Uni Tourni! - East Region

In the spirit of not making these posts humongous, I'm going to provide links in the team names. So either you can see for yourself what I'm talking about or just take my word for it. I'm going with the uniforms that the teams are actually wearing for the first round game. In later rounds, I'll get into the full repertoire. Let's get it on...

First Round
(1) UNC over (16) Mt. St. Mary's

Hard to pick against UNC's classic ditties right now.

(8) Indiana over (9) Arkansas

In a battle of the same friggin' uniform, I have to side with the more storied program.

(5) Notre Dame over (12) George Mason

You'll soon discover that I have an aversion to the silly shoulder panels. Plus, Notre Dame might bust out the sweeter "Irish" uniforms later on.

(13) Winthrop over (4) Wash. St.

Too busy up front and numbers too big on the back for Wazzou.

(6) Oklahoma over (11) St. Joe's

I might have to make a personal visit to Hawk Hill to burn these uniforms.

(3) Louisville over (14) Boise St.

Shoulder panels!!! Gotta pick one, and the Cards have a sharper look going on. Barely.

(7) Butler over (10) South Alabama

Bulldogs with a solid look. USA's font size is too tiny. Otherwise, this would have been closer.

(15) American over (2) Tennessee

Maybe it's the color scheme, but the Vol's need to go back to the basics, IMO. Or, maybe it's my allegiance to Jeff Jones! Wahoowa!

Second Round
(1) UNC over (8) Indiana

In a squeaker, the Heels move on. I love the classic look that the Hoosiers bring, and it's a shame this is only a second round matchup, but the Carolina blue and argyle combo is hard to beat.

(13) Winthrop over (5) Notre Dame

Winthrop wins with a fluid design, as the Irish just couldn't hang on with their lack of trim on those shorts. Need something there, Golden Domers.

(6) Oklahoma over (3) Louisville

Sooners benefit from the SOD with a clean, classic look. Louisville is just a little too busy.

(7) Butler over (15) American

I have a thing with multi-stripe trim, but American put up a good fight here.

Sweet 16
(1) UNC over (13) Winthrop

Not much of a fight here.

(7) Butler over (6) Oklahoma

The more classic uniform prevails, hailing from the more classic Hinkel Fieldhouse. It just all fits so nicely. Here's a template that's hard to go against.

Elite 8
(1) UNC over (7) Butler

Intense battle. UNC's color scheme and argyle are a classic combo that have withstood the tests of time and Nike's attempts to screw it up. If you played this game at Hinkel, I'd stare more at the Carolina blue roads than I would the Butler homes. I feel like I should have a loser's bracket, because Butler could easily crawl back into the mix.

East Region Winner
UNC

Close Runner-Ups
Indiana, Butler

Uni Tourni!

The 65 teams are now set in the NCAA tournament. You've seen my efforts to predict the bracket, and I plan on breaking it down for y'all at some point this week - or at least offering my picks.

In the meantime, it's time to have a little creative fun with this tourney. It's time for my inaugural "Uni Tourni."

Nevermind the seedings or the talent levels of these teams. The only thing that will determine whether they survive and advance are the clothes on their backs. So, without further ado, let's start with the play-in game.

(16) Coppin State vs. (16) Mount St. Mary's
























There's a reason why Coppin State is in the play-in game. WTF is up with that collar? I barely had to look at The Mount's uniforms to make this decision - and obviously, I didn't even consider The Mount's shorts. I don't have to. Mount St. Mary's advances. Bring on North Carolina.

Next up: (1) North Carolina vs. (16) Mount St. Mary's

Bracket Stab Stats

The tourney is ON! I'm pumped, as I hope you are, too.

Below are my stats on how well I predicted this year's field. Important to note - my last "stab" was made at approx 3am on the morning of Selection Sunday. I was out having a few cold ones and watching the championship games at a bar, so missing Georgia was something out of my control. I'm not sure who I would have dropped out with them taking another at-large away. Looking at my last four in, it would probably have been VCU or Dayton, but who really knows?! Anyways, next year I'll try to spend all of Selection Sunday at home, so I can get as close as possible.

Out of 65 teams, I correctly predicted 62. I missed Oregon, Villanova, and Georgia. Instead, I put in Dayton, VCU, and Illinois St.

Here are my seeding stats:

Exact seed: 30 out of 65 (46.2%)
1 Seed Off: 21 out of 65 (32.3%)
2 Seeds Off: 9 out of 65 (13.8%)
3 Seeds Off: 1 out of 65 (1.5%)
4 Seeds Off: 1 out of 65 (1.5%)
Missed Altogether: 3 out of 65 (4.6%)

So, I nailed 51 out of 65 within 1 seed. I can live with that. Of note, I also nailed 2 exact pairings, with the Vandy-Siena and Memphis-UTA pairings. When the brackets were announced, it was like deja vu up in this mother!

Now, let the real March Madness begin...

Bracket Stab - Selection Sunday!

It's really late in the evening or really early in the morning - depending on how you look at it - but one thing is for certain...it's Selection Sunday! It's finally here! Seriously, this day is 10 times better than Christmas.

Below are my final predictions for the tourney. After posting this, I'll get some much needed rest and then just wait and see how close I really got to nailing these. Perhaps I'll put those stats up on Monday.

Lay your eyes on these....

East Region (Charlotte)

Raleigh
(1) UNC vs. (16) Coppin St. /Miss. Vall. St. (play-in game)
(8) Texas A&M vs. (9) St. Mary's

Tampa
(4) Vandy vs. (13) Siena
(5) UConn vs. (12) Oral Roberts

Washington, D.C.
(2) Georgetown vs. (15) Cornell
(7) USC vs. (10) Temple

Omaha
(3) Wisconsin vs. (14) Winthrop
(6) UNLV vs. (11) Miami, FL

West Region (Phoenix)

Anaheim
(1) UCLA vs. (16) Portland State
(8) Oklahoma vs. (9) Kent State

Washington, D.C.
(4) Pittsburgh vs. (13) Kentucky
(5) Indiana vs. (12) VCU

Birmingham
(2) Tennessee vs. (15) Mt. St. Mary's
(7) BYU vs. (10) Arizona

Tampa
(3) Xavier vs. (14) Austin Peay
(6) Marquette vs. (11) South Alabama

South Region (Houston)

Birmingham
(1) Memphis vs. (16) UT-Arlington or Northwestern St. (Southland Champ)
(8) Davidson vs. (9) Arkansas

Denver
(4) Michigan State vs. (13) George Mason
(5) Butler vs. (12) Baylor

Little Rock
(2) Texas vs. (15) UMBC
(7) Notre Dame vs. (10) West. Ky.

Anaheim
(3) Stanford vs. (14) Boise St.
(6) Clemson vs. (11) Illinois St.

Midwest Region (Detroit)

Denver
(1) Kansas vs. (16) Cal St. - Fullerton
(8) West Va. vs. (9) Miss. St.

Omaha
(4) Drake vs. (13) San Diego
(5) Washington St. vs. (12) Dayton

Raleigh
(2) Duke vs. (15) American
(7) Gonzaga vs. (10) Kansas St.

Little Rock
(3) Louisville vs. (14) Belmont
(6) Purdue vs. (11) St. Joe's

Last 4 Teams in:
Dayton
Baylor
Kentucky
VCU

First 4 Teams Out:
Oregon
Arizona St.
UMass
Villanova

Who's the Best in the Big East?

Simple question, right? As Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast my friend!"

Much has been said about West Virginia's "weak" Big East conference schedule, so I decided to see for myself just how weak that is compared to the other teams in the Big East. While crunching the numbers for this answer, I also went a little further and calculated the RPI for the Big East only, as if they were the only teams in Division 1. Here's what I found below...

Team	W	L	Pct	SOS
Notre Dame	12	4	0.750	0.546
Marquette	11	6	0.647	0.535
Villanova	7	9	0.438	0.520
Connecticut	12	4	0.750	0.515
Pittsburgh	9	7	0.563	0.507
St. John's	5	11	0.313	0.503
Rutgers	2	15	0.118	0.498
DePaul	5	11	0.313	0.494
Providence	5	11	0.313	0.494
Seton Hall	7	9	0.438	0.491
Syracuse	7	9	0.438	0.489
West Virginia	9	7	0.563	0.486
Louisville	14	3	0.824	0.484
Georgetown	14	3	0.824	0.484
Cincinnati	8	8	0.500	0.477
South Florida	3	13	0.188	0.452

Out of 16 teams, West Virginia has the 12th toughest schedule. So, yeah, they've played a pretty weak schedule in conference and they only have 9 wins to show for it.

So who's the best in the league? It ain't Georgetown, as most may think. Notre Dame has separated themselves as the team to beat with the highest RPI achieved against the toughest schedule. I say, look out for the Fighting Irish in the coming weeks.

Team	W	L	Pct	RPI
Notre Dame	12	4	0.750	0.586
Louisville	14	3	0.824	0.573
Georgetown	14	3	0.824	0.573
Connecticut	12	4	0.750	0.570
Marquette	11	6	0.647	0.554
Pittsburgh	9	7	0.563	0.519
West Virginia	9	7	0.563	0.510
Villanova	7	9	0.438	0.494
Cincinnati	8	8	0.500	0.481
Seton Hall	7	9	0.438	0.480
Syracuse	7	9	0.438	0.478
St. John's	5	11	0.313	0.453
DePaul	5	11	0.313	0.451
Providence	5	11	0.313	0.449
Rutgers	2	15	0.118	0.402
South Florida	3	13	0.188	0.397