NCAA Bracket 2011 Predictions: March Madness Begins Now

Now it is upon us. The annual rite of spring. The sickness that is known as March Madness. Let the bracket picks begin.

I thought of writing about how some teams do not even belong in the field, but as any bracketologist knows, this happens every single year. There are always teams that SOMEONE feels doesn't belong.

Sure, this year they are more than obvious and absolutely ridiculous, but it's done. There is no need to belabor the point now. Move on.

The real fun of March Madness for most sports watchers is the bracket. Everyone from the diehard sports freak to the guy who barely knows any players on any men's college basketball teams fills out a bracket.

There are online bracket games galore. There are offline office pools and brackets between friends. Brackets are everywhere, and with a little luck even the most uninformed can have a good showing.

There are those who spend hours poring over their brackets—going over records, matchups and players. They take everything into consideration. There are those who fill out multiple brackets, sometimes upwards of 50 in some cases, and that's just people I know personally. I'm sure others fill out even more. There are those who fill out the one bracket and beat everyone with just blind picking. It's fun and frantic, just like watching the tournament.

I have filled out my brackets for this year—only five this time around. Here is the one I feel most confident in, at the moment anyway.

East

Ohio State - George Mason - West Virginia - Kentucky - Xavier - Syracuse - Georgia - North Carolina

Ohio State - Kentucky - Syracuse - North Carolina

Ohio State - North Carolina

Ohio State

West

Duke - Tennessee - Arizona - Texas - Cincinnati - Connecticut - Temple - San Diego State

Duke - Texas - Connecticut - San Diego State

Duke - Connecticut 

Duke

Southwest

Kansas - Illinois - Vanderbilt - Louisville - Georgetown - Purdue - Texas A&M - Notre Dame

Kansas - Vanderbilt - Purdue - Notre Dame

Kansas - Purdue

Kansas

Southeast

Pittsburgh - Butler - Kansas State - Wisconsin - St. John's - BYU - UCLA - Florida

Pittsburgh - Kansas State - BYU - Florida

Pittsburgh - BYU

BYU

FINAL

Duke vs. BYU

WINNER

Duke

That's the bracket I feel most confident in at the moment. Like every bracket picker, though, I will second-guess and second-guess. Later in the week, I will post how I am doing on my five brackets. Let me know in the comments who you picked and how your brackets are doing!