UCLA over Xavier
Reasons:
- Ben Howland may lose sometime during this NCAA Tournament, but he's not going to be denied here.
- Both head coaches have very direct ties to Pitt. I'm going with the coach that helped transform Pitt basketball into the respected program that it is today.
- Kevin Love and that outstanding razor-thin line beard thingy of his.
- PAC 10 over A-10. Every single time. Unless it was something like Oregon State vs. La Salle...then nobody would care.
- Davidson rocked the college basketball universe and made it to the Elite Eight...why the hell couldn't this also be the year that four number 1 seeds reach the Final Four?
- Confidence in this pick: 7.8
What's that Mr. Robert Goulet? You like UCLA in this game too and want to spring past Matt G. in the race for more labels? Then go right ahead!
North Carolina over Louisville
- Have you seen North Carolina play a game in this NCAA Tournament? Seriously? Have you watched what they've done in systematically tearing teams apart? I don't care if Louisville has a "chance", I'd be a fool to go against UNC here.
- How awesome would a North Carolina vs. Davidson Final Four game be? Think about that for a few seconds...let that soak in. (Let it be known that I am NOT jinxing either team by saying this. I'm merely asking the reader to think about something theoretically)
- Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
- What a coaching match-up!!! Dean Smith going against Denny Crum in what will surely be a battle for the ages!!! What's that you say? Crum isn't coaching them anymore and this entire two-post bit about Denny Crum isn't funny? Fair enough.
- HAVE YOU SEEN HOW NORTH CAROLINA HAS PLAYED THROUGHOUT THIS NCAA TOURNAMENT?!?!?
- Confidence in this pick: 9.5
1020 & 8101
i don't know if going six out of eight is very "solid" considering that the average number of correct elite eight teams in my pool was 5...and those predictions, unlike yours, were made before the tournament started.
ReplyDeletei also think that your confidence in these picks is too high. in fact, i'm going to predict louisville and xavier to win.
but i do love the mr. robert goulet commercials.
My confidence in these picks are not too high. On a mathematical basis, the confidence in my picks must be 5.1 or higher...otherwise I'd be leaning towards the other team. Or at least that's what I was thinking when I established the confidence rating system. Your picks of Louisville and Xavier are for attention, there's no way you can actually believe that.
ReplyDeleteYou're right...6 out of 8 isn't "very" solid...it's EXTREMELY solid!!! What's the big deal in averaging 5 correct Elite Eight teams? Four of them are #1 seeds. Big deal. There's nothing noble in that before the Tournament began. I'm picking the actual games...the actual match-ups...which were not known before hand, which makes my 6 of 8 that awe-inspiring and that much more impressive.
You're quite welcome.
By the way...look back to my guarantees section. I guaranteed that Davidson and Western Kentucky would cover the spread in their sweet sixteen games...and they both did. I'm damn impressive.
First, going back to the label comment you made in this post. I think under your labeling system, if someone gets mentioned in the actual post, they should be labeled, so while Robert Goulet was mentioned and even "had somethign to say about it," you also did mention my name, so, in fact, I technically should have a label, thus Robert Goulet not gaining ground on me, but, I will still hold out hope that a laid off auto worker will show up in Detroit as a pack of Lo Mein and thus get 2 or 3 labels for that prediction.
ReplyDeleteSecond, if all 4 number ones get into the final four this year, it would be a down year for the tourney. The whole point of this thing is to watch the chalk get erased, but this year the #1's look really really good (Michigan State, want to say something about this? 'Nova, any thoughts?). So I am going with Phil, I want to see some Louisville, Xavier final four action (for no other reason then selfish reasons)
I'm kind of digging that two of my friends, that didn't know each other before this blog, have taken to teaming up against me at times. This project continues to get more and more enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteYou're right Matt...I made two mistakes in this post. I shouldn't have mentioned your name if Robert Goulet was to gain ground on you in the label race. And I didn't give you a label for being mentioned in the post. I've made the correction. But I still think you should watch your back for a very determined Robert Goulet.
Hasn't this entire season felt as if we were destined for all #1 seeds reaching the Final Four? This would be something that has never happened in the history of the tournament! For it to happen once would be great for the game and great for the Tournament. It would be history in the making...not to mention...some very very good basketball.
I stand by my picks.