Post by Juggs on Mar 16, 2014 17:43:52 GMT -5
I know what you're all thinking - Juggs, what do you know about college basketball? The answer is pretty much squat. In the hierarchy of sports I care about the NFL and College Football dominate, followed by olympic handball and ultimate frisbee, with the occaisonal Celtics playoff run occuping my time. NCAA BB ranks below zulu spear catching in how knowledgeable I am on the subject.
But from what I understand about bracketology, that makes me perfect.
My buddies who spend weeks learning everything they can about the top teams to try to figure out a winner and strike it rich usually fair worse than I do in the betting pools. My criteria for decision making is simple: be as different as possible in every decision. Be decisive, but never consistent. If you become in anyway predictable, you'll make the same mistakes others do. That's why I fill out my bracket the way I do. So here's my picks for the first (or maybe second? I really don't know how this stupid fucking tournament works) round.
Let's start in the West, because they're the best.
1 Arizona vs 16 Weber St. pick: Arizona
Weber state (pronoucned weeber state, how's that for inside info), are a team from Utah and they're a football school who has never made the tournament before. Like I and Bellichick always say, "act like you've been here before". They haven't so they can't.
8 Gonzaga vs 9 Oklahoma St. pick: Gonzaga
I'm not sure why, but some teams with big numbers play teams with really small numbers, but sometimes it's more even, like this game. Don't be fooled though. A +1 advantage won't be enough for an OSU team skill waning from the embarrasing release of former QB Brandon Weeden. That's a lot to overcome.
5 Oklahoma vs 12 North Dakota St. pick: North Dakota St.
I've just figured out the numbers thing. Everyone's numbers add up to 17. And just as I noticed this, I counted the letters in North Dakota State. 16. That's almost too close to be a coincidence.
4 SDSU vs 13 New Mexico St. pick: New Mexico State
SDSU was my pick to win the whole tournament last year, look how that worked out. When you cross the guru, you get burned Aztecs. I'm sorry too soon. Still, SDSU is coming off a loss to Regular New Mexico, and everyone knows "state" teams are inferior. Wait that doesn't help my argument. Too late. Rule #4. Never second guess a pick.
6 Baylor vs 11 Nebraska pick: Nebraska
You've got to love Nebraska's story, they want it more, and corn subsidies are stronger than ever under the new farm bill. As such, Nebraska will surprise people this year.
3 Creighton vs 14 Louisiana Lafayette pick: Creighton
Basketball is a team game. And even though McDermott is only one player, he's better than the Rajin Cajuns whole team. So Creighton wins, but I don't think they'll go much farther after this round.
7 Oregon vs 10 BYU pick: Oregon
My sister lives in Oregon, so I have to pick them, and also, I think all the BYU athletes have to take somekind of Mormon pledge against sinning in various ways. Good guys finish last.
2 Wisoncsin vs 15 American pick: Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a very weak two seed, according to what the guys on CBS told me as I was writing thus, but starting the game 13 points down could inspire them to beat the Eagles, who were terrible before making a miracle run to win the Patriots league, which I'm being told is not affiliated with the New England Patriots.
The Midwest region coming up next.
But from what I understand about bracketology, that makes me perfect.
My buddies who spend weeks learning everything they can about the top teams to try to figure out a winner and strike it rich usually fair worse than I do in the betting pools. My criteria for decision making is simple: be as different as possible in every decision. Be decisive, but never consistent. If you become in anyway predictable, you'll make the same mistakes others do. That's why I fill out my bracket the way I do. So here's my picks for the first (or maybe second? I really don't know how this stupid fucking tournament works) round.
Let's start in the West, because they're the best.
1 Arizona vs 16 Weber St. pick: Arizona
Weber state (pronoucned weeber state, how's that for inside info), are a team from Utah and they're a football school who has never made the tournament before. Like I and Bellichick always say, "act like you've been here before". They haven't so they can't.
8 Gonzaga vs 9 Oklahoma St. pick: Gonzaga
I'm not sure why, but some teams with big numbers play teams with really small numbers, but sometimes it's more even, like this game. Don't be fooled though. A +1 advantage won't be enough for an OSU team skill waning from the embarrasing release of former QB Brandon Weeden. That's a lot to overcome.
5 Oklahoma vs 12 North Dakota St. pick: North Dakota St.
I've just figured out the numbers thing. Everyone's numbers add up to 17. And just as I noticed this, I counted the letters in North Dakota State. 16. That's almost too close to be a coincidence.
4 SDSU vs 13 New Mexico St. pick: New Mexico State
SDSU was my pick to win the whole tournament last year, look how that worked out. When you cross the guru, you get burned Aztecs. I'm sorry too soon. Still, SDSU is coming off a loss to Regular New Mexico, and everyone knows "state" teams are inferior. Wait that doesn't help my argument. Too late. Rule #4. Never second guess a pick.
6 Baylor vs 11 Nebraska pick: Nebraska
You've got to love Nebraska's story, they want it more, and corn subsidies are stronger than ever under the new farm bill. As such, Nebraska will surprise people this year.
3 Creighton vs 14 Louisiana Lafayette pick: Creighton
Basketball is a team game. And even though McDermott is only one player, he's better than the Rajin Cajuns whole team. So Creighton wins, but I don't think they'll go much farther after this round.
7 Oregon vs 10 BYU pick: Oregon
My sister lives in Oregon, so I have to pick them, and also, I think all the BYU athletes have to take somekind of Mormon pledge against sinning in various ways. Good guys finish last.
2 Wisoncsin vs 15 American pick: Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a very weak two seed, according to what the guys on CBS told me as I was writing thus, but starting the game 13 points down could inspire them to beat the Eagles, who were terrible before making a miracle run to win the Patriots league, which I'm being told is not affiliated with the New England Patriots.
The Midwest region coming up next.