1) How far will LSU go? 2) Who is everyone's cinderella this year? I think LSU goes to sweet sixteen this year. I am also picking St. Mary as my cinderella.
In the Austin Region, LSU would be in either the Elite 8 or Final Four. Unfortunately in the Chicago Region, we're either out vs. Arizona or Okl. State. (How Oklahoma State, at worst the 2nd best no. 2 seed, if not the 1st, gets put in the same region as Illinois the overall no. 1 seed, is beyond me.) My cinderella is the Syracuse/Mich State winner. Just don't know who i'm picking yet. I think Miss State will give Duke problems as well, depending on which team shows up.
OU/UK and oSu/Ariz are a wash. Ms. State isn't the same team without Bowers. They are hurting real bad at the guard position and there is a very good chance they will lose to Stanford in the 1st round.
I'll buy the synopsis of Miss St. but we're going to have to agree to disagree on OU/UK and OSU/Arizona as a wash. Kentucky just doesn't do it for me and OU should have been a 4 seed, not a 3 seed. Only reason we lost to Kentucky was the 15 screens we couldn't fight through and Sparks hitting those 3's. Florida got through the screens and look at what they did to UK. OSU on the other hand got jobbed in not getting a 1 seed and is a tougher no. 2 seed than Wake IMO, and Arizona is probably the best 3 seed.
OU has beaten several top caliber teams. They have played a very tough OOC schedule consisting of Duke, UConn, Purdue, Minnesota, and Washington (they beat UConn, Purdue, Minnesota and lost to Duke and Washington in NY and Alaska, respectively). They beat Kansas, and split the season series with oSu and TTU. They swept Texas. If you're basing your opinion on last year's OU team, don't. Bookout is back and is a force inside to be reckoned with. As for UK, we ran them ragged and they showed it vs. Florida. They are looking towards the dance, as they should. Last year they left it all out on the court vs. Florida and paid for it vs. UAB with an unlikely 1-8 seed matchup loss.
Oh, and I will have Florida knocking out UNC in at least two brackets as well in response to the cinderella question. One SEC team always comes out of nowhere. I don't think Alabama can hang with Illinois, LSU got screwed in terms of placement and Kentucky's too highly ranked and won't make it out their part of the bracket anyway. Could be Miss St., but not likely.
My Cinderella is some chick living with an evil step-mom and two fugly step-sisters. Teams not to overlook include Charlotte, Nevada, and the Brown Suit's team. These team may flame out, but I would not be surprised to see any of these teams in the Sweet 16 or Elite 8.
My sentimental favorite every year is the Bearcats in Cincy! They make me win my pools by fewer points than I should every year b/c I'm convinced they'll win it all someday.
I actually picked LSU to get to the field of 8 in my bracket, before losing to Illinois. My other Cinderella is West Virginia.
Charlotte, WV, and going out on a limb, I'll say that ULL has a shot against a slumping BC team. Those are cinderellas. LSU goes sweet 16.
