2008 Bracketology

This week’s definitely been busy so far, what with all the piano practicing. But it’s been going pretty well, and I think I’m prepared enough. I was at the church on Monday night for about 3 hours to practice on my own, for another 2 or so on Tuesday night for choir practice plus extra solo practice, and for another 3 hours last night for band rehearsal with me, Paul on guitar and Adam on trumpet, to get the three of us in sync before Saturday night’s full band rehearsal.
So tonight was the first night this week that I haven’t been at the church, and instead I went over to Adam & Leslie’s with a few other people from church to watch some of the first-round NCAA tournament basketball games, including an entertaining classic in which tiny Belmont very nearly pulled a monster 15-2 upset over Duke, but fell 71-70 (I always hope Duke loses, so I was upset they pulled it out at the end). Apart from that game though, most of the first-round games today haven’t been all that close, and there’s only been one modest upset (Kansas State over Southern California). But tomorrow will bring another full slate of first-round games with enormous entertainment potential (Butler vs South Alabama? Vanderbilt vs Siena? Gonzaga vs Davidson? Drake vs Western Kentucky? I can’t wait!). 🙂
For my bracket this year, I have two different versions, but here are some of my notable picks for the bracket that I paid money for:
2nd Round: Gonzaga over Georgetown, Marquette over Stanford, Drake over Connecticut, & West Virginia over Duke.
Sweet 16: North Carolina over Washington State, Tennessee over Louisville, Kansas over Clemson, Wisconsin over Gonzaga, Memphis over Pittsburgh, Texas over Marquette, UCLA over Drake, & Xavier over West Virginia.
Final 4: Kansas over North Carolina & UCLA over Texas.
Championship: Kansas over UCLA, by a score of 77-71.
That’s right, I’m planning to be singin’ “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” right on through the title game! Every year Kansas seems to screw me over though, whether I pick them to win or lose, so hopefully they redeem themselves this year, haha. So far today I was wrong on Kent State (vs UNLV), Southern Cal (vs Kansas State), Brigham Young (vs Texas A&M), & Baylor (vs Purdue). Fortunately I didn’t have any of those teams advancing past the 2nd round, so my Sweet 16 is still completely intact at this point (pending West Virginia hopefully keeping their lead vs Arizona…). Speaking of which, that game’s coming down the stretch, so I’d better go cheer on the ‘Eers and my bracket!
[UPDATE at 11:58pm]: Good West Virginia. Now go beat Duke on Saturday so your students in Morgantown can burn some couches.