With today’s wins by Duke over Purdue 70-57 and Baylor’s 72-49 thumping of Saint Mary’s, the South Region’s final two is set. The same for the Midwest where Michigan State put an end the Northern Iowa’s Cinderella story with a 59-52 victory that puts them in the regions title tilt against Tennessee who escaped with a 76-73 win over Ohio State.
The results of the last two days left me at 3 correct and 5 wrong for the Sweet 16 Round and 27 right, 29 wrong for the Tournament. Why quit now….I may just break even!!!
For the Regional Finals:
Kentucky by 3 over West Virginia in the East
Butler over Kansas State by 6 in the West
Tennessee over Michigan State by 6 in the Midwest
Baylor over Duke by 8 in the South
Ok, they’re out there, now I’m going to rest up for another early morning of hoops here in Australia.
The Butler Bulldogs sent Syracuse packing in the semi-finals of the West Region in today’s NCAA action 63-59. With Syracuse leading by four, Butler scored eleven unanswered points before a late layup by the Orangemen. The Bulldogs will now meet Kansas State, 101-96 double overtime winners over Xavier in the West Regional final. A Butler win would send them on to the Final Four in their hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana.
The East Region results saw both West Virginia 69-56 over Washington, and Kentucky 62-45 over Cornell advance to a showdown for the Regional title and place in the Final Four.
Next up we have battles between Tennessee and Ohio State followed by Northern Iowa versus Michigan State in the Midwest Region. The South Region will see Saint Mary’s meet Baylor and Purdue lock horns with top seeded Duke.
Ok, I have yet another Crystal Ball (lucky I bought in bulk), and I’m seeing:
The 2010 NCAA tourney has reached the Sweet 16 phase with a few surprises along the way. On Friday morning ( Thursday night US time), the East and West Regions come to the fore with the Washington Huskies facing the West Virginia Mountaineers in game one followed by Cornell facing Kentucky in a David versus Goliath battle in the East. Out West it will be Butler against Syracuse followed by a matchup between Xavier and Kansas State.
EAST REGION
Washington-West Virginia
Washington comes into the game with a 26-9 record and on the crest of a two upset wave after pipping Marquette 80-78 in the first round and blowing out favoured New Mexico 82-64 in the second round. West Virginia heads into the game on a run of their own with relatively easy wins over Morgan State 77-50 in the first round and a 68-59 victory over Missouri in round two that pushed their record to 29-6.
In a bit of bad news for West Virginia, point guard Darryl Bryant suffered a broken foot in practice this week but the Mountaineers have a deep bench and should survive.
PREDICTION: West Virginia by 6.
Cornell-Kentucky
Cornell comes in from the lightly regarded Ivy League but with a giant killing reputation after topping Temple 78-65 and Wisconsin 87-69 in the first two rounds. The Big Red feature something most big time teams no longer have most seasons---seniors and chemistry. Kentucky is full of stars and prized recruits but at this time of year, under the spotlight, could be primed for a loss. In tournaments past, the Wildcats have been known to lose a big one or two.
PREDICTION: Cornell by 2.
WEST REGION
Butler-Syracuse
The teams enter the match with identical 30-4 records with Butler on a twenty two game winning streak. The Butler crew slammed UTEP 77-59 in Round one before escaping against Murray State 54-52. Syracuse ran rampant over Vermont 79-56 and Gonzaga 87-65 in the first two rounds.
Syracuse has been solid thus far and Butler will be hard pressed to match them in this one.
PREDICTION: Syracuse by 18.
Xavier-Kansas State
Not a lot of info on this one for me, just beware Xavier, they are rugged and proven.
The Cornell Big Red continued their tear through the NCAA tourney field with a dismantling of the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday by an 87-69 count. The only other minor upsets of the day were a 71-68 Xavier victory over Pittsburgh and Michigan States 85-83 squeaker over Maryland.
Purdue continued to survive with 63-61 overtime win over Texas A&M. Meanwhile, favourites Syracuse 87-65 over Gonzaga, Duke 68-53 over California, Ohio State 75-66 over Georgia Tech and West Virginia 68-59 over Missouri continued their run through the bracket.
We now have a few days off to recover from the excitement before the Sweet Sixteen games this weekend.
I rebounded for a respectful 5 right, 3 wrong day after the horrors of yesterday.
Overall for the tourney, I stand at a break even 24 right, 24 wrong for the tourney. I will be making my predictions for the Sweet 16 as soon as I put my Crystal Ball back together!!!
The highly fancied Kansas Jayhawks were shocked by little known Northern Iowa
69-67 in the latest upset of this years NCAA tournament. The Northern Iowa Panthers looked like the favourites down the stretch as they calmly made their shots and free throws to preserve the win.
Meanwhile, the Kansas St. Wildcats put away the pesky Brigham Young Cougars
84-82.
It was a day that also saw the surprising Washington Huskies top New Mexico 82-64, Kentucky blow out Wake Forest 90-60, Tennessee ease by Ohio 83-68, Baylor trip Old Dominion 76-68, and Butler eek out a 54-52 win over Murray St.
The other big one of the day saw St. Mary’s send Villanova packing 75-68.
Today’s action reminds me of something a wise man (my grandfather) once said to me when I complained about having to show up for a game against a fellow baseball team in younger years, after getting our hats handed to us, he simply said, “that is why you play the game, you just never know when surprises are gonna happen and teach you a little humility”.
As for my predicting, ouch, I had a 2 right, six wrong day!!!!
