OK, the play-in game is over, the first round starts
tomorrow, so i guess i'd better get my thoughts posted
if they're to have relevance when they go out.

BTW, why on earth is the play-in game in Dayton??? I
understood that last year when Dayton was a first
round site, but why would you choose Dayton in
perpetuity? Oh well.... the play-in wouldn't be
necessary if Craig Thompson hadn't taken his group of
goldiggers out of the WAC. I'll be pulling hard
against MWC teams as always.

Anyway, in general the trend seemed to be to totally
ignore the conference tournaments. OU's win over KU
seemed to have no consequence whatsoever, nor did
UGa's early SECT exit or Oregon's in the Pac 10
tournament. Honestly one gets the impression they
created the brackets on Thursday and tried to change
them as little as possible.

Anyway, specific thoughts:


2 ALABAMA - 15 FLA ATLANTIC
(7 Ok State - 10 Kent State)
Greenville / South

Kent State is a good midmajor and could give the Tide
a little trouble. However, I actually can forsee
Bama making it all the way to the Final Four beating
Duke in Lexington.

3 GEORGIA - 14 MURRAY STATE
(6 Tx Tech - 11 So Illinois)
Chicago / East

Really convincing proof Lee Fowler is a dolt -- one
who played at Vanderbilt, but an absolute fraud
nonetheless. First, these games should be in Saint
Louis. Georgia would presumably rather play there,
but that site went to a four-seed just because the
four-seed brings more fans. Secondly, SIU shouldn't
get to play in their home state. In fairness the two
things MIGHT be related, in that STL is a lot closer
to Carbondale than Chgo is, but i think i'm giving
them too much credit. In reality they should have
put this pod in STL and moved SIU somewhere where they
wouldn't have an advantage.

Anyway, TTU-SIU is interesting -- I'll bet the Bob
Knight automatons will come up from Indiana. But
Knight's recent 1st round record is just horrid, so
I'll go with SIU to get out of this pod.

3 MISS STATE - 14 MCNEESE STATE
(6 Texas - 11 BC)
Dallas / Midwest

More proof Fowler has no clue what he's doing.
Potential second round matchup: Miss State vs. Texas
in Dallas. Who do you suppose would be the home
team, hmmmmm?

I pick Texas to get out of this pod just b/c they're
the home team.

4 KENTUCKY - 13 VALPARAISO
(5 Marquette - 12 Tulsa)
Saint Louis / East

These games should be in Chicago (see above).
Valpo's the fashionable upset pick b/c UK looks in
such disarray, but IMO they're too fashionable.
Fitch should be back for UK, right? I do, however,
think Marquette's a really good 5-seed and will emerge
from this pod.

5 FLORIDA - 12 CREIGHTON
(4 Illinois - 13 SDSU)
Chicago / Midwest

Another simply brilliant site selection. The 4-5
game is supposed to be on a neutral court (the NCAA
said this when it announced the pod system). Gee,
are there more UI or UF fans in Chicago? What do you
think, Lee?

SDSU could actually give the Illini some problems, but
if not I had picked UF out of this pod. However,
with the Nelson/fight rumor emerging, I don't know
what to make of this. I guess i'll pick Illinois
now.

8 UCLA - 9 MISSISSIPPI
(1 Cincinnati - 16 Boston U)
Pittsburgh / San Jose

A good draw for a 9 seed. I pick Ole Miss out of
this pod. Huggins produces good teams -- i won't say
he's a good college coach, because college coaches are
expected to take an interest in their players'
academics, but he does make his teams play well -- but
his second-round record is awful. Obviously OM has
been running hot and cold, but I like their chances.

OK, that's all for now. Good luck in your pools.

Philip

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