That’s right folks, The Maestro is back from his Sheenesque bender after picking the Super Bowl within 2 points, winning his season-long picks pool, then taking down an Accenture Match Play pool for good measure. After I woke up in the corner of the Champagne Room at Centerfolds this morning, I realized its almost time for March Madness. I fucking love March Madness, so I had to pop back over to The Alt Tab and check in. Now you’re probably thinking, “Hey Maestro, you don’t even know the matchups, how are you writing a pre-preview?” Well my goal here is to beat the analysts to the punch. Once the bracket is released, everyone has the same sexy upset picks and same teams that they like to go down early. Oh you like a 12 seed to beat a 5 seed? Congratulations, I watch Sportscenter too. You don’t see that weak 2 seed making it to Houston? Yeah, no one does. I’m going to give you these teams a week early so you can become more familiar with them as they play their conference tournaments and see how smart I am. Here we go:
Belmont – Belmont? Really? Yes, really. Now you probably haven’t heard shit about this team all season, but they’re going to end up getting a 13 seed, and as soon as Belmont’s name pops up on the CBS Selection Show you’ll hear Seth Davis say something to the effect of, “That’s a tough draw for St. John’s, and I actually like Belmont to pull the upset in Round 1”, after he hasn’t mentioned them once all year…he ALWAYS does something like that. And don’t be shocked when you see the team they’re matched up against only laying about 4 points when the lines come out. For example, as of this posting, Ken Pomeroy’s rankings have Belmont as the #20 team, and St. John’s as the 31st ranked team, while SI and ESPN have that projected as a 4/13 matchup. I feel like you should know these things.
Syracuse – I know this isn’t going to make Dr. Jack happy, but I don’t trust the ‘Cuse in the tourney. After starting off 18-0, the Orange have been largely mediocre, aside from two road wins in a row against Villanova and Georgetown. Now you can’t really poo-poo any road wins in the Big East (which is good this year, I don’t know if you’ve heard), but I’m going to do just that. Villanova isn’t as strong as people thought, and the Hoyas were playing their first game without Chris Wright. And there’s always that pesky FT shooting issue that the Orange’s three most frequently used players have. Depending on how the Big East Tournament goes, Syracuse probably lands a 3 or 4 seed, but I won’t have them in the Sweet 16 in many brackets and may have them going down in the 1st round in one or two.
George Mason – If you’re tired of people making the “Who will be this year’s George Mason? Could it be George Mason???” joke, then I’m sorry, you’re going to have to hear it again this year. The Patriots will end up with a seed in the 7-10 range and will be a tough out for whatever 1 or 2 seed they face in the 2nd round. They’ve won 15 straight in the CAA, which is arguably the best mid-major conference in the country. The likes of VCU and Old Dominion could be dangerous in the conference tourney, but George Mason should be safely in the field of 68 and a team to watch once it kicks off.
BYU – I know, I know, real original, huh? I’ve actually liked BYU all year, but all the “experts” who have been S-ing The Jimmer’s D were just waiting for an excuse to turn around and pick against his team in the tournament and now they have one. The Cougs just had starting forward Brandon Davies kicked off the team for violating the school’s “honor code”, whatever that means…only the Mormons! You think Coach Cal does that at Kentucky? Me neither. At any rate, BYU loses Davies’ solid 11 and 6 per game and are now nearly fully perimeter oriented. This should make it easier for a lockdown D to shut down their high powered offense and advance out of their region. Depending on how BYU does in their conference tourney (held on UNLV’s home court), they’ll end up with at worst a 2 seed, but I could see the right 3-10 seed (UNC? West Virginia? Not Syracuse?) that matches up with them in the 2nd round or Sweet 16 knocking them off. (By the way, this entry was a hell of a lot better when I had written it before the Davies story blew up and BYU got waxed at home by New Mexico, but I waited an extra day to post it. As CW always tells me, you snooze you lose, in the blogging world)
Check back in at The Alt Tab once the bracket is released so I can win you your pool…as long as you’re not in mine.
