Bracketology - Midwest

Bracketology: The study of the NCAA tournament bracket.

I never really noticed this word before this year's tournament so that probably means it's been in widespread use on ESPN since 1999 given how much television I watch. I do wish it was an actual academic branch of study. I wouldn't have wasted all that time and all those brain cells trying to major is stuff like computer science and sociology. OK, so I still would have wasted the brain cells. But all that time was a definite waste. I still don't really know what sociology is or how it's useful.

But on to my real major. Bracketology. In case you're betting on the big tournament in your office pool, here's my run-down of the first round. I don't have any money on the games so this will be a good experiment to see how well my college basketball swami skills are coming along when not influenced by the green stuff.

MIDWEST Bracket

(1) Ohio State vs. (16) North Texas : Odom is going to play this one in flip flops, left handed, blind folded, and chug a beer at every time out. OSU still wins.

(8) Xavier vs. (9) Arizona : Arizona is so pissed they're a 9 seed they'll take it out on the Catholics. Arizona advances despite Xavier being a hometown school for me.

(5) Maryland vs. (12) Drexel : I have no idea who Drexel is, but they seem to keep popping up in the tournament. Terps beat them anyway.

(4) Texas vs. (13) Holy Cross : My first upset prediction. The longhorns will not be happy.

(6) Creighton vs. (11) Arkansas : Unfortunately for Creighton, the baseball team is not playing basketball. Arkansas wins in another stunning bracketology upset.

(3) Pittsburg vs. (14) Albany : After sucking so bad in the Big East final one would think that Pitt will come out of the gate looking more alive. Pitt wins.

(7) Virginia vs. (10) Indiana : I'm not sure on this one. So I flipped a coin. It said that Virginia would win.

(2) Memphis vs. (15) Belmont : I thought Belmont was a horse race. Horses are cool but they're no match on the court for this Memphis team.

I'm trying to write this in bed and I'm starting to get a kink in my neck so I'll post the rest of my first round predictions in the morning.