Bracketology 2009

Fired up and ready here in the Pugsleysports war room.

The internal debate between the multiple voices in my head has subsided. Here are the picks:

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Midwest Region
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Upset Alert - Siena returns all five starters from last year's team that knocked off Vanderbilt. Ohio State comes out of the massively overrated Big 10. I know the game is in Dayton and I don't care. Siena gets the win.

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First round winners - Louisville, Siena, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Kansas, Boston College, Michigan State. .
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Second round - Louisville over Siena, Wake Forest over Utah, West Virginia bounces defending champ Kansas and Michigan State.
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Sweet 16 - Louisville over Wake Forest (barely), West Virginia over Michigan State..

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Final Four bound - The seedings hold serve, Louisville wins the battle of the Big East and beats West Virginia to head to Detroit.

West Region
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Upset Alert - Based on the seedings, Maryland beating Cal in the first round will be the biggest upset.

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First round winners - Connecticut, Texas A&M, Purdue, Washington, Marquette, Missouri, Maryland, and Memphis.
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Second round - Connecticut, Purdue, Marquette upsets Missouri and Memphis.

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Sweet 16 - Connecticut over Purdue, Memphis in a squeaker over Marquette.

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Final Four bound - Connecticut over Memphis

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South Region

Upset Alert - Western Kentucky over Illinois. The Illini return to the dance and are quickly bounced by a Hilltopper team that beat Louisville this year.

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First round winners - North Carolina, LSU, Western Kentucky, Gonzaga, Arizona State, Syracuse, Clemson, Oklahoma.

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Second round - North Carolina, Gonzaga, Syracuse, Oklahoma.

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Sweet 16 - North Carolina over Gonzaga, Oklahoma over Syracuse....in six overtimes, of course.

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Final Four bound - Tyler Hansbrough over Blake Griffin.....North Carolina over Oklahoma. This will be the best game of the tournament.

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East Region

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Upset Alert - I'm aching to take Wisconsin over Florida State, but VCU over UCLA is the upset special here. The Rams did it to the Pukies two years ago, now the Bruins feel the wrath.

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First round winners - Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Xavier, VCU, Villanova, Texas, Puke (that is not a typo).

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Second round - Pittsburgh, Florida State, Villanova, Puke.

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Sweet 16 - Pittsburgh over Florida State, Villanova over Puke.

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Final Four bound - Villanova, not Pitt, represents the Big East in this side of the bracket.

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Final Four - Three Big East teams and the ACC regular season champion Tar Heels.

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.Look for Rick Pitino and his Cardinals to get past UConn and Roy Williams and the Tar Heels to beat Villanov and advance to their second title game since 2005..

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National Championship Game

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North Carolina 77, Louisville 75. Tyler Hansbrough takes home Most Outstanding Player honors and the writer of this blog is very happy.