KALAMAZOO, Mich. – After seeing the first weekend unfold, the best sporting event once again comes through with everything a sports fan could ever want in a tournament. The first weekend of March Madness had it all. It started with a double OT game as BYU outlasted Florida and finished with Purdue toppling Texas A&M in another OT game.

There were 4 OT games and 12 games that ended within 3 points of each other. There were upsets with Cornell and St. Mary’s making it to the Sweet 16 and then along came Northern Iowa: the giant slayer that shocked the world and turned brackets upside down when they beat the overall #1 seed Kansas.

Hopefully, this was enough of a wake-up call to the NCAA to leave this tournament just like it is because there is no need to mess with this perfect format.

The best part of all of this is we still have 15 games to be played to determine the 2010 National Champion. Here is what we learned from the first weekend. Everyone has considered the Big East the premier conference in college basketball and they received 8 bids to the tournament but with upsets to Pittsburgh, Villanova, and Marquette, only two Big East schools remain. (West Virginia & Syracuse)

The second best conference the Big 12 received 7 bids and only 2 teams also made it to the round of 16 with upsets to Texas A&M and Kansas only Kansas St. and Baylor advanced.

The most surprising conference would have to be the Big Ten who had three teams survive with only 5 teams getting bids. I had Purdue dead in the water after Robbie Hummel went down with a torn ACL. They fought through and did what Big Ten teams love to do in the tournament. They controlled tempo, played good defense and made clutch shots when they counted.

My all Kingpin Team of the 1st weekend:
Omar Samhan St. Mary’s- 30.5 ppg 9.5 RPG
Jordan Crawford Xavier- 27.5 ppg
Ali Farokhmanesh N. Iowa- 2 game winning shots 16.5ppg
Wes Johnson Syracuse- 24.5ppg 10 RPG
Louis Dale/Ryan Whitman Cornell- 23.5 ppg 22ppg

My Goats of the 1st weekend:
Scottie Reynolds- 4-31 Fg, 1:1 Assist T:O ratio
Sherron Collins- 4-15 0-6 3 pt attempts. 5 To’s vs N. Iowa
Georgetown giving up 97 points to the Ohio University
Predictions of Sweet 16.
Cornell vs Kentucky

Can the Big Red machine continue to dominate in this tournament against the Young flashy Wildcats. Cornell does a great job of controlling tempo and limiting their opponent’s possessions.

I would love to see a team who doesn’t give athletic scholarships beat the coach who always seems to land the top recruits every year who then leave for millions the next year. ESPN’s Jay Bilas picked Cornell into the Elite 8 and I would love to see our second #1 seed go down against an Ivy league school.

Butler vs. Syracuse – In this 5 vs. 1 matchup, I see the Syracuse Orangeman taking advantage of their length and athleticism to cause Butler some issues. I expect their 2-3 zone to suffocate Butler’s shooters and Wes Johnson and Andy Rautins to continue their good tournament play with another victory.

Xavier vs. Kansas St. – In this matchup, I like Xavier to spring the upset and beat Kansas St. in a rematch from Dec. 8 where K-St beat them by 15 at home. In Salt Lake City, I like kingpin Jordan Crawford to continue his strong play scoring the basketball. Xavier has been playing great team defense in the tournament and I think this will continue as they stifle the Wildcats and earn a trip to the Elite 8.

West Virginia vs. Washington – Washington is getting a lot of hype in possibly upsetting the Mountaineers. Washington was ranked 13th in the preseason coaches’ poll and looked to be having a disappointing season before getting their act together and reeling off 7 straight victories and winning the Pac 10 Tournament.

They have two studs in Quincy Pondexter and Point guard Isaiah Thomas. I feel that even though they are playing their best basketball they are playing a far superior opponent then their other two tourney matchups. West Virginia plays incredible team defense and crashes the boards better than any other team. I think they will slow down the 2 headed Husky monster and make it to the Elite 8for the third time in their schools history.

Tennessee vs. Ohio St. – In the Midwest bracket where Georgetown and Kansas have been eliminated can Tennessee add to the list of upsets? I don’t think so, I think the steady hand of Evan Turner and company will end their upset bid and beat the winner of MSU and N. Iowa to make it to their school’s 11th Final Four.

N. Iowa vs. Michigan State – In this matchup where the upset heard around the world is back at it against Tom Izzo’s Spartans who have made it to 7 Sweet sixteen’s in the last decade. I would love the Spartans in this one if their leading scorer and floor general Kalin Lucas wasn’t out for the year with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Since he is hurt, I think N. Iowa will win this one in a close game. I wouldn’t count out Izzo’s Spartans because it’s March and he knows how to win in spring.

Duke vs. Purdue – I will say it, I was totally wrong about the Boilermakers. I thought they had no chance to make it through the weekend. They proved to me how tough and competitive their coach and team can be by beating a very good Texas A&M team in the second round. They are one of the biggest surprises for me in the Sweet 16 and have really come together and have played well thus far. I don’t think they can score enough to beat the Blue Devils and so I see Duke advancing to their 18th Elite 8.

Baylor vs. St. Mary’s – In the last of the sweet sixteen games, I like the Bears putting St. Mary’s Cinderella run on hold. I think kingpin Omar Samhan will run into the best interior defender he has ever seen in Ekpe Udoh. Udoh is long and 6’10 and I think will be able to bother Samhan. Baylor also has a number of big bodies they can throw at him to continue to make him work. I love St. Mary’s shooters but I think Baylor’s overall talent is better and I expect them to make it to their school’s 3rd Final Four.

Mateo is the NCAA contributor for SportsClimax.com.

Watch NCAA March Madness Games Free on your computer at NCAA.com

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

As we spring ahead our clocks, March Madness is creeping that much closer to tip-off. While everyone starts to put the finishing touches on one of their 5 brackets in 3 different pools, do we ever stop and think that no matter how many of these damn things we do we’re still going to have so many gaping holes?

If only we could combine all five for one super bracket. Well for myself and the million others I think that is part of the beauty of this madness.

When the 2010 brackets came out there were a few things that came to mind. First off I think the committee did a great job picking the tourney this year. For those that were left out in the Alaskan cold I can’t say it’s the committee’s fault.

To the three saddest teams in America: Virginia Tech, Mississippi State and Arizona State, I looked over your resume and I can only give Miss. State the benefit of the doubt on this one. They played Kentucky into OT twice and have three wins against teams in the tournament Old Dominion, Vanderbilt, and Florida.

Arizona State you went 12-6 in the weakest power conference, which isn’t bad, but you only beat Washington and Arkansas Pine Bluff and even though you played a great non-conference schedule you lost to all three of those tournament bound teams. So in my mind the best place for you was the NIT.

Virginia Tech who I thought was the biggest snub at first but when digging deeper saw that your best non-conference win was Seton Hall who is an NIT team and of your three quality wins against tournament foes, none of those teams are higher than a No. 7 seed. The two teams in question that made it from the ACC ahead of you Georgia Tech and Wake Forest both have five wins against tournament bound teams and have beaten much better teams like Duke, Maryland, and Butler.

Now on to the actual bracket without a second glance its seems obvious to me which No. 1 seed got a cake walk of draw and which one got stuck fighting off the wolves of the pack.

The #1 overall seed Kansas has got to deal with Ohio State, Georgetown, Maryland, Michigan State, and Tennessee. I name Tennessee because even though they are a sixth seed they have beaten Kansas and Kentucky and have a great coach in Bruce Pearl. Michigan State is the toughest No. 5 seed I can remember because who wants to face Tom Izzo and the always dangerous Spartans.

If you don’t know ask Uconn, Louisville, and Kansas last year. Oh by the way you also have two very capable final four teams in Ohio St. and Georgetown. Ohio St has the best player in the country in Evan Turner and Hoyas have great inside and outside presence. The Hoyas have been streaky this year but when their playing well they can beat anyone at any time. They dominated Duke and have beaten Syracuse, Villanova, and lost by only two points in the Big East Championship game to West Virginia.

The opposite of this bracket is the South region where the Duke Blue Devils sit as the #1 seed. I feel like Dick Vitale made up this region. Dickey V has quite the man crush on the Blue Devil’s program and has for years. Villanova who has lost 5 of their last 7 games is the No. 2 seed. Baylor who is the three seed is a good team that only has two bad loses all year, but there still the Baylor Bears and this is a stage that their not accustomed to being on.

The fourth seed Purdue is about as sorry as a No. 4 seed can get since they lost their second leading scorer and defensive leader Robbie Hummel to injury. They have look lackluster since that injury barely beating the bottom feeders of the Big Ten and then got blown out by Minnesota by 27 in the Big Ten Tourney.

My picks from the sweet sixteen on go a little like this.

In the Midwest I like Kansas, Michigan State, Georgetown and Ohio St. No surprises here these are the best teams in the bracket and I’ll take Tom Izzo’s five final fours over Maryland’s squad even though I feel they are pretty evenly matched.

Izzo’s magic is no secret come tournament time. From here I do like Kansas and Ohio St. advancing. The Jayhawks just have too much firepower this year and will be looking for revenge after the Spartans ended their season last year in heartbreaking fashion. Ohio St. and Georgetown is a tossup and I’ll use my Midwest biases here and take the Buckeyes. In the Elite 8 matchup I have to go with the Depth and star power of the Jayhawks to beat the Buckeyes.

In the West I like Syracuse, Butler, Xavier, and Kansas State. Butler played a difficult non-conference schedule winning some games losing others but were in every game and then went undefeated in conference play. I think the winner of their first round matchup with UTEP makes the sweet sixteen. Xavier I like upsetting Pittsburgh because although they started slow they’ve been playing better in an underrated Atlantic 10 conference and Xavier has always been a tough outcome tournament time. I like Syracuse and Kansas State Advancing with Syracuse making it to the Final four joining the Jayhawks.

In the East bracket I like Kentucky, Wisconsin, Marquette, and West Virginia. Kentucky should handle the defense of the badgers pretty easily with their athletic ability. In a Big East matchup for the second time this season I think West Virginia beats Marquette in a tight game and heads to Syracuse to face Kentucky. In this Elite 8 matchup I like the Mountaineers Offensive rebounding and experience to upset the young Kentucky Wildcats. Sorry John Calipari, I just don’t see your freshman sensations getting it done against the tenacity of the Big East tournament champs West Virginia.

In the South Bracket I like Duke, Texas A&M, Richmond, and Baylor. I like the Aggies here to upset Duke with their solid defense and ability to get to the free throw line. I have not been high on Duke all year and feel the ACC was the second weakest power conference in America and think that they will get bounced in the round of 16.

I like Baylor to advance also to the Elite 8 in nearby Houston by beating 7th seeded Richmond in a close contest. I love Richmond’s team and their A-10 player of the year Chris Anderson but I think playing so close to home for Baylor is a huge factor in advancing this round. I like Baylor beating Texas A&M in a Big 12 clash and advancing to their first final four in school history.

My Final Four I like West Virginia beating Baylor and Kansas upending Syracuse. In the Finals I think the best team in the tourney survives and Bill Self brings home the title for the Jayhawks.

My Sleeper teams that could make some NOISE!

Richmond 7 seed
UTEP 12 seed
Siena 13 seed
BYU 7th seed

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™