March Madness

Even though my beloved Cincinnati Bearcats did not make the tourney this year (again!), I'm still extremely excited about March Madness. And maybe it's a good thing they didn't make it...I can't count how many office pools I've lost by foolishly sending UC to the Final Four. This year, I don't have as much rooting interest in any of the teams, so I'm hoping I won't end up in the bottom of the standings. Still, I have a few rules of thumb that may or may not prove to be my downfall:

1. Pick Big Ten teams to win early and lose late, except for Michigan State
2. Pick Big East teams to win whenever possible, especially when playing Big Twelve teams
3. Hope that Duke and UNC lose as early as can be expected. This year I have both going down in the Sweet Sixteen
4. Cheer for Memphis because Derek Rose went there :)
5. Cheer for Xavier because they're a Cincinnati team
6. Cheer for West Virginia because Bob Huggins is the coach

Here are my picks:

First round winners

The Midwest: Louisville, Ohio State, Arizona (upset!), Wake, West Virginia, Kansas, Southern Cal (upset!), and Michigan State

West: U Conn, Texas A&M, Purdue (against my better judgement...), Mississippi State (upset!), Marquette, Mizzou, Maryland (upset!), and Memphis

East: Pitt, Oklahoma State, Fla State, Xavier, UCLA, Villanova, Minnesota (upset!), and Duke

South: UNC, LSU, Western Kentucky (upset...sorry Illini, but without Frazier, I'm not a believer), Gonzaga, Arizona State, Syracuse, Michigan (upset! they were so excited to make it in this year, I think the momentum is with them), and Oklahoma

Sweet Sixteen: Louisville, Wake, West Virginia, Michigan State, U Conn, Purdue, Marquette, Memphis, Pitt, Fla State, 'Nova, Duke, UNC, Gonzaga, 'Cuse, and Oklahoma

Elite Eight: Louisville, Michigan State, U Conn, Memphis, Pitt, 'Nova, Gonzaga, and Syracuse

Final Four: Michigan State, Memphis, Pitt, and Syracuse

National Championship: Pittsburgh! over Memphis

Note: I probably would have picked Memphis to win it all, but my husband already did. It's more fun to pick a different team. And, it increases the odds that one of us will take home the cash!