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I was correct in only 11 of 16 games, and I lost two Sweet 16 teams in West Virginia & Wake Forest. The West Virginia loss really hurts since I had them going to the Elite 8. As long as my other two 6 seeds (UCLA & ASU) make it to the Elite 8, I’ll be fine.

Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Outside of the poor day I had with my bracket, I am absolutely ecstatic over the Wisconsin win. That layup with 2 seconds left that Hughes hit needs to be talked about more. That was a tough, tough shot. I thought the game was over when they were down 31-19 at the half, but they came back strong in the 2nd half with unexpected production from Keaton Nankivil. Xavier is going to be tough, but I think Wisconsin matches up well. More importantly, the Badgers actually came thru in a close game this season.

Alright, my picks are below:

UCLA over Villanova
Memphis over Maryland
UConn over Texas A&M
Purdue over Washington
UNC over LSU
Oklahoma over Michigan
Gonzaga over Western Kentucky
Duke over Texas

I’m really looking forward to the UCLA/Villanova game.

Well, Day 1 went ok. Only 11 of my 16 picks were correct, but I didn’t lose anyone in my Sweet 16. I was disappointed that Gus Johnson wasn’t calling any of the games yesterday, but he’s doing the Minnesota games today.

Here are my picks:

Louisville over Morehead St.
Ohio St. over Siena
Utah over Arizona
Wake Forest over Cleveland St.
West Virginia over Dayton
Kansas over North Dakota St.
USC over Boston College
Michigan St over USC
Marquette over Utah St.
Missouri over Cornell
Pittsburgh over E. Tennessee St.
Tennessee over Oklahoma St
Wisconsin over Florida St.
Xavier over Portland St.
Arizona St over Temple
Syracuse over Stephen F. Austin

Every year, I take this Thursday and Friday off so I can sit at home and watch the NCAA tournament. It might be my two favorite sports days of the year, simply for how well CBS does it. There are 4 games on, and CBS will keep you updated on all of them and make sure you don’t miss a great ending. Also, if you want to watch a different game, they are all free to watch online. All of this plus Gus Johnson makes a great pair of vacation days.

Here is a PDF of my bracket, sponsored by KFC. I have Memphis, Louisville, Pittsburgh & North Carolina in the Final Four, with Memphis beating Pitt for the championship. Below, I’ll post my predictions for today. Honestly, I’m not picking many upsets in the first round.

LSU over Butler
North Carolina over Radford
Memphis over CSU Northridge
California over Maryland
BYU over Texas A&M
Connecticut over Chattanooga
Purdue over Northern Iowa
Mississippi St over Washington
Texas over Minnesota
Clemson over Michigan
Villanova over American
Gonzaga over Akron
Duke over Bingham
Oklahoma over Morgan State
UCLA over VCU
Illinois over Western Kentucky