Sunday's NCAA predictions...

Final Sweet 16 spots up for grabs….

After going 5-3 on a Saturday where all of the favourites had wins, I am looking forward to a few of the matchups on Sunday. Will chaos ensue again?? Hmm…let’s pick ‘em!!

Midwest Region:

N.C. State (11) vs. Georgetown (3)

The Wolfpack should have been seeded higher and will get a win on Sunday by 7

Ohio (13) vs. South Florida (12)

One of these lower seeds will get into the Sweet 16….Ohio should roll on by 9

Creighton (8) vs. North Carolina (1)

Will be a good test for UNC who should win by 11

Purdue (10) vs. Kansas (2)

Kansas gets by ….by say 10 points

West Region:

St. Louis (9) vs. Michigan State (1)

Mich. State by 4

Norfolk State (15) vs. Florida (7)

Upset number 2 for Norfolk State?? Yep….Norfolk State by 3

South Region:

Lehigh (15) vs. Xavier, OH (10)

Xavier by 7

East Region:

Cincinnati (6) vs. Florida State (3)

Florida State by 3

See you later in the week when the Sweet 16 games kick off!!

NCAA Play....

NCAA Regionals Day 2

NCAA Men’s tourney Round of 64 play picks up again on Friday with another 16 games on tap. On Thursday I finished 11-5 for the day, with Richmond’s win over Vanderbilt my best tip of the day. Other upsets included Morehead State eliminating Louisville and Gonzaga bouncing St. John’s from the field.

Friday’s action includes:

EAST:

Villanova (9) vs. George Mason (8)

Another Big East team bites the dust. GMU by 3.

Texas-San Antonio (16) vs. Ohio State (1)

Ohio State by 23.

Long Island (15) vs. North Carolina (2)

UNC by 18.

Marquette (11) vs. Xavier (6)

Xavier by 7.

Georgia (10) vs. Washington (7)

Washington by 6.

Indiana State (14) vs. Syracuse (3)

Syracuse by 13.

SOUTHWEST:

Akron (15) vs. Notre Dame (2)

Notre Dame by 17.

Florida State (10) vs. Texas A&M (7)

A&M by 3.

Boston University (16) vs. Kansas (1)

Kansas by 30.

St. Peter’s (14) vs. Purdue (3)

Purdue by 16.

Illinois (9) vs. UNLV (8)

UNLV by 5.

Virginia Commonwealth (11) vs. Georgetown (6)

VCU does it again by 4.

WEST:

Oakland (13) vs. Texas (4)

Texas by 11.

Tennessee (9) vs. Michigan (8)

Tennessee by 2.

Memphis (12) vs. Arizona (5)

Another #12 wins, Memphis by 4.

Hampton (16) vs. Duke (1)

Duke by 23

My current record: 15-5

See ya’ tomorrow!!!

True Madness from the start

It is only day one of the NCAA tournament but what a day!! We have seen that the Big East Conference is not necessarily the “Big Beast” of a conference that it was seen as coming in. Ohio University beat Georgetown 97-83, Old Dominion beat Notre Dame 51-50, Washington beat Marquette 80-78, and highly fancied Villanova had a scare, escaping with a 73-70 overtime win over Robert Morris.

The Southeastern Conference did not escape unscathed with Vanderbilt falling to Murray St. 66-65, Florida falling to Brigham Young 99-92 in two overtimes and Tennessee hanging on against San Diego St. 62-59.

In a minor upset St. Mary’s pulled out an 80-71 win over favoured Richmond.

For full coverage, check out the NCAA website.

As for my predictions……well, 7 right and 9 wrong, hope you are not taking my tips to the bookies!!!!

Back after day two with more!!!!

NCAA Hoops in full swing!!

Even more hoop happenings are now a reality with the US college basketball season underway. While the first couple of weeks will inevitably produce a lot of Who are they?, Where are they from?, What is a top team doing playing them? There is always a close call or two for the big timers.

Early on, we have seen the return of Isiah Thomas to the coaching game at Florida International University. His welcoming gift was a visit to defending Champions North Carolina where they were promptly disposed of by a score of 88-72.

The early surprise of the season came last Friday when little Rider College upset #18 Ranked Mississippi St. on the Bulldogs home court88-74. The woes of the Southeastern Conference continued last weekend with Alabama going down to a solid Cornell team at home 71-67. It goes to show that on any given night in the college version of the game, a team can put it all together and surprise the "Bog Boys".

A Sunday highlight saw Harvard survive in a three overtime thriller with William&Mary 87-85. Monday had another beauty as #4 Kentucky beat Miami-Ohio 72-70 thanks to a clutch basket by highly touted freshman John Wall.

Overnight there were narrow escapes by #19 Georgetown, 46-45 over Temple, #12 Connecticut 76-67 over Hofstra and #2 Michigan State 75-71 over always tough Gonzaga.

In the next few days I will go from A-Z of the Division 1 Conferences and highlight a few top teams and players.