Well, this is definitely not one of my better years predicting the tournament, as witnessed by all of the glorious strikethroughs on my bracket. There’s still room for me to right the ship as I’ve still got three of my Final Four teams remaining, despite losing Ohio State within the first three hours. (See if I pick Ohio State to do anything again.) I’m having some issues with SoundCloud – in that I haven’t purchased a pro account yet – so we’ll have a written tourney recap in place. Will Call Radio will be back soon enough, no worries.
South Region: Flying Colors
As mentioned earlier, the South Region was the first region to become completely wrecked on my bracket after Ohio State lost to in-state rival Dayton in the first few hours of the tournament. Though, I’m not sure I can call it a rivalry since Ohio State refuses to schedule them, and now I guess we know why. The Dayton newspapers deservedly celebrated their win over Ohio State, and an advertisement in the paper gave a nice follow up nod for their berth into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1984. They’ll take on the kids from Stanford who bumped off a Kansas team (without Joel Embiid) in dramatic fashion. In the upper part of this region, Florida and UCLA took care of business as usual and will face off for a trip to the Elite Eight.
Top Performer: Dyshawn Pierre – Dayton: At first, Vee Sanford of Dayton was going to be my choice, the man who beat Ohio State with a kiss off the glass in the final seconds, but the 6’6 forward contributed an average of 13 points and 7 rebounds over Dayton’s wins over Ohio State and Syracuse.
Predictions: UCLA will give Florida a strong run, but I see the Gators as too much. Stanford vs Dayton is definitely the game to watch in this region, and I’ll give it to the Flyers to continue their upset run. With that said, I see Florida defeating Dayton booking a trip to Dallas. Continue reading
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