By Marc Summy and Matt Ulmer –
This time of the year brings deja vu and arguments to student sports analysts Matt Ulmer and Marc Summy: March Madness.
Summy: Pitt fans prepare to be disappointed. The Panthers are not consistent enough to make a deep run. Don’t expect them to make it past the third round. Their weakness is big men and Old Dominion. Since Old Dominion has plenty of bigs, I am picking for them to play each other in the third round. I don’t think the Panthers will make it out of this one.
Another upset to watch out for is George Mason over Villanova. Although this George Mason team is not as good as the 2006 underdogs who fought their way into the final four, they are going into the tourney with enough steam to send Villanova home. Advancing in the brackets is all about who is hot and on a roll, the Nova Wildcats are 4-8 in their past 12 games while George Mason is 11-1. Enough said.
For my Final Four picks I am going with Ohio State, Duke, Kansas, and Florida. These are all strong teams, hence why they got the number one seed in their region, except for Florida who is number two.
Ohio State vs Duke will be a great game. These are two tough teams who go at it on the floor and have incredible individuals. These Final Four games have a National Championship like feel to them and don’t forget that Duke is last year’s defending championship team, so they will be hungry for another.
The Kansas vs Florida game will be a challenge of course, but I just think the Jayhawks are too good for the Florida Gators. Kansas runs an uptempo game and when you add the Morris brothers and the role player’s three-point shooting, it is tough for any team to stop them.
Look for Duke to meet Kansas in the National Championship game. Although I am a Duke fan I won’t be biased and just have Duke going all the way.
I strongly believe that Kansas will come out on top. If they play their game, nobody can stop them.
Ulmer: Are you kidding me? George Mason over Villanova. You people are crazy. Sure, I’m a Villanova fan, but it doesn’t take being biased to realize a team from the CAA with a weak schedule like George Mason to know Nova is going to win. With that being said, it saddens me to accept there is no way Nova is getting past Ohio State.
Out all of all four number one seeds, I think it’s pretty obvious Ohio State is the most lethal and Pittsburgh is the weakest. No team who has lost their first conference tournament game has ever went on to win the National Championship, sorry Pittsburgh. Duke, unless they get Kyrie Irving 100 percent healthy, there will be no repeat this year. Kansas is the only team in my mind that can put up a legitimate fight with the Buckeyes.
Any team who shoots 14/15 from the three point range against Wisconsin leads me to think they aren’t collapsing in this year’s tourney.
Freshman sensation and Player of the Year nominee Jared Sullinger and shooter Jon Diebler who hit seven three’s in that game, lead the powerhouse squad.
My Final Four features the Buckeyes, Kansas Jayhawks, Pitt Panthers, and the red-hot Uconn Huskies. My biggest pick was the Kemba Walker-led Huskies over the reigning champs Duke. In my championship match-up i have Ohio State sliding by Kansas in what will be a fantastic game.
Be sure to comment and let the Penn Points staff know how you feel about these two experts’ brackets.
Here is Marc’s bracket:
http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/entry?entryID=1942982
Here is Matt’s bracket:
well marc ur bracket is terrible
Matt Ulmer = chalk
bracket busteddddddd
Impossible to predict, better hope you get some good sweet 16 wins
ulmer…i cant breathe…..too much chalk in the air….
LETS GO PIT!!!!!!!!
You guys are not bracket experts
you guys have different picks in your bracket than you do in the article…
So far Marc is right about his predictions, disregarding ODU. Matty U’s strong objection about Villanova losing shows his lack of knowledge for his own teams potential.