March Madness Picks

Like just about everyone I know, I'm in a bunch of different March Madness pools this year. It gets to the point where you just start making picks because you did the opposite on a different bracket. I've invested a modest amount of money in these projects, but the only return I expect is the abstract pleasure of keeping score; that, I suppose, and the 5-10% chance that I'll actually win something.

Anyway, this is the first time in the history of March Madness that I've had a sports blog, and I figure it's the right location for my real, uncompromised predictions about college basketball. I repeat, here are my actual predictions, based on upwards of 2-3 hours of vague thinking about this topic without any real dedication.

I'm not going to reproduce a whole bracket, but just go from the Sweet 16 onwards. So, to wit:

MIDWEST
Kansas
Michigan State
Georgetown
Ohio State

WEST
Syracuse
Butler
Xavier
Kansas State

SOUTH
Duke
Texas A&M
Baylor
Villanova

EAST
Kentucky
Wisconsin
New Mexico
West Virginia

Final Four
Kansas
Kansas State
Baylor
Kentucky

Championship
Kansas over Kentucky

MILES:

SWEET SIXTEEN

MIDWEST
Kansas
Michigan State
Georgetown
Ohio State

WEST
Syracuse
UTEP
Xavier
Kansas State

SOUTH
Duke
Utah State
Baylor
St. Mary's

EAST
Kentucky
Wisconsin
Washington
West Virginia

ELITE EIGHT

MIDWEST
Kansas
Georgetown

WEST
Syracuse
Kansas St.

SOUTH

Dukee

Baylor

EAST
Wisconsin
West Virginia

FINAL FOUR
Kansas
Kansas State
Duke
West Virginia

Championship
Kansas over Duke