King Kaufman's Sports Daily
NCAA Tournament preview, Part 1: The left side of the bracket, featuring this column's annual foolhardy pick to go all the way.
Editor's note: For this column's South and West brackets, see Part 2 of the Tournament preview.
Read more: Sports, Basketball, College Basketball, NCAA Tournament, King Kaufman, Sports Daily
March 18, 2008 | We'll tackle the 2008 NCAA Tournament bracket in two parts, left side Tuesday, right side Wednesday.
As usual, this column will run its Panel o' Experts contest, with the brackets of various national typists and chatterers competing to see who is not as big an idiot as this column. The expert with the best bracket wins the grand prize, dinner at my house. You, the great teeming masses, are the defending champion, winner of two of the last three.
I'm sorry but you're not eligible to claim the prize, great teeming masses.
I feel that this is a good time to remind you never, ever to use my picks as a basis for wagering, even in the negative. That is, don't bet on something just because it's the opposite of what I said. I'm not even reliably wrong.
I always like to tackle this sort of thing west to east because that's the edgy, against the grain kind of guy I am, but I will submit to the geography of this year's bracket and start with the East.
Note: All times p.m., EDT
EAST
Raleigh, Friday
(1) North Carolina vs. (16) Coppin State-Mount St. Mary's winner, 7:10
The Tar Heels get to play their first two games in Raleigh, then have to travel all the way to Charlotte for the regional. The NCAA has made an effort to have high seeds play close to home to accommodate fans, which is a good business decision, but I think there should be a limit to how close to home you can be, especially in the opening rounds, where there are a lot of alternatives. UNC couldn't have played in Birmingham or Tampa? The Tournament's supposed to be played on neutral courts.
OK, enough whining about that. North Carolina's the favorite to win the whole thing, and with good cause, but I'm just really liking Tennessee and its defensive pressure thing, for no real reason. I think the Tar Heels will lose to the Volunteers in the regional final. I also think orange sports coats look cool. There's no justifying some of the things I think.
Oh, and by the way, I think Coppin State is going to win the stupid play-in game Tuesday night, which I think is stupid, and with some justification, I think. I made this determination by flipping a coin.
Second round: Win over Arkansas
(8) Indiana vs. (9) Arkansas, 9:40
A once-promising turned ugly season comes to a dreary end for the Hoosiers. This column is on record as disliking 8-vs.-9 games matching two big-conference also-rans. Indiana probably deserved a little better than an eighth seed, but the formula holds. Of course, now Indiana will go on one of those let's-show-'em runs all the way to the Final Four, just to make me look bad. Their fans will all be waving cellphones in the stands.
Second round: Loss to North Carolina
Next page: More team names with numbers in front of them. Including: (13) Siena