13           16

Seattle — Without Matt Barkley, USC wouldn’t have the number 3 in the nation slot. That showed this evening.

   USC backup quarterback Aaron Corp, a redshirt sophomore making his first career start, was 13 for 22 for 110 yards with one interception against the Huskies in their 13-16 loss in the final seconds that starts their Pac 10 season.

   After a Joe McKnight fumble and a long Washington drive to the USC 4. Washington called timeout and called kicker Erik Folk out on to the field with 7 seconds remaining. From 22 yards, Folk hit the field goal for the lead, 16-13.

   Now 3 seconds to go, Folk squibbed it. Running out the time.

   “Our kids played very hard. I don’t know if we played very good, but we played hard,” Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian said. “It’s unbelievable. It’s what we were hoping for. We’re trying hard.”

   USC  is now 2-1 (0-1) and hosts Washington State next week, Washington is now 2-1 (1-0) and will play at Stanford next week.

Uconn:0

UNC:1

Pitt:2

Duke:0

Michigan State:0

Memphis:0

Oklahoma:0

As for the games. The one seeds will all win (A 16 seed has never beat a 1 seed).

The 2-15 games will be more or less the same. I don’t think Cal State Northridge can beat Memphis, Robert Morris can’t beat Michigan State, Morgan State will lose to Oklahoma and Blake Griffin. Duke will beat Binghamton.

The only 3-14 upset that in my mind is possible is North Dakota State over Kansas. The Bison of North Dakota State are a decent basketball team. Wait……..Bison……….over Kansas………..hmmmm………oh, now I remember, the Bucknell Bison. A 14 seed conference winner beat Kansas a few years ago. But Kansas has Cole Aldrich and Sharron Collins who looks like Nate Robinson. But plays better. He is a team leader. Syracuse, Missouri, and Villanova will most likely win.

The 4-13 matchups  I actually think the upsets that can happen are Mississippi State over Washington, and Portland State over Xavier. I think Gonzaga and Wake Forest will prevail. But I actually have Xavier winning over Portland State. But I actually have Mississippi State over Washington.

Now 5-12 games will be interesting. A lot of people have Western Kentucky over Illinois or Arizona over Utah or even Wisconsin over Florida State. But in my opinion one will happen. Arizona over Utah and i’ll tell you why. Chase Budinger. He will torch Utah. If he has a big game they will win, if not the Utah Utes will move on. I have Purdue, Illinois, and Florida State moving on.

The 6-11 matchups will be intriguing. I have 2 11 seeds moving on. VCU and Temple. But West Virginia and Marquette survive. I think Marquette barely survives v.s. Utah State. And WVU beats Dayton by 5. 

The 7-10 games will be good. But I have 3 7 seeds moving on in California, Boston College, and Texas. But my upset is Michigan over Clemson. Michigan is under appreciated. They have Manny Harris and Deshawn Sims. They’re good players.

And finally the 8-9 games. I have Ohio State over Siena by 1. I like Siena. They are solid. But I like Mullens and Turner. Lauderdale and Mullens will wear down the low post for Siena. BYU will blow out Texas A&M. Butler will win in, yes, 2 overtimes. LSU is solid but Butler can run. And shoot. And finish. Butler moves on to play North Carolina. Tennessee will blow out Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State guard Byron Eaton isn’t consistent, but Tennessee’s main guys are. Tyler Smith has taken Chris Lofton’s old job of leading the team. And Wayne Chism is good also.

In the second round I think Louisville beats Ohio State. I like how solid everybody is for Louisville. Terrence Williams is a great leader. And I think our only 12 seed (Arizona) losses to Wake Forest. Jeff Teague will shut Chase Budinger down.

I have another upset though. (By the way I had Kansas beating North Dakota State although I said it was possible that the Bison could win) I think West Virginia beats Kansas. Alex Ruoff , De’Sean Butler, and Devin Ebanks for West Virginia are good. Alex Ruoff is one of the top 3pt shooters in the country. I think Lucas and the Spartans beat Rice and Boston College. It’ll be close but I personally have a soft spot for the Spartans.

Uconn will beat BYU by 7. Thabeet will be to much for the weak BYU post players. I think Purdue beats Mississipp State. Robbie Hummel is healthy, E’Twaun Moore is solid. And I think JaJuan Johnson is a smart player.

Missouri will win if DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons play good. Marquette is lost without star guard Dominic James. And Memphis will beat California and Jerome Randle. Randle is good but Tyreke Evans and Antonio Anderson can wear Randle down for a easy win.

I also think Fields, Blair, and Young pull out a win over Tennessee. I like Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism. But they can’t handle Pitt. Xavier is going to crush Florida State. Case close in that game.

Eric Maynor is going to graduate with 2 NCAA wins in his career. Duke and UCLA. VCU and star Eric Maynor will lose to Dante Cunningham and Villanova. Next, I have an upset. Texas over Duke. I think Texas is strong mentally and Duke’s main guy is Singler. He is over rated.

I have North Carolina, if Ty Lawson is out, they lose. But I think UNC wins by one, just because Tyler and Wayne. And another upset. Illinois over Gonzaga. I’m pretty sure Chester Frazier will be ready. But Gonzaga has 3 players in the top 12 for made 3′s in the WCC. The Illini have to pressure and they’ll prevail.

A no brainer in my mind is Syracuse over Temple. Flynn is great. And Devendorf and Rautins can hit the 3. And I like Harris. Dionte Christmas will make it decently close. But the Orange prevail. And Oklahoma beats Michigan. Blake Griffin will torch Sims for Michigan. And Willie Warren will shut down Manny Harris. Sweet 16 time.

First I’ll take Wake Forest over Louisville in an upset. Wake Forest is a big team and steals a win. Then another upset. West Virginia’s dynamic 3 knocks off Kalin Lucas and the Spartans. Suton will be the big problem for the Mountaineers though. If they stop him they will be fine. Ruoff and Butler can handle Lucas and Morgan.

And then the biggest upset this year. Purdue and Hummel, Moore and Johnson beat Uconn and Thabeet. In 2OT’s. I hesitated a lot in this pick. I have Memphis over Missouri. Lyons and Carroll can handle Taggart and Dozier but Mizzou’s frontcourt can’t handle Anderson and Evans.

I think Pitt will beat Xavier. Xavier gives up to many turnovers. And they don’t have a solid point guard. Pitt has all the pieces. A strong and good small shooting forward in Sam Young. A point guard, in Levance Fields, and a post player in DeJuan Blair. Pitt wins. Another upset. Texas over Villanova. Like I said I like Texas. They are really good, with A.J. Abrams, Damion James, Gary Johnson, and Dexter Pittman. Texas wins the game by 5.

North Carolina elimanates my favorite team, Illinois in the sweet 16. Tyler Hansbourough will have either 30 points or 20 assists. Tisdale will most likely have to come over for help and Tyler can dump it off to Deon Thompson. And Ty Lawson will be back so odds are against the Illini. UNC wins by 22. My next game will go down to the wire. But Oklahoma will win. Blake Griffin is to good for the Sooners to lose to the Orange. Flynn will struggle with the Griffin brothers down low. It’ll be tough on drives for Flynn. Sooners win by 1.

Elite 8. West Virginia goes to the Final Four finally after their disapointing loss to Louisvillle in 2005. West Virginia beats Wake Forest by 11. Jeff Teague is good but not good enough. In the West Region, Memphis beats Purdue by 7. The Tigers are more experienced than the Boilermakers. Memphis will win by 15.

Pitt will beat Texas. Like I said I like Texas. But odds are against them. Pitt’s trio beats Texas’s double trouble in James and Abrams. Pitt by 7. And finally. North Carolina. v.s. Oklahoma. Best game of the tourney. Blake Griffin outplays Hansbourough late which gives Oklahoma a win over Lawson and Carolina. This is an upset.

Final 4.  Memphis beats West Virginia. The veterans at Memphis are more experienced than the Mountaineers. It’ll be close but the Tigers win by 5. The other side is Pitt v.s. Oklahoma. Pitt wins in a blow out. I think Pitt has more pieces than Oklahoma to go to the championship game. Blake Griffin will have a lot of trouble with Blair on him. And Pittsburgh’s guards are better than Oklahoma’s. End of story. Pittsburgh wins by 17.

And the last game. Memphis v.s. Pittsburgh. Pitt wins. And I’ll tell you why. Memphis may have more experience but Pittsburgh has more quality players. Pitt wins 83-78.                

National Champion: Pittsburgh Panthers

NIT Champion: Davidson Wildcats

2 seeds: Michigan State, Memphis, Duke, Oklahoma

3 seeds: Kansas, Missouri, Villanova, Syracuse

4 seeds: Wake Forest, Washington, Xavier, Gonzaga

5 seeds: Utah, Purdue, Florida State, Illinois

6 seeds: West Virginia, Marquette, UCLA, Arizona State

7 seeds: Boston College, California, Texas, Clemson

8 seeds: Ohio State, BYU, Oklahoma State, LSU

9 seeds: Siena, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Butler

10 seeds: USC, Maryland, Minnesota, Michgan

11 seeds: Dayton, Utah State, VCU, Temple

12 seeds: Arizona, Northern Iowa, Wisconsin, Western Kentucky

13 seeds: Cleveland State, Mississippi State,Portland State, Akron

14 seeds: North Dakota State, Cornell, American U, Stephen F. Austin

15 seeds: Robert Morris, Cal State Northridge, Binghamton, Morgan State

16 seeds: Morehead State, Chattanoga, East Tennessee State, Radford