Taking A Look Ahead To March Madness

By Andy Schmidt
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Thursday will bring the beginning of March Madness as the NCAA Tournament gets into full swing. I am not one to take a ton of time thinking before I fill out my bracket, so I was basically done picking my teams within an hour of the selections being made. I know that my picks are likely not going to be the right ones, but I figure why not take a chance and see what I can come up with? My thoughts on the 2013 tournament are the following as I begin with the Midwest Region.

The Midwest looks like a region that should see the top-seeded Louisville Cardinals move through to the Final Four. I have my first big upset happening when the Duke Blue Devils lose in the third round to the Creighton Bluejays. I like what Creighton can do and believe that they will stop Duke in its tracks. The West Regional is the one that most people want to talk about with the top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs. Gonzaga may not have deserved that top seed but they got it anyway. I don’t see the Zags getting past the Sweet 16. I think the West will be won by the New Mexico Lobos with a win over the Wisconsin Badgers, who will beat Gonzaga in the previous round.

The South Region is another one where the top seed won’t get out of the Sweet 16 for me. I see the Kansas Jayhawks falling to the Michigan Wolverines in that round. I think Michigan will then beat the Florida Gators in the Elite Eight. This is the region where I see the second-seeded Georgetown Hoyas also losing in the third round. The final region is the East which could produce an interesting upset or two. I see the Miami Hurricanes getting out of this region with a win over the top-seeded Indiana Hoosiers. I think we will see the Butler Bulldogs get to the Sweet 16 as well out of this region, which should surprise no one at all with how good Butler has been lately.

That brings me to the Final Four where I have Louisville playing New Mexico in the first semifinal. I see the Cardinals having enough to get through that game to advance. The second game brings Michigan to a battle against Miami. The Hurricanes are just too tough right now and I believe that Miami will advance out of that game. The championship game will be a tight one no matter what, but I think in the end that Miami will beat Louisville 63-55 to take home the national championship. There is nothing like the next three weeks and now it’s time to sit back and enjoy.

Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.

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