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| My revised bracket after the Elite Eight advanced. 3/28/2021 dwm photo |
Before the second weekend of the Men's Basketball Tournament began only one of my final four teams was still among the 16 teams with a chance to reach the last weekend.
Eight teams are left.
On the right side of the bracket:
In the South Region, top-seeded Baylor plays #3 Arkansas.
In the Midwest, #2 seed Houston plays #12 Oregon State.
On the left side:
Overall top-seed and undefeated Gonzaga takes on the University of Southern California in the West Region.
In the East, #1 Michigan plays #11 UCLA,
The winners on the right will play in one semi-final Saturday for the right to play the winner of the other two teams still standing for the national title.
My bracket had #11 Michigan State playing Michigan in the East final - instead my bracket just picked the wrong winner in the First Four game between Michigan State and UCLA. I had MSU advancing to the Final Four.
I originally picked Gonzaga to cut down the nets after reaching the Final Four by defeating Iowa. Instead they face USC. The Trojans took out my Drake Bulldogs in round 1; upset Kansas to reach the Sweet Sixteen; and bowled over Oregon Ducks. But the Gonzaga Bulldogs have a lot more bite than Drake's did, USC may keep it close for a while but the Zags aren't going to be stopped before the weekend.
While Michigan lost a valuable player to injury before this tournament that I thought might hurt them, the Wolverines have looked unstoppable. The Bruins of UCLA have had an amazing run, but they don't have the big players under the basket to keep up with the Maize and Blue. Michigan advances to play Gonzaga April 3.
Baylor and Arkansas is likely the best game on the schedule tonight. I like the Razorbacks, but the Baylor Bears seem to be hitting on all cylinders. I'm picking Baylor to reach their first Final Four in 71 years (corrected 3/30/21).
Oregon State and Houston is a difficult pick. Oregon State won the PAC-12 conference tournament to qualify for the dance, the experts said they wouldn't be here otherwise. The Beavers seem to be playing with house money and have impressive victories over #3 Tennessee, #4 Oklahoma State, and #8 Loyola-Chicago.
Houston has been ranked in the top 10 in the country most of the season, but don't feel like they are quite ready for the final weekend. It won't surprise me to see Oregon State advance, but the guess is #2 versus #12 means something after all and Houston will play Baylor in the other semi-final.
Baylor versus Houston. Gonzaga versus Michigan.
From where I'm sitting, it looks like chalk rules. The overall #1 (Gonzaga) and #2 (Baylor) decide who is better on the court. I'll stick with my original selection. The Bulldogs look like the best team in the country, they won't lose any games this year, the first undefeated champ since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.
Congratulations, Gonzaga.
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