Special to Basketball.com
By Jimmy D, www.ATS411.com Fantasy Guru
Don't call me a dummy, please. Especially if you are the pot calling the kettle black.
I live in a part of Canada where the local conference basketball final involved Saint Mary's University. They lost, in case you were wondering (I wasn't).
But it sets up my Jimmy D Dum Dum of the Week. One of my regular column followers asked me for my opinion on some first-round upsets in this week's March Madness.
St. Mary's, says I.
"That's the silly Canadian stuff, dummy, I'm talking about the American college championships!" the follower retorted.
I bit his tongue. Then I figured this was not the time for tongue-biting.
"St. Mary's, Ca. Gaels, the WCC runner-up and No. 10 seed in the Chicago Regional, dummy," says I. "I think they will beat Southern Illinois as the No. 7 seed, dummy."
Ah, the craziest week of sports in America hasn't even started and already Jimmy is being driven crazy with dumb questions about the Madness.
Like the commonly asked, "Gee, Jimmy D, who do you think will win this region and that region, who Jimmy?"
(Looking for a unique bracket game? Play ATS411 Bracket Buster at
www.ATS411.com)
Chicago (aka Midwest Regional)
The nation's top-rated team gets the No. 1 seed here and has essentially homecourt advantage all the way to the Final Four. That's if Illinois can make it that far. All three tournament locations are within a three-hour drive of the campus, so expect raucous crowds for all the Illini matches.
But Illinois is one No. 1 that won't play in Arch Madness in St. Louis. Oklahoma State resides in their bracket and there is trouble lurking with Arizona at No. 3 and Boston College at No. 4.
Jimmy likes Oklahoma State to build on its Big 12 win to come out of Chicago. As for first-round upsets here in the Windy City, I like the aforementioned Gaels to yield a small upset of the Salukis and Horizon League champion Wisc.-Milwaukee at No. 12 to take out No. 5 Alabama.
There will be a near miss when Utah State faces Arizona. The lowly rated Aggies led the nation in shooting percentage and the line of -6 reflects the fact that the Vegas is nervous of this one. I would play the Aggies at +6, but don't trust them to carry through with a straight-up upset.
The last four standing here will be Illinois, Boston College, LSU and Oklahoma State with the Cowboys riding off with the trip to St. Louis.
Albuquerque (aka West Regional)
I see fewer 'dogs winning here, but I see the main Dogs winning the Albuquerque Regional ahead of No. 1 Washington and No. 2 Wake Forest.
This is not a contrarian choice, it's just Gonzaga's time. The WCC perennial champs are good and luck into a bracket where the No. 1 surged late to earn its position and where the Demon Deacs at No. 2 seem to ebb and floe.
In fact, Washington could be out as early as the weekend, when they tangle with Pitt. Jimmy liked Pacific all year, but they got a lousy matchup as the No. 8, drawing Pitt. The Panthers will handle the Tigers in this catfight and might even claw down the Huskies.
I've got Creighton at No. 10 beating West Virginia at No. 7, their rank falsely inflated by a run of late upsets this year. Playing Creighton, they simply lose to a solid, well-coached team.
There could be a barn-burner in the Second Round here where Louisville and Georgia Tech hook up. Jimmy likes the Yellow Jackets to prevail in that game, along with Gonzaga, Washington and Wake Forest as the last four in this bracket.
Syracuse (aka East Regional)
At last, a bracket where the No. 1 survives.
Most observers believe North Carolina has the most talent and that, if they play well, they cannot be stopped. Most continued to think that even after a semi-final ACC tourney hiccup against Georgia Tech.
After an upset or two on their side, the Tar Heels have an easy ride to the Regional Final where they will face defending champion UConn.
Along the way, expect the No. 12 seed to advance to the third round. That's right, a tough New Mexico team becomes the second No. 12 to beat a No. 5 and then pulls the same stunt on Florida. The Gators, surprise champs of the SEC, will handle MAC champs Ohio with ease before tumbling to New Mexico.
You get another minor upset when No. 10 N.C. State beats Charlotte and a bigger one when No. 6 Wisconsin falls to little-known Northern Iowa. The Panthers are just 1-4 against teams in the tourney, but their two losses to Creighton were single-point losses and they played tight against Cincy and Iowa. Ben Jacobsen ad Erik Crawford can fire away, when the Badgers don't bury these guys, they will pay with their tournament lives.
No. 3 Kansas is also in the mix here and survives two rounds before losing to UConn. So your last four in Syracuse will be UNC, UConn, Kansas and New Mexico.
Austin (aka South Regional)
Duke will be penciled in across the board in so many bracket forms it will be silly. If you plan to win your pool, don't advance them past the third round.
No, the No. 1 Blue Devils will easily shoo away the Hornets of Delaware State and put the run to the Bulldogs of Mississippi State in the next round. But the Devil faithful will be blue because of some Orange on Round 3.
The No. 4 Syracuse Orangemen and their trademark zone defense is just the cure for Duke's bombs-away perimeter attack. So after Syracuse gets a solid challenge from Vermont at No. 13 and then ditches Michigan State, they take out Duke to set up a Regional Final against Oklahoma at the bottom of the bracket.
Sorry folks, Duke and Kentucky are sucker bets.
Advance them a few rounds, but the teams that battled to win the Big East title and the Sooners from the Big 12 will beat them in this bracket.
Final Four (St. Louis)
So who dances until midnight?
Oklahoma State will face Gonzaga and North Carolina will face Syracuse.
And North Carolina will keep the Bulldogs at bay in the final, bringing national glory back to Chapel Hill.
Or not.
That's the way Jimmy sees it.
You have a few more days to research and complete your brackets, so don't dawdle.
Jimmy D is a fantasy sports expert who writes a weekly daily newspaper column in Canada.
