Who's in Your Bracket?

My 'mostly wrong' predictions for March Madness. 3/13/2023 dwm

It's time for another fruitless attempt to predict the outcome of 63 games over the next three weeks.  I'll be lucky to have 30 of my first 32 picks right.

There are no Badgers in the bracket, this year they only qualified for the National Invitation Tournament.  Bucky hosts Bradley tonight in a first-round NIT game.

You might see my last four standing in a number of forecasts but first let's see how they travel the road to the Final Four:

SOUTH REGION 

The first round I'm picking three upsets: West Virginia over Maryland; Charleston dancing over San Diego State; and Utah State buzzing Missouri.  In round two Charleston advances to the Sweet Sixteen with Alabama, Baylor, and Arizona. The Wildcats from Arizona roll the Tide from Alabama in the regional final to reach the Final Four.

 EAST REGION

The lower left corner of the bracket goes chalk on the first day with the top eight teams earning victories.  Two days later, the higher seeded teams win again, matching Purdue with Tennessee and Kansas State with Marquette.  Marquette beats Purdue to reach the final weekend.

MIDWEST REGION

My Alma mater is in this region and I have Drake beating Miami; Pitt defeating Iowa State; Penn State punching out Texas A & M; and Auburn downing Iowa.  That's a lot of favorites losing in day one, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen are #1 Houston against #12 Drake and #10 Penn State playing #3 Xavier.  The Musketeers take down Houston, advancing to the Final Four.

WEST REGION

Boise State is the only lower seed to win their first round game in the West.  In the second round, the higher seeds advance, before Gonzaga beats the defending champion JayHawks of Kansas to reach the Final Four.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs have been a mid-major school with a big-school footprint in the world of college basketball.  They've reached the title game but haven't won it all, yet.  In the National Semi-Final, I'm favoring Marquette over Arizona and picking Gonzaga to beat Xavier.  

Monday night, April 3, the Zags cut down the nets after winning their first championship.  At least that's what I think, I wonder if I'll still have the last four intact after the first weekend... enjoy the madness of March!