Midwest Region
TK — Florida's the pick here by elimination. Wisconsin has been holding its cheese house together with toothpicks since Brian Butch's injury. Oregon's fun to watch, but doesn't defend well enough to go deep. Maryland? Butler? Yawn and yawn. The Gators can keep it on cruise control for a while longer, giving Joakim Noah time to think up an even better way to seduce opposing cheerleaders.
Florida
EC — Be sure to thank the selection committee for that No. 1 overall seed, Florida. This bracket is a cakewalk. Wisconsin? Not enough scoring. Maryland? Too much profuse sweating. Oregon? Too much bad karma from Nike's awful uniform designs during football season. The Gators are a Final Four lock.
Florida
MB — Yeah, this one is pretty much Florida's to own. As long as they avoid a Cinderella or a hiccup, they should advance to the Final Four with relative ease. Maybe Wisconsin can do something, but I doubt it. Watch out for Purdue.
Florida
SB — Coming out of the Midwest Region, I've got Florida. They're the defending champs, and they play hard.
Florida
West Region
TK — his is the toughest pod to project. UCLA's one of those teams that is solid enough to plow through to the Elite Eight without breaking a sweat. There's also some sneaky good teams lurking here that could make a run. But I'll play it safe and take Kansas, an uber-talented team that is aching to erase back-to-back first-round exits. (Hey, if you want unjustified long shots, look over at Bishop's picks — I'm sure he's got Lansing Community College winning it all.)
Kansas
EC — Bill Self will coach top-seeded Kansas right into the ground. I could see them going down in the Sweet 16, where the Jayhawks will face Virginia Tech or Illinois. All the talent in the world can't save you when your coach is giving out crunch-time guidance like, "Hey you, get open over here and win the game."
That leaves Pittsburgh or UCLA. I'll give the nod to the Panthers. They're the least worst team in the bracket. That's the best I can say about them.
Pittsburgh
MB — I'm not going to pick Kansas for obvious (choking) reasons. I'm going to have to go with UCLA to get it done here. They had a tough loss in the Pac-10 Tournament and will be refocused and ready to go. I'm going to go with Virginia Commonwealth as my sleeper in this region.
UCLA
SB — Coming out of the West Region, I've got Kansas, of course. They get it done. They've got a nice style of offense. They're also a scrappy team that gets after it on both ends of the court.
Kansas
East Region
TK — The East is more stacked than the cast of "Ocean's Eleven." North Carolina has the most talent, Washington State has one of those weird systems that could be indecipherable, Texas has one of the best freshmen of all time and Vanderbilt has proven it can beat anybody when it's hot. But I'm going with Georgetown, which has been the hottest team in the country the last month.
Georgetown
EC — I love North Carolina's roster. Two quality forwards (Brandan Wright and Ty Hansbrough), a pair of talented wings (Reyshawn Terry and Wayne Ellington) and a point guard who can push the tempo (Ty Lawson).
But there are too many pitfalls facing the Tar Heels. Georgetown, with a much easier path to the Elite Eight, will slip into the Final Four.
Georgetown
MB — There is a ton of talent in this region with North Carolina, MSU, Texas, Washington State and Georgetown all representing. For some reason, I've really jumped on the Georgetown bandwagon lately and have them as the eventual national champion. We'll see how that goes.
Georgetown
SB — I've got MSU coming out of the East bracket. They're a scrappy team, and I think they'll surprise a lot of teams with their scrappiness and their toughness — and they have some offensive ability they haven't displayed yet.
MSU
South Region
TK — I'm not expecting a lot of tournament success from the Big Ten, but Ohio State could be the one saving grace. The Buckeyes have the easiest path to the Final Four of all No. 1s. The only real threat is third-seed Texas A&M. The Buckeyes have the best big man in the country (Greg Oden), enough shooters to set a high score on Duck Hunt and a commanding point guard (Mike Conley, Jr.) to hold it all together.
Ohio State
EC — Ohio State has the best roster, but Texas A&M has a better coach and the best crunch-time player in the tournament. The two teams will meet in the Elite Eight, and Aggies head coach Billy Gillespie will keep the Buckeyes reeling by switching up defenses. If it's close down the stretch, Acie Law IV will bury a load of crunch-time 3-pointers.
Texas A&M
MB — This'll be another nice region. I see Ohio State using its insane talent to outlast Tennessee and Texas A&M to make it to the Final Four, where it'll fall to Georgetown.
Ohio State
SB — Coming out of the South Region I have — it's tough — but I have Ohio State. They're a Big Ten team. They've got the big fella (Greg Oden) in the middle, and they've got a lot of scrappy players too that back him up.
Ohio State
