The Road to 40

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This road has looked better. Specifically, last year when my sheet of integrity held a 36-13 record after the first two rounds of the NCAA Tourney. This year, it’s 34-15 after the first four days. Not all bad. Still, my goal is to have 40 wins for the tourney.

I fudged up my bracket this year with the following wrong picks.

• (5) Notre Dame loses against (4) Washington State

Well, I can only blame myself for this lousy pick. Last year the Irish laid down in the first round against Winthrop and this year they get clobbered by Washington State. I should have known better.

• (12) Villanova upsets (5) Clemson

Here’s the typical 12-5 upset. And, at the 10 minute mark of the first half I could already see Nova was going to hang around until the end. They did and eventually won the game, my bad.

• (13) Sienna upsets (4) Vanderbilt

What the hell Vandy? The Saints lead from the opening tip and glided to an easy 21 point victory.

Where was the SEC’s Player of the Year Shan Foster? The 6’6 Senior didn’t even make a shot until 15:15 in the first half. Then, he went on to score a measly 13 points.

Moreover, the Commodores as a team shot 4-20 from downtown. And, why did Vandy shoot the long ball when they had a favorable size advantage?

Anyway, Vanderbilt has played inconsistently on the road all year. Despite a shining 19-0 home record the birds were 7-7 on the road this season. Whoops.

• (11) Kansas State upsets (6) USC

This loss hurt the bracket pretty well. After all, I figured the great(?) O.J. Mayo would lead the Trojans to the Sweet 16 and then fall against Georgetown (that’s another story). That’s when Mayo played like a high schooler and flopped.

After sporting game socks with the NBA logo on them, Mayo looked all but professional shooting 6-16 from the floor. Although, he did score 20 points but, most of them were garbage buckets near the end of the game.

Mayo should hand the NBA footies over to K-State’s Michael Beasley. After all, Beasley is the one who played like a future NBA prospect by scoring 23 points and grabbing 11 boards.

Also, I probably saw at least three headlines that read Hold the Mayo. How original. Besides, I’m a huge burger guy and I NEVER HOLD THE MAYO.

• (10) Davidson upsets (7) Gonzaga

Usually, the Zags are good for a win or two in the tournament. However, who knew sophomore Stephen Curry was this good? Curry dropped 40 points, 30 of them in the second half.

Also, Curry’s tourney performance (70 points in two games) very much reminds me of Wally Szczerbiak’s 67 point effort against Washington and Utah in the 1999 tourney.

So, how far will Davidson go? I think Wisconsin will ends this run.

• (2) Duke loses against (7) West Virginia

I’ve followed Huggy Bear for a long time. His teams have been bumped eight times in the second round of the tourney. Of course Duke is overrated, they’re always overrated. However, I banked on coach K’s boys hitting some 3-pointers. Live by the three, die by three.

The good news for me is that I only have one team eliminated from a possible Elite Eight birth, Georgetown. Never saw this one coming either.

Originally, I had the Hoyas headed to the Final Four after defeating Gonzaga, USC and Kansas. Clearly, the MIDWEST gave me the most trouble.

Coming up, I have Tennessee beating Louisville. Although, now I’m not so sure this is going to happen. The Vols just won’t put an opponent away. It seems they’re always winning in the final moments. That can’t happen against the Cardinals or Tar Heels (who I’ve picked to knock off Washington State).

My other picks for the Elite Eight are Kansas, Memphis, Stanford, UCLA and Xavier.

Here’s some video of the best games from the first four days!

W. Kentucky does in Drake

Stanford edges Marquette

Tennessee needs OT against Butler

Davidson shocks Georgetown

We’ll see what happens to our brackets after this weekend. My Road to Forty could be in serious jeopardy!

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Tags: North Carolina, Memphis, Xavier, Gonzaga, Miami of Ohio, NCAA Tournament, NCAA Tourney, Notre Dame, Washington State, Villanove, Sienna, Vanderbilt, SEC, Kansas State, USC, OJ Mayo, Wally's World, Wally Szczerbiak, Stephen Curry, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Utah, Elite Eight, Tennessee, Louisville, Kansas, Stanford, Western Kentucky, Marquette