Prediction Brothers 2009 NCAA Tournament South Region Preview

Note: This is the second in a series of four regional previews for the NCAA Tournament. The West region comes on Tuesday, and the East region on Wednesday.

Midwest Region Preview from Sunday

First Round Thoughts and Predictions

(Greensboro, NC) Thursday

No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 16 Radford

Strategy for North Carolina that everyone can see from a thousand miles away: Get that Artsiom Parakhouski guy in foul trouble and feast on the sweet, gooey bench behind him. End of ball game.

Pick: NORTH CAROLINA

No. 8 LSU vs. No. 9 Butler

Watching Butler this last week reminded me of teams in the past that have wreaked havoc on higher seeds. They're intelligent on offense and stingy on the defense, like, wait: Butler '07 and '08. LSU hasn't done much out of conference, but Marcus Thornton is one special player. But one special player won't get you through the gauntlet that is March Madness.

Pick: BUTLER

(Portland, OR) Thursday

No. 5 Illinois vs. No. 12 Western Kentucky

If this won't be an upset, I don't know what is. Last 12 games for Western Kentucky: 11-1. Win over a No. 1 seed? Check. Other team's key guard (Chester Frazier) hurt? Check. 5-12 game? Checkmate.

Pick: WESTERN KENTUCKY

No. 4 Gonzaga vs. No. 13 Akron

Gonzaga always seems to disappoint in the tournament, but it won't happen this year. Their perimeter shooting is top notch, and I'm just not that into Akron's shooting and PPG (66.8).

Pick: GONZAGA

(Miami, FL) Friday

No. 6 Arizona State vs. No. 11 Temple

This is by far the hardest 6-11 game to pick simply because someone on either team has to step up in a big way if either team wants to go very far in the tournament. For Temple, Dionte Christmas is the main man. He will get his points. For Arizona State it's James Harden.

But Arizona State plays to the level of its competition, and that's one thing that's a big red flag in terms of me picking games for March Madness. This game just reeks of an upset.

Pick: TEMPLE

No. 3 Syracuse vs. No. 14 Stephen F. Austin

This game, believe it or not, is also one of the hardest first round games to pick, for several reasons. First, SFA allows only 56 points a game, and they're one of the biggest young teams in the country. However, this game is a lot like the North Carolina game; if Syracuse can get C Matt Kingsley in foul trouble, it will force SFA to focus on outside shooting, and that's a crapshoot.

Plus everyone's squawking over the 47 OTs Syracuse had to play this past weekend—they're 18-22-year-olds, people. They have five days to prepare.

Pick: SYRACUSE

(Kansas City, MO) Thursday

No. 7 Clemson vs. No. 10 Michigan

Both of these teams are limping into the tournament, and I don't like this matchup from a fan's standpoint. Michigan has one more impact player than Clemson, a deeper bench, and will pound Clemson into submission on the inside. This is a pick that will make a lot of people a lot of money come the end of the tournament.

Pick: MICHIGAN

No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 15 Morgan State

Quote from ESPN's Tournament Challenge description of Morgan State: "Nothing against the MEAC Champs, but it's hard to take a team that beat something called William Jessup by only two points seriously." Makes my job easier.

Pick: OKLAHOMA