The Oakland region of this years bracket started off with memphis and oral roberts, the 1 and 16 seeds. lots of so called experts were sayin oral roberts was one of the better 16 seeds ever and could give memphis some trouble, but i saw a number one and a sixteen seed so i picked memphis obviously. memphis is so athletic and fast, they full court press you the whole game and keep bringin in new guys who are just as quick and athletic as the guys they come in for, plus they got great length and can shoot the three, so i thought there speed and constant pressure and runnin the floor would just wear oral roberts out and allow the tigers to eventually take over the game. well they did. oral roberts hung with memphis in the 1st half and even lead a few times by knocking down all their shots and taking advantage of all their possesions, but they cooled down and got off their high and memphis just played their style of basketball the whole game, getting oral roberts tired so the tigers could eventually blow out oral u.

arkansas and bucknell were the 8 and 9 matchup. i picked arkansas because of their advantage in the athletic and overall talent department, plus a tougher schedule, but the bison have lots of experience and know how to win in the tourney after their big upset of kansas last year. they are not just happy to be here and execute their game plan perfectly, they are a good team with players who play their roles. arkansas's standout players are their guard ronnie brewer, hes a great athlete and high energy playmaker but he has a horrible shot. they have a 7 foot center, last name hill, who is a shot blocking force and game changing defender. lots of quickness and athletic ability on this team. bucknell has some guys that can hit the three consistently when they get hot they can dominate. they also have great inside presences on offense and defense, very balanced, very experienced but not that athletic. bucknell was kind of in control this whole game, they shot the three unbelievably well, the big guys had solid games, but the shooting really set them apart from arkansas and helped them take over the game and win. arkansas stayed in the game with brewer's scoring but never got close enough to take a big lead and ended up getting beat.

pittsburgh and kent state was the 5 and 12 matchup. i picked pitt to go all the way to the final four so this was an important game for me. pittsburgh had the obvious talent advantage, with outstanding senior guard carl krauser leading the way and forward aaron gray developing into a very solid and consistent force in the post, pitt also has a great inside outside presence. krauser is a great playmaker and when hes shooting well pitt can beat anyone. gray is never flashy or a real high scorer but hes a big guy, always solid and a good rebounder who can score when they run stuff for him but isnt a big scorer, still has room to improve. pitt also played in the tough big east and they were a surprise as one of the last three unbeaten teams in the league deep in the regualt season. kent state had the advantage of upsetting pitt in the tournament two years ago so that fact might be in there heads, plus they are a pretty balanced and solid team, good on the perimeter but they have no interior game, no inside player over 6 foot 9 so i expected aaron gray to dominate the pansies in the paint of kent state in this one. the panthers had no trouble in this game and took care of business, they played well on both ends and dominated the whole time, much to my relief.

kansas and bradley was the 4 and 13 game, an important game for much of the nations brackets since the spectacular end to kansas's season and their big 12 championship win gave cause to many bracket users (including SI) to pick kansas to go all the way to the final four with all that momentum they carried in here. i myself was not stupid enough to pick a team full of freshmen and sophmores to go that far, but i at least picked them to beat bradley. many thought this was a rebuilding year for kansas, they had lost all key players from last year and even with the nations top recruiting class they werent supposed to be that good this year. they got off to a bad start but some of the frosh stepped up big and lead the jayhawks to an outstanding end to the season. they played suffocating defense all year, really efficient and opportunistic, and once guys like brandon rush and chalmers started taking over games with their scoring and athletic ability the jayhawks became a bona fide contender. bradley had an outstanding season down the strech in the missouri valley conference too, they were very unheralded in the conference and werent even on tv on bracket buster saturday, but they beat some conference powerhouses at the end and even made it to the MVC championship game before losing to southern illinois. they are a fast breaking team, very quick and have some underrated athletetes, plus they have a 7 foot center with lots of skills and an nba future, great inside presence. the braves took a quick lead and never let up on kansas, they just played great basketball, the jayhawks were not shooting well at all, bradley really repped the mid-majors and put on a showcase of all the underrated talent in their conference, pulled off the big upset and killed the brackets of many.

indiana demanded some respect for the big ten with the 6 seed as they took on the 12, san diego state. this was a pretty compelling matchup, SDST was a popular upset pick with the experts but i wasnt buyin that bs, i had seen the majority of the big ten games this year and even though indiana was up and down this season they had the toughness and experience needed to win in the tourney, plus i was happy to see the hoosiers back. 1st of all i think mike davis is an annoying and crappy coach, the only reason he got to the final four (eventually lost in title game) when he 1st came was because he was coaching bobby knights team. he also seems to restrict the ability of their talented guards this year. they have robert vaden as one of the better three point shooters out there playin shooting guard, and there other big star is marco killingsworth, a near dominant force in the post, very strong and takes up a lot of space but has great moves and skills and is one of the better post scorers out there. they have a pretty tough defense, and they played well down the stretch after coach davis announced that he would resign at the end of the year. san diego state has some great speed and athleticsim plus a deadly and high scoring forward, marcus slaughter. this was a really good game, went back and forth a lot and neither team pulled away at any point even though SDST looked like they would a few times. indiana got very balanced play from their guys on offense and vaden hit a big game winning three with a couple seconds left to give the hoosiers a thrilling victory and me a big win on my bracket.

in the 3 and 14 matchup west coast conference champ gonzaga (former giant killer, now a giant themselves) played the a-10 champ, xavier, a very dangerous mid major for gonzaga. the zags definitly have more talent, there are some guys around their super hyped star adam morrsion that can play too but they dont get much credit. they arent a great defensive team and didnt have a tough schedule in the conference even with a good one outside the WCC, but they have an inside-out threat on offense and maybe the best player in the nation leading them in morrsion. he is an awkward player and doesnt really play d, but hes tall and very versatile, he has a funny shot but it goes in and is nearly unblockable, great shooter and scorer, awesome clutch player and one of the most competetive and emotional guys to play in a long time. people say hes even better becasue he has no supporting cast, but like ive said, his bros are underrated. derek ravio can hit the open three consistently, a very deadly shooter if you put too much pressure on morrsion and a near flawless free throw shooter, while j.p. batista is perhaps the most underrated player in the nation (he averaged 19 points and about 10 boards a game), he is a solid rock in the post, always a reliable scorer and banger when the other guys have off nights or when he is needed in the clutch. i didnt watch xavier this year and i didnt pick them, but i know they were a surprise conference champ and they have a really dangerous, balanced attack on both sides of the ball, slowed down tempo. xavier was winning this game almost the whole time, but it was kinda back and forth and the bulldogs stayed in it the whole time, this was a highly emotional game and morrison was goin crazy, kind of acting like a freak. but he made up for it by saving his team with great scoring down the stretch and some clutch buckets to give the zags a big win, a really intense and tough game that gonzaga was probably lucky to win.

marquette and alabama played in the 7 and 10 game, a tough one to pick. marquette played in the tough big east, and they have some experience and some serious sharp shooters. when steve novak is hot from three point range they can beat any team in the nation, as they showed when they rode his 40+ points to beat uconn in the regualar season. they also have an outstanding freshman point guard, cant remember his name but ive seen him play and hes an electric playmaker and a pretty good scorer. they are not as athletic as alabama but they had a good season in a tough conference and can really shoot the ball. alabama didnt have a very good record but they played one of the toughest schedules in the nation and had a really high RPI. they were a pretty underrated team all year, have some great athletes, got some nice depth and get good guard play. ronald steele is one of the better guards in the nation, got the total package. i still questioned bama getting in the tourney cause there were some good teams with better records that missed out, but they ended up winning this game so i have to take it back. i picked marquette by the way. the real reason they won was because they actually shot better than marquette, unhearalded back up guard and notorious streaky shooter jean felix(or juan) ended up torching his previous career high of 19 with 31 points in this game, mostly from super accurate threes. the golden eagles launched plenty of comeback attempts and got close on a number of occasions but (surprisingly) novak missed a potential wide open game winner and marquette went home the losers cause they didnt shoot well enough.

finally the end of the 1st round matchups here arrived with the 2 and 15, ucla and belmont. i have no idea where belmont is, its there 1st tourney appearance and there were just happy to be there. ucla was a young team but there young players played like veterans this year and led the team to an outstanding season, they were looking for a final four and possible championship this year even though they had their haters. jordan farmar leads the way for the bruins, hes their go to guy, he scores when they need him to, he directs the tempo, hes also a great passer and playmaker, only a soph. his backcourt mate arron afflalo is a lockdown defender and is always asked to shut down the opponents best player, hes also dangerous from three point range and when hes hot ucla is unstoppable. luc richard mbah a moute is their outstanding freshmen forward and pac -10 frosh of the year, has raw skills cause he only learned the game five years ago but he has great natural ability, gives the bruins a rebounding presence, and is athletic too. ryan hollins is their seven foot center, talented but inconsistent, also a vital part of the team. ucla was one of the most frustrating and suffocating defensive teams in college this year, they're up in their opponents grill the whole time, really physical and they really pressure the ball, that asset of their team could get them deep in the playoffs. their offense is kind of slow and methodical but very effective and with their talented guards controlling the tempo they dont have to worry about production. i picked the bruins. they got off to a slow start in this game but after getting past their 1st time jitters ucla dominated the rest of the way, great offensivly, scoring at will, and playing that trademark defense to shut belmont down and control the 2nd half.

memphis took on bucknell, and their speed and athleticism were dominate over the bison, they took over the 2nd half and they were just too much for bucknell. the bison also did not shoot as well in this game. i picked memphis to beat arkansas in this game. they beat bucknell and moved on.

my bracket got killed in the pitt and bradley game, bradley's center had the game of a lifetime and dominated the paint, showed off his nba caliber skills. carl krauser and his hombres shot decent but bradley played like a team possesed. aaron gray didnt play very spectacular, he never really does but he really didnt this game, as the paint was dominated by the braves, who's high powered and underrated fast breaking offense took over and never let up their lead on the panthers, just like the kansas game, and they took out pitt pretty easily. i picked pitt to beat kansas in this game.

indiana and gonzaga ended up being a great game. morrision played like poop but his teammates stepped up big time and proved to the nation that they are not just faceless dudes standing around to watch morrison score. everyone played big and stepped up the scoring on the inside and the outside, and made up for adam's off night. the hoosiers played pretty tough, but killingsworth had a horrible game, batista won this battle, and the guards could not play well enough (except for calloway) for the hoosiers to win this battle, defined by the big games had by morrison's sidekicks. mike davis's final game as indiana coach, gladly. i picked the zags to beat ind. in this game.

ucla played alabama, and this was the closest game the bruins had to play before the championship. ucla had another good defensive effort, but alabama has some serious athleticism and talent on this squad and they can score. they showed how good they are in this game and how their record does not do them justice, even though ucla did win the game. they didnt have an amazing offensive night but the bruins' guards controlled this game the whole time and even though alabama fought and looked like they had plenty of chances to win ucla is just too balanced, too good and aggresive on defense. i picked ucla over marquette.

memphis then took on bradley in the sweet 16, as i picked pitt over the tigers in this game. i didnt get a chance to watch much of this one since this section of my bracket was already screwed, but i thought the braves might be able to hang with the fast pace of this game for a while since they are a fast tempo team but memphis has too much speed, depth, and athleticism to bow down to this mid major. they never got huge seperation throughout the game but memphis still controlled this matchup, too much talent for bradley, we all knew they couldnt keep up this tourney run against all these super talented teams for much longer (but then again, george mason did it). they didnt control the paint either like they did against pitt, the memphis post players are too strong and athletic.

ucla played gonzaga in the other sweet 16 matchup of this region, i thought this would be a great game and i definitly watched this one. i picked ucla to advance over the zags to the next round. this game matched the zags high powered offense against the bruins tough and aggressive d, and i knew morrison would have to get a big game to win this one for his team, they couldnt get by a team like ucla with their other players like they did to indiana. if ucla could shoot well on offense and if they could get production out of their big men i thought they could dominate this one. well gonzaga pretty much dominated the whole 1st half and for most of the 2nd, morrsion didnt play amazing but he played well and play with his competetive edge and scorers mentality the whole time. ravio was hitting his open shots and batista was solid, it was just a great team effort on offense and the balance helped to them to almost score at will on the bruins vaunted d. but then the comeback started, farmar controlled the tempo and made plays happen, while mbah a moute started scoring in bunches and afflalo started hitting shots and playing his ferocious defense. next thing you know ucla is right back within a point or two and gonzaga is tossing in the inbounds, morrsion gets trapped and passes to batista, who kind of panics and loses the ball to farmar, who chucks a pass to mbah a moute, who finshes with a resounding dunk to take the lead with a few secs left. morrsion already breaks down and starts crying like its over, a move i didnt like at all, that sends a hopeless message to your team when ur the leader, a game is never over until it is over, i didnt expect that from morrsion. well ravio takes the ball down court and loses the ball to the bruins, who are immediatly fouled. after the foul shots ravio gets a decent look at the basket to win it but it doesnt go down, and ucla advances.

in the elite eight matchup ucla took on memphis, a battle of mostly young teams with lots of talent and hardly any tournament experiene. the key factor would be ucla's defense, if they could force the young tigers into shooting up bad threes then they would win the game. i picked pitt to beat ucla in this game. well ucla did exactly what they needed to, they held memphis to only 45 points, memphis shot horribly and got no production from carney or any other of their hyped athletes, while ucla scored just enough to win, as they still almost lost the game thanks to poor shooting and inconsistent production from the post. teams are starting to figure out how to stop ucla's whole pick and roll with farmar thing. well ucla's fearsome defense won them the game and they moved on to the final four.