Final Four picks

In yesterday's post I broke down my initial thoughts on the bracket. Today I have done a little a more in depth research. My main points of interest I used in determining who would win were:

1. RPI ranking


2. Kenpom ranking


3. Where is the game being played? (The closer a site is to the school the better)

I tried not to take into account what teams I liked, but some times that slipped through in my picks. With that being written here are my picks

1st round (upsets in bold)

• Midwest: Kansas, UNLV, Michigan St, Maryland, San Diego St., Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Ohio St.


• West: Syracuse, Florida St, UTEP, Vandy, Xavier, Pitt, BYU, Kansas St.


• East: Kentucky, Texas, Temple, Wisconsin, Washington, New Mexico, Clemson, West Virginia.


• South: Duke, Cal, Utah St, Siena, Notre Dame, Baylor, Richmond, Nova.

2nd round (upsets in bold)

• Midwest: Kansas, Maryland, Georgetown, Ohio St.


• West: Syracuse, UTEP, Xavier, BYU


• East: *Texas, Wisconsin, New Mexico, West Virginia


• South: Duke, Utah St, Baylor, Nova

*Yes, I am picking Texas over Kentucky. This is a combination of me disliking Kentucky so much and the fact that I think there is a chance Texas can finally use all their talent and stop underachieving. Also, I was going to pick Wisconsin to beat Kentucky anyway, so I thought I would just knock Kentucky a round early.

Elite 8 matchups: Kansas vs. Ohio St. Syracuse vs BYU. Wisconsin vs West Virginia. Duke vs. Baylor.

Final Four: Kansas, Syracuse, West Virginia, *Baylor

*Houston is a 3 hour drive from Waco, Texas. Durham is 18.5 hours away. The only team with a bigger complaint would be Syracuse if they play BYU in the Elite 8. Even so if both scenario played out as I predicted I would still probably play a #7 seeded BYU team in Salt Lake City than a #3 seeded Baylor team in Houston. My hope is that my bracket is wrong and Notre Dame can beat Baylor in the 2nd round.

Championship: Kansas over West Virginia.

Kansas is the best team and I can't see anyone beating them in the tournament. I wish I could pick another team to win, but from everything I look at it seems like Kansas has to be the prohibitive favorite.