Dick Vitale Bracket: ESPN Analyst Reveals His 2015 March Madness Bracket

If you’re anything like me, you have already filled out your bracket once, hated it, tried again and ultimately fell into a deep hole of confusion. Bottom line—we could all use a little help when making our picks.  

How about taking a glance at ESPN commentator’s Dick Vitale’s super, scintillating, sensational picks and using those as a guide?

Whether you are a diaper dandy or a seasoned veteran when it comes to filling out March Madness brackets, everyone could use some advice from one of ESPN’s college basketball experts. With that in mind, here is a closer look at Vitale’s bracket.

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Dick Vitale’s Picks

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You can get a firsthand look at all of Vitale’s predictions for every game and his entire bracket right from the man himself by clicking the link below:

Of particular interest are Vitale’s Final Four predictions. He didn’t go on much of a limb with Kentucky out of the Midwest Region, Arizona out of the West Region, Gonzaga out of the South Region and Virginia out of the East Region. That is three No. 2 seeds and one No. 1 seed.

From there, Vitale picked Kentucky to beat Arizona, Gonzaga to beat Virginia and Kentucky to beat Gonzaga in the national championship game. While that doesn’t leave much room for underdogs or Cinderella stories, there is a certain intrigue in a potential title matchup between the Wildcats and the Bulldogs.

Kentucky is one of the ultimate blue bloods in the sport with a storied history and an ever-flowing pipeline into the NBA ranks. It is attempting to complete a historic 40-0 season with a national title, and from a pure talent standpoint, it is difficult to envision anyone getting in its way.

Although Gonzaga is now an established basketball power out West and is talented enough to land a No. 2 seed in the bracket, there will always be an underdog feeling around the program because its most memorable postseason runs came as a Cinderella. While that paved the way for what the Bulldogs have become now, they are still looking for their first trip to the Final Four and first national title.

Is there a more storybook way to accomplish that than by beating mighty Kentucky in the finals?

Vitale doesn’t think it will happen, but he seems to think it will be close, per DickVitaleOnline.com: “Kentucky over Gonzaga. 40-0. Wiltjer almost beats former team.”

Yes, that would be Kyle Wiltjer, who started his collegiate career at Kentucky and transferred to Gonzaga. That would be yet another storyline to watch in Vitale’s hypothetical championship showdown. 

Another thing that immediately jumps out about Vitale’s bracket is the sheer lack of upsets across the board. Sure, there are the small upsets like the No. 2 seeds beating a No. 1 seed on multiple occasions, but there aren’t any real shockers in those early rounds when the memorable moments are made.

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In fact, Vitale has only two double-digit seeds advancing to the round of 32, and those two teams are Texas and Ohio State. Let’s be honest here—picking two of the richest athletic departments in the country with countless resources and impressive basketball histories to advance to the round of 32 over Butler and VCU, respectively, doesn’t exactly fall under the crazy upset category.

Apparently, Vitale doesn’t believe in the notion that No. 12 seeds are a fairly safe bet against No. 5 seeds either.

Vitale did take up the cause for one potential underdog during Selection Sunday when he trumpeted Murray State’s resume after it was left out of the field. He discussed the Racers’ exclusion on ESPN (via Jasmine Watkins of The Sporting News): “Anytime you play Division I basketball and you win 25 in a row, you belong in the tournament.”

Despite his love for Murray State, Vitale simply didn’t pick any major underdogs. That may go against the spirit of the NCAA tournament, when the country falls in love with the Cinderellas, but it also sets up some potential thrilling games late in the tournament.

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Among those matchups are an Elite Eight showdown between Arizona and Wisconsin (for the right to play Kentucky), an Elite Eight clash between Duke and Gonzaga and an Elite Eight battle between Kentucky and Notre Dame.

Watching the Wildcats attempt to deal with Jerian Grant on the perimeter in that game is enticing for anyone who saw the Fighting Irish star carve up Duke during the regular season. Duke and Gonzaga is interesting for the same historic David vs. Goliath reason Kentucky and Gonzaga is, and Wisconsin and Arizona may be the only two teams in the country with the right makeup to beat Kentucky.

Whether you agree with his picks or not, it is hard to argue against Vitale’s status as an institution in college basketball. Perhaps you should pay attention to his bracket.

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