NCAA Tournament picks explained – Midwest Regional

By now you’ve seen my bracket. If not, it looks a little something like this:

Maybe you have questions? Surely you have disagreements and agreements? What else would March be without the madness behind people’s picks and then the madness of upsets and Cinderella stories in the tournament?

So here they are explained – region by region.

MIDWEST REGIONAL

Opening Round: 

NC AT&T vs. LIBERTY 

PICK: LIBERTY :: The Flames seem to be better in scoring and rebounding, at least on paper. Plus the Aggies just made their first conference tournament final in 16 years. Baby steps.

Middle Tennessee vs. St. Mary’s 

PICK: ST. MARY’S :: A young Australian man will be the key in this one. St. Mary’s Matthew Dellavedova was part of the 12-man squad for Australia’s National Team that played all the way to the quarterfinals of the London Olympics. He was the youngest member.

Second Round:

Louisville vs. Liberty

PICK: LOUISVILLE :: a No. 16 seed has never beaten a one seed. I know they keep saying this tournament is wide open. I don’t think it’s that wide open.

Colorado State vs. Missouri 

PICK: MISSOURI ::  it’s an 8/9 game so it’s pretty evenly matched but I give Mizzou the nod because they have a good journalism school. Just kidding. I gave them the nod because of their victories over VCU, Bucknell and the tight loss to UCLA.

Oklahoma State vs. Oregon

PICK: OREGON :: Oregon is under seeded and so is Oklahoma State for that matter – so it’s an unusual match-up for a 5/12 game that is prime for an upset.