seeded Texas down to the wire in the Round of 64 last year, thinks Detroit will actually beat Kansas, via the Detroit News:

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"When guard play is at the utmost importance, you have a point guard (Ray McCallum Jr.) who is peaking. Kansas beats people with their size, and Detroit has size. You have Eli Holman and LaMarcus Lowe inside and you have great size on the wing with Chase Simon. And you have a hot team.

"I like Detroit's chances. They did something not many teams do in their league, a league set up for one of the top two seeds advancing. They won four games in eight days."

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Don't sleep on St. Mary's this year, either. They have a player in Matthew Dellavedova who can flat-out score the basketball. 

Jacoby calls him this year's Stephen Curry:

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St. Mary’s remains a mid-major with a fairly low seed, playing in the same #7-#10 matchup that Steph Curry once started his run with for Davidson. Dellavedova is our guy here, the WCC Player of the Year who averages 15.6 points and 6.4 assists per night with strong shooting splits (45% overall/36% three/85% free throw). Dellavedova was a major contributor as a freshman when the Gaels made their Cinderella run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2010, and he’s capable of leading another such run this year.

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The Midwest region may be ripe with upsets this year, which makes it one of the most interesting regions to watch. Of all the No. 1 seeds, North Carolina is the most susceptible to fall early, and there are plenty of Cinderella hopefuls that could take the country by storm.

Don't blink when watching the Midwest region matchups this year, or you might just miss a buzzer-beater that sends a favorite packing.

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