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2015 NCAA Tournament Picks – East Bracket
By Walter Cherepinsky – @walterfootball
NCAA Tournament Picks: East Bracket First Round
No. 1 Villanova vs. No. 16 Lafayette
The national media has been trashing Villanova and the rest of the Big East, but I don’t care. There’s no way in hell that the gay guy from True Blood is going to single-handedly knock off the Wildcats in Round 1.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 1 Villanova
No. 8 N.C. State vs. No. 9 LSU
The conference that should get the most hate is the SEC. It’s was all Kentucky and nothing else. How in the world is LSU in the field? Blegh. I’ll take the slightly less-inept power-conference team over the more-inept one.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 8 N.C. State
No. 5 Northern Iowa vs. No. 12 Wyoming
Wait, wait, wait, wait… let me get this straight: The NCAA is worried about a talented mid-major team, so it underseeded it and matched it up against another dangerous mid-major school. No… it can’t be… the NCAA would never do something like that!
I love the NCAA Tournament, but this is downright disgraceful. Northern Iowa is very good and could make a push into the Final Four… and yet, it could lose this game! Ugh.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 5 Northern Iowa
No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 13 UC-Irvine
I was tempted to take UC-Irvine over a very flawed Louisville squad, but I’ll give Rick Pitino the benefit of the doubt in the opening round.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 4 Louisville
No. 6 Providence vs. No. 11 Dayton
Another criminally underseeded mid-major, Dayton should be able to take care of business on its home court. The Flyers are better than Providence, so they should be able to rekindle their success from last year and advance.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 11 Dayton
No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 Albany
The Great Dane in the puppy-training classes I signed up for is one of the worst-behaved dogs. Kind of a bad omen for the Albany Great Danes, huh?
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 3 Oklahoma
No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 10 Georgia
What in the world is Michigan State doing as a No. 7 seed, and why in hell is Georgia even in the tournament? I give up. The Spartans should take this one easily.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 7 Michigan State
No. 2 Virginia vs. No. 15 Belmont
Simon Belmont and Trevor Belmont hunt vampires, arm themselves with whips and scour the countryside for Dracula’s body parts so there won’t be any more horrible nights to have curses. They do not, however, win NCAA Tournament games.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 2 Virginia
NCAA Tournament Picks: East Bracket Second Round
No. 1 Villanova vs. No. 8 N.C. State
Villanova could legitimately lose this game, but then again, N.C. State could go down to LSU, so it’s always safe to have the No. 1 seed advance to at least the Sweet 16.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 1 Villanova
No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 5 Northern Iowa
This is not the usual Louisville team we’re used to seeing. That’s because the Cardinals have a freshman point guard and lost once of their best players to injury. The opening-game defeat in the ACC Tournament was a sign of things to come for the Cardinals. Besides, like I said, Northern Iowa is excellent.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 5 Northern Iowa
No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 11 Dayton
This is a tough one, but since I’m picking Kentucky to win it all like everyone else (spoiler alert), I’d like to take some chances. This is definitely one, but then again, a play-in team has done well in every single NCAA Tournament since the field went to 68 teams. The Flyers, as I said, are much better than their No. 11 seed indicates, while Oklahoma’s poor rebounding could lead to an early exit.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 11 Dayton
No. 2 Virginia vs. No. 7 Michigan State
Like Louisville, Virginia has some injury problems. Justin Anderson missed some games, but finally returned in the ACC Tournament. However, Anderson didn’t look like himself, prompting an early exit. That could happen in the Big Dance as well, as Michigan State has been playing excellent basketball to close out the season. And besides, it’s not like we haven’t seen Tom Izzo take an underseeded team deep into March before.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 7 Michigan State
NCAA Tournament Picks: East Bracket Sweet 16
No. 1 Villanova vs. No. 5 Northern Iowa
Down goes the first No. 1 seed. Villanova played in a weak conference, and unlike Kentucky and its ventures through the worse SEC, it doesn’t have the experience of traversing the NCAA Tournament with a lot of success recently. Northern Iowa is probably just as good as the Wildcats, and if it played in a power conference (and had friends on the Selection Committee), it might be a No. 2 seed.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 5 Northern Iowa
No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 11 Dayton
Dayton will be a nice story again, but it won’t be able to play at home forever. That will end in the Sweet 16, as will the team’s hopes and dreams. Tom Izzo won’t lose to the Flyers.
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 7 Michigan State
NCAA Tournament Picks: East Bracket Elite Eight
No. 5 Northern Iowa vs. No. 7 Michigan State
A five-seven matchup in the East regional final will prompt many to tear up their brackets, so let’s hope it goes this way. Both of these teams are criminally underseeded; I have Northern Iowa as a No. 3 and Michigan State as a No. 4. This will be a tough battle, but again, I just trust Tom Izzo in March. His squad is on fire, and it nearly won the Big East Tournament over quite possibly the second-best team in the nation. Ask yourself this if you have any trepidation about penciling in a No. 7 seed into the Final Four: Had Michigan State hung on versus Wisconsin, how highly would it be seeded right now?
2015 NCAA Tournament Pick: No. 7 Michigan State
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