NCAA TOURNEY PICKS

Every year I like to fill out a bracket for the NCAA tournament, despite not being heavily invested in the regular season. The tournament is always fun, though, so I get kind of excited whenever it comes around. Except when it's boring, and all the #1 seeds win. George Mason's run was my favorite year, for the record.

Anyway, my method for predicting the tournament is pretty simple, and in my opinion it's the best way to make your predictions, since it removes all bias that might impede your ability to accurately predict games. Plus, by filling it out this way, it eradicates the impulse to cheer for the #4 team against the #13 just because you have them in the Final Four. By using the method, you do not fail or succeed... the method does.

Yep, I predict everything by coin flip.

I'll start off with the first round, then mae a few comments about certain trends, then move on to the next round. Also, I don't predict the play-in game, because I'm using ESPN to predict as of right now, and they list the play-in game as TBA... and I'm too lazy to look up the two teams playing. As always, you can expect nothing but quality work from here, people.

FIRST ROUND:
MIDWEST:
16 Lehigh over 1 Kansas--8 UNLV over 9 N Iowa--5 Mich St over 12 N Mex St--4 Maryland over 13 Houston--11 SDSU over 6 Tennessee--14 Ohio over 3 Georgetown--7 OK St over 10 Ga Tech--15 UCSB over 2 Ohio St.
EAST:
16 E Tenn St over 1 Kentucky--9 W Forest over 8 Texas--5 Temple over 12 Cornell--13 Wofford over 4 Wisconsin--6 Marquette over 11 Washington--14 Montana over 3 New Mexico--10 Missouri over 7 Clemson--15 Morgan St over 2 WVU.
WEST:
16 Vermont over 1 Syracuse--9 Florida St over 8 Gonzaga--12 UTEP over 5 Butler--4 Vanderbilt over 13 Murray St--6 Xavier over 11 Minnesota--14 Oakland over 3 Pitt--7 BYU over 10 Florida--15 N Texas over 2 Kansas St.
SOUTH:
1 Duke over 16 MYSTERY TEAM--9 Louisville over 8 California--5 Texas A&M over 12 Utah St--13 Siena over 4 Purdue--11 ODU over 6 Notre Dame--14 Sam Hou St over 3 Baylor--10 St Mary's over 7 Richmond--2 Villanova over 15 R Morris.
NOTES:
Heads: 12, Tails: 20. Which means that it's heavy on the upsets, and that if Tails keeps prevailing, Villanova be the favorite to win it all since they are now they will be riding the tails all the way. Also, Duke and Villanova were the only top 3 seeds to make it on to the next round. Duke, I'm assuming because the mysteriousness of the mystery team worked against itself, or something. There should be no excuse for R Morris for failing to beat Villanova, though. Completely inexcusable.

2ND ROUND:
MIDWEST:
8 UNLV over 16 Lehigh--4 Maryland over 5 Mich St--14 Ohio over 11 SDSU--7 OK St over 15 UCSB.
EAST:
9 W Forest over 16 E Tenn St--5 Temple over 13 Wofford--14 Montana over 6 Marquette--15 Morgan St over 10 Missouri.
WEST:
9 Florida St over 16 Vermont--12 UTEP over 4 Vanderbilt--14 Oakland over 6 Xavier--7 BYU over 15 N Texas.
SOUTH:
9 Louisville over 1 Duke--13 Siena over 5 Texas A&M--11 ODU over 14 Sam Hou St--2 Villanova over 10 St Mary's.
NOTES:
Mountain West has two teams, Big East has two, ACC has three. Every other conference blows, apparently. Also, tails wins the round again 11 to 5, which indicates even stronger that the south bracket is going to be the favorite to produce the winner of the tournament.

SWEET SIXTEEN:
MIDWEST:
8 UNLV over 4 Maryland
7 OK St over 14 Ohio
EAST:
9 Wake Forest over 5 Temple
15 Morgan St over 14 Montana
WEST:
9 Florida St over 12 UTEP
7 BYU over 14 Oakland
SOUTH:
9 Louisville over 13 Siena
2 Villanova over 11 ODU
NOTES:
It's a really good year to be a 9 seed, since three of them are making the Elite Eight. Does this mean that you should probably pencil in pretty much all the 9 seeds to head this far? Well, yeah, probably. Also, Morgan St is the last remaining double digit seed, which is worthy of celebration. Don't know where the hell you are, or what the hell you guys do, but congrats anyway, Morgan St.

ELITE EIGHT:
MIDWEST:
8 UNLV over 7 Oklahoma St
EAST:
15 Morgan St over 9 Wake Forest
WEST:
9 Florida St over 7 BYU
SOUTH:
2 Villanova over 9 Louisville.
NOTES:
I just realized that the Midwest winner will be playing the West instead of the East. Whoops. ALSO, IMPORTANT TO NOTE: The past two rounds have produced a pattern, alternating between heads first and tails right after. What does this mean? Well, the first matchup in the Final Four will probably be heads and the second tails... so, UNLV vs. Villanova. And if the pattern continues, then UNLV will be winning... which would go against me saying that Villanova was the favorite, but you know...

FINAL FOUR:
9 Florida St over 8 UNLV
15 Morgan St over 2 Villanova

NOTES:
Well, screw everything I said. This time, tails came up first and heads second, which means that Villanova is done and I'm wrong. For the National Championship... it could go one of two ways. One, it could favor the 9 seed since they are 11-3 in the tournament, which means Florida St. HOWEVER... tails has come up much more than heads has, so that could favor Morgan St. Also, Morgan St's mascot is a bear. Did you know that? Now you do.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:
9 Forida St over 15 Morgan St.

NOTES:
This one is a bit controversial. I flipped the coin, and it landed right next to my laptop, then it richocceted up and ended up leaning up right against the side of my computer. It seemed as if it was going to end up heads, however you can never be sure. Anyway, that's that.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOUR BRACKET:
Well, according to my tried and true method to predicting the NCAA tournament, a few trends begin to appear:
-9 seeds are pretty much a lock to go far.
-1, 2, and 3 seeds all are going to completely suck... except for Villanova, who might make it to the Final Four.
-The first two rounds=tails prevails. Which means pick the lower seeded teams in the first round, and... winners of the 8/9, 4/13, 3/14, and 2/15 games.
-Morgan St might win a game or two.
-The championship game might be hugely controversial. Like, someone getting stabbed on the court during the waning moment of a close game.

So there you go. Feel free to take any of this information and use it for your own predictions. And if it helps you win... awesome, and if it makes you lose... it's not that big of a deal anyway.