I'll keep this mercifully short, since a lot of people want to jab pitchforks in their ears at the sound of more tournament talk, but I've had a pretty solid record with college hoops picks. Here's some potential Day One "upsets" -- yes, I know, I included four 8/9 match-ups. Get over it:
EAST
No. 11 Saint Joseph's over No. 6 Oklahoma The Sooners are 6-5 in their last 11, while St. Joe's has beaten No. 12 Xavier twice in two weeks
No. 9 Arkansas over No. 8 Indiana The least confident of my "upset" picks -- Arkansas is 4-1 against ranked teams, Indiana is green.
MIDWEST No. 11 Kansas State over No. 6 Southern Cal Can you believe this isn't the CBS featured game? K-State's Michael Beasley is the player of the year, and shows up USC stud O.J. Mayo.
No. 9 Kent State over No. 8 UNLV I like UNLV a lot, but Kent State can win with offense and defense, and Al Fisher was a beast in the MAC, although I'm often to partial to teams from UB's conference.
SOUTH No. 10 Saint Mary's over No. 7 Miami (FL) Both have a little paper tiger in them. Each team only has one ranked win -- Saint Mary's over Oregon and Miami split with Duke.
No. 9 Oregon over No. 8 Mississippi State One of those "just have a feeling picks" that probably mean nothing. The Ducks were .500 in conference play, but the PAC-10 was a beast this year. Oregon made the Elite Eight last year.
WEST
No. 11 Baylor over No. 6 Purdue Could be a situation where I'm smitten with a coach and a story, but how about Baylor? Purdue's a nice team, with nine underclassmen. Another "feeling" pick. I'm thrilling you here, aren't I?
No. 10 Arizona over No. 7 West Virginia The Big East has some monster teams. The Mountaineers aren't one of them. Look for Arizona to slap their critics in the face, even if the criticism is warranted -- Arizona State deserved this at-large bid.
No. 9 Texas A&M over No. 8 BYU In a certain sense, I'm a Big 12 basketball and A&M backer. The Aggies have surprised me by keeping up a lofty standard set by Acie Law IV last year. Balanced scoring for A&M, and BYU always seems to have a let down in the tourney.
LESSER POSSIBILITIES: No. 12 George Mason over No. 5 Notre Dame - Mason has the pedigree, but ND is GOOD. No. 12 Villanova over No. 5 Clemson - 'Nova as a 12 seed is a disservice to Clemson No. 10 Davidson over No. 7 Gonzada - Zags seem to be in an off-year. Davidson's pretty good.
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