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BX Elite Eight Match-ups, Picks and Analysis

BX Elite Eight Match-ups, Picks and Analysis
Mar 29, 2008, 10:59 am
-All four #1 seeds are still alive and kicking. I ended up going 7-1 with my Sweet Sixteen picks, which puts me at 46-14 for the tournament so far. Out of my original bracket, I have six of the Elite Eight correct, including Davidson. UCLA and Memphis were the two teams that I had going out prior to now. Somehow, all of my Final Four are still alive. One of them is Xavier, though, who I’m not picking to win today.


SATURDAY, MARCH 29TH

-#3. XAVIER VS #1. UCLA (pick – UCLA). The guard play in this game is dead even, but UCLA just has a huge advantage in the post with Kevin Love. Xavier held on to beat West Virginia, but it seemed as though they struggled to score every time they went inside and didn’t spread out the defense. They’ll struggle even more underneath against a team that’s as strong as UCLA. Xavier does have a chance, and there is reason to hope. UCLA has been winning, but some of the games have been struggles against teams that aren’t as good as Xavier. Still, I believe UCLA’s post play will be the difference.

-#3. LOUISVILLE VS #1. NORTH CAROLINA (pick – North Carolina). These are the two teams in the tournament that have impressed me the most. Right now, I’d have to say that the winner of this game would be my pick to win the national championship. Both teams have simply looked incredible in their first three tournament games. They haven’t even been games, but rather exhibitions. Both teams will probably experience something today that they haven’t experienced in the tournament yet, and that’s a close game. Louisville is certainly capable of winning, but I can only pick one team and I just think UNC is a little bit better. Both teams do everything well. It’s hard to point to a weakness for either team. Clash of the Titans. It should be a great basketball game.


SUNDAY, MARCH 30TH

-#2. TEXAS VS #1. MEMPHIS (pick – Texas). For the third straight year, Memphis is playing a team with a huge geographic advantage in the Regionals despite the fact that they have the better seed. I had Michigan State winning the other night and couldn’t have been more wrong. Free-throws don’t come into play when a team is up thirty at the half. If Memphis plays like that again they’ll be in the Final Four. However, Texas was equally as impressive with a decisive win over a very good Stanford team. Texas has looked great for the past several weeks and I believe they’ll get it done. Having said that, Texas is a great defensive team, but so was Michigan State and they did absolutely nothing to slow down the Tigers in the Sweet Sixteen game.

-#10. DAVIDSON VS #1. KANSAS (pick – Davidson). In my original bracket I had Davidson losing to Kansas in this game, but after seeing them the other night I believe Davidson is good enough to win, and will win. Kansas is outstanding. They’ve blown by virtually everyone they’ve faced up to this point, but I believe Davidson is better than anyone they’ve played despite not having the big brand name. Steffan Curry has been hands down the best player in the NCAA Tournament. I believe he steps up big once again and helps Davidson advance to the Final Four.

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