NCAA Final Four Picks
 

The Men's and Women's NCAA Basketball tourney is only a few days away. Several of you reading this thread are probably participating in office pools, or making your picks for fun on ESPN.com. It's too much to list your picks for the first few rounds, but who do you think will make it to the Final Four?

I'm picking Memphis, Texas, Washington, and Boston College. I've no real knowledge about how all the teams in the tourney play, that's just what my gut instinct told me as I was working out my tourney picks. I'm thinking Memphis and Washington will meet for the championship, and Memphis will win it all.

What say you, fellow college basketball fans?

WVU is going to the final four. They are the only team I care about.

Wichita State, Southern Illinois, Bradley and somebody else.

In all seriousness though I am looking for Bradley to be the giant killer in this tournament. KU better watch out.

Yeah, I've got Bradley beating Kansas in the first round. I go to Iowa State, and have seen them play numerous times throughout the Big XII season. They're a very scrappy, young team that could easily be upset by the glamor of the NCAA tourney.

Duke, Ohio State, Connecticut and Gonzaga in the final four, with Duke and Connecticut in the finals. Duke will win by 4.

I've got Duke, UCLA, UConn, and Boston College. The only one of those I'm still having doubts about is UCLA. I'm already banking on Memphis bowing out in possibly the second round to Arkansas (because I'm allowed to be a homer on occasion :D), but that's going to leave the region wide open.

I got Duke, UCLA, Villanova, and UConn in the Final Four. Then it's Villanova over Duke in the championship. It's all about Shuttlesworth Jesus.

I'm going against my beloved Arizona and I'm taking Villanova, UCLA, West Virginia, and UConn, with 'Nova beating UCLA in the final. UCLA is a lot more like a Big East team than a Pac-10 team, so it's pretty much an all Big East final.

For upsets...I like Pacific to beat Boston College and I think San Diego State will beat Indiana and Gonzaga to be the Sweet 16 Cinderella. I also like Wichita State over Tennessee (that is if they even make it past Winthrop).

I'm a college basketball junkie and have been running pools for years and I don't think I have ever seen so many people pick against a #1 seed as people are picking Oral Roberts over Memphis. Granted, it's not a huge margin of people, but it's enough to raise a flag.

On facebook (so for the high school and college crowd), you can run pools online and, so far, it's pretty convenient-looking. I'm now entering the fourth of its kind with my main group of friends in college, and I have won 2 of the last 3 years. The due factor is not on my side, but it's always fun. If Oral Roberts makes history... [insert ridiculous and/or dangerous action here].

March Madness is here! We've already had our first upset with Oklahoma going down and Pacific is in OT with BC right now. Great first session.

The San Diego one is starting late because of a bomb threat. Nice.

Pacific just fell apart in the end. That would have been a huge upset.

I am glad WSU won, big egg on Dick Vitales face now. Man I can't stand that guy. Big East/ACC bias that he has.

Wow, INCREDIBLE first day! I wasn't glued to the TV, but I did happen to catch a lot of great finishes. Indiana was lucky to have San Diego State fall apart at the end, but that was admittedly a clutch 3-pointer for Indiana to make after they had their own shot blocked. Gonzaga, among other teams (and my bracket!) survived a lot of scares today.

My bracket, so far, is 14-2. I didn't guess the outcomes of the Wichita St./Seton Hall and Nevada/Montana games correctly, but neither of those winning teams should have a lasting impact on my Sweet 16 and on.

My brackets are toast, I finished the day at 10-6 and lost 3/4 in the Minneapolis region. I also lost two of my Sweet 16 teams. Rough, rough day.

So far, I'm 13-3, so it's a damn good start. Also, I don't have any of the missed picks going farther than the second round, so no big loss there. And to comply with the thread I have UCLA, Duke, BC, and UConn in the Final Four, with UConn and Duke advancing, finishing up with a UConn victory. Not too damn original, but I'm not trying for that. I just want to win, and I'm going with the odds, mainly.

Except for Texas A&M and Wisconsin-Milwaukee mother fuckers!

It was a great day of march madness. So many ridiculous finishes. It was fun to watch. I had Syracuse head to my Sweet 16, that one down. :( That Alabama/Marquette game was crucial. I had Marquette, but that game was crazy close. My roommate said in his radio show before to pick Montana over Nevada; too bad neither he nor I listened to him. My bracket is still in good shape though. Sko'. 13-3, but it's underdog scoring: 17 points so far.

Kansas, Boston College, Connecticut, and Duke. Final Four Winner: Kansas. OK, so this is a young team that I'm picking to take it all, but what can I say, I like the Jayhawks.

Yeah, the action in today's matches was crazy. I was pulling for Winthrop over Tennessee as a major upset, but with a miracle 2-pt shot, Tennessee moved on...Boston College and Pacific match was an adrenaline rush right there, double overtime, but BC pulled out the win. I called UW-Milwaukee to win, and I'm damn proud of that call. 11-5 after the first day.

13-3 today. Slipped up on Syracuse/Texas A&M (and I also had the Orange going to the Sweet 16 :(), Wichita State/Seton Hall, and Indiana/San Diego State (which I really wanted badly after that 'Cuse loss, but..). I was so hoping I'd go 15-1, but those two night games got me. I'm quite happy that I did get Montana, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Bama though. With Facebook's underdog scoring, I'm sitting at 25 points and at the top of both of my pools.

Now I finally get to root on my team tomorrow. Go Hogs!

Mark it now Wichita State will beat Tennessee.

Phew, my team survived the first round today...not really survived, but manhandled Wisconsin. On to Villanova. :\

Did anyone see the finish of that Iowa/NWST game? Holy crap. They switched us over while the last play was going on, with about 7 seconds left. We were watching them just wrap up the Arizona/Wisconsin game and all of a sudden it was like HOLY SHIT THREE POINTER FOR THE WIN.

I love March.

Yeah. Saw that. I almost crapped my pants. (In fact, I did, so...).

Frikkin' Bucknell eliminated another 1 of my Sweet 16 teams. That's 2 down. Grr.

Not a good day so far.. only 5-3. Iowa burned me pretty bad since I had them going to the Elite 8, and poor Arkansas.. :( I only had them into the Sweet 16 at least.

Woohoo midmajor mashing this tournament. The chickenhawks go down to Bradley.

That Kansas loss is the best moment for Pittburgh sports since the motherfucking Super Bowl. Pitt now has an easy road to the Sweet 16, and we're rolling.

The Kansas lost was crazy, except it doesn't hurt so much since pretty much everyone had them going to the Elite 8. Besides that (and Arkansas...), it was a pretty good day. I'm still in really good shape for the future. Come on Jesus.

Good thing I had them losing to Pitt. My bracket seems to be shaping up quite nicely. :)

Wichita State now has a clearer path to the elite 8 at least. I would much rather we face George Mason than Michigan State. Just have to get by Tenn today.

Pitt has an easy road to the Elite 8. Memphis is weak. You'll need good luck against UCLA, they looked stellar on Thursday.

Wow, my school (Maryland) just got nubbed in the first round of the NIT. There's still women's basketball, but that just makes me laugh.

Today features one important game for my pool survival. Come on, Wichita State.

Manhattan looked pretty solid in dismantling Maryland. Not that the NIT really matters.

Duke flattens GW in a yawner. I'm pulling big for Wichita State also, although I really like the coach of Tennessee since they've been doing these spots on ESPN following the Vols as they prepare for the tourney.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

Wichita State > Tennessee

Fuck yeah. That win led my charge with about a 10 point lead in all my pools. Awesomeness.

Wow, go George Mason. A lot of higher seeds in the sweet 16. (And West Virginia, of course.)

Tch, never trust a team starting freshmen to make it to the Final Four...dammit, my bracket is totally screwed over.

Alright my bracket got fucked over HARD today. At least all my Final Four ones are still in there. BC's gonna have a tough time getting there, though.

My bracket somewhat got owned today, but I still am happy about today's results. People in my pool had UNC/Pittsburgh/The Ohio State University going much further, one even with UNC all the way. I, too, still have all my Final Four picks (one of two people in my pool), and the good news is that their path is supposedly easier now. We'll see, though. I continue to remain on top.

Thank god I wasn't a homer with Pittsburgh. I knew they'd fuck up, even if it was against fucking Bradley.

Bah, I pretty much stopped watching after I saw Kansas lose in the first round. Any hopes of a reasonably good bracket dies after one of your final two goes out.

Still, I have UConn, Texas, and BC to round out of my final 3.

naz, that MD loss was just sad. I've been following MD basketball for awhile, but when the women's team actually gives me more interesting stories than the self-destructing men's team, something is definitely wrong in College Park. I hope they get it fixed next year.

Yeah, it blows. I like how I pretty much entered Maryland after the party was over, i.e. after winning the national championship in 2002. It's been downhill from there, in both football and basketball. Soccer's been a blast though, and so has.. "women's basketball" apparently. Watch things get better once I'm outta here.

So much for you Duke fans.

Go LSU baby!!

Holy cow, the end to that Texas/West Virginia game was nuts. I had WVU in my Final Four as a bit of a sleeper and I think whomever won this game would beat LSU. Oh well, guess you can't win 'em all.

Pac-10 looking weak against Gonzaga here.

It's always a joy for me to watch Redick suffer. Ah.... schadenfreude. :p But because of that, my bracket's broke as I had Duke in the final game.

Holy crap, that UCLA-Zag game was nuts. I feel sorry for Gonzaga, but I did have UCLA going to the Final Four. Good stuff. Really my only chance of winning my pool for sure is for Villanova to go all the way. March madness is madness.

Yeah, the end of that game was psychotic. Total collapse by Gonzaga. It seems like the stall offense is totally the wrong offense to run when you are up by a small amount in this tournament.

Wtf. Awesome end to the UCLA-Gonzaga game, although I'd probably being saying it was a terrible end if UCLA lost, haha. Almost wanted to turn off the game early too, good call on being lazy enough not to change the channel.

I really hate Texas. :( I hate LSU too, but I'll take the lesser of two evils for a day when those two play.

Ugh, I had WVU and Gonzaga in the Final Four. Last night kind of fucked me.

It was a damn shame Kansas, which I had losing to UConn in the champ game (stupid stupid stupid) lost in the first round.

However, my other three, Texas, BC, and UConn are still in the mix. Even though I had Duke beating LSU last night, I'm glad that Texas has a bit of an "easier" road to the final four. At this point though, I'm only playing for pride in my pools, rather than for any cash money prizes.

rip wvu. God damn, I was really pulling for them. And haha to Duke, Redick played like poop.

WHOOO. What a game between Nova and BC. That had me wilded out for that entire ending. My bracket remains alive, while killing many, many others. Props to George Mason too.

I'm very close to giving this year's tournament the best I've seen. And this includes the year that Maryland won the tourney. Almost every game I've watched has been buzzer-beaters and OT games. This is insanity. And you've even still got a cinderella in the Elite Eight, it has everything you want in a good tourney!

I agree. This tournament was amazing. I would've loved to see Washington beat UConn. That would've been sweet. They should've fould in the last few seconds of regulation to stop UConn from shooting a three. Nobody in college seems to ever do that :/. Insanity? more liek madness.

Wow, George Mason up by 2 with 4 minutes left. I can smell an upset.

I'm 0 for 4 for the final four. Unfuckingbelievable.

I got one, but trust me quazi, no one else is doing much better. I'm still second in my poll of nearly 100 people.

Also, big ups to George Mason. I really hope they win it all.

Gotta give props to the SEC for getting 2 teams into the Final Four. This was supposedly a down year for the conference... ha. Florida and LSU are representing us well.

What a tournament. Props to the Patriots. Amazing.

Well, I can no longer score any more points in my pools. No one else can except for one person. If LSU wins their next game, that person wins and I lose. If LSU loses... I am the weiner.

Meh, don't worry guys, only like 4 out of 5 million people had this final four picked out.

I'm pretty sure NO ONE on ESPN.com had this one right, actually. What a fucking tournament.

According to ESPN, 4 people out of the around 2.6 million that signed up for their bracket challenge had this as their final four.. and one of those was from a guy who thought George Mason was George Washington.

Ah, poor George Mason. They got so far, but it stops here.

Sweet: LSU lost, though I would've wanted them to win. Their defeat ended the pools I was in, making me victorious for 3 of my college years. Whoo... monies. Yay.

It was a remarkable run for George Mason. I don't really care who wins the championship now. I missed the games over the weekend, and I'll probably miss tonight's game as there is a much more important show on.

I watched the first half of the LSU men getting dominated, then got sick and turned it off.

I guess it's better that LSU (men) did lose, since it won't be an SEC East vs. SEC West final.

As for the women, buh. LSU's chance to redeem themselves went down the toilet. CHOKE CHOKE CHOKE!

Wow. What a boring Final game. That was predicted. They probably knew that they stood no chance to playing at the same time as 24, which was fucking awesome.

Congrats to Florida. Frikkin Noah was supposed to go to Maryland. (So was Gay). That would've been ridiculous.

A tournament full of bracket busters but extremely enjoyable. I was very tempted to call this is the best tourney I've seen in recent years, including Maryland's tourney win several years back (which is still fondly in my memory). The early rounds were full of OT games, buzzer-beaters, I felt like every game I watched was an OT game.

Sadly, the Final Four let me down a bit. There was really little excitement in these last three games as the winners of each pretty much cemented their position by halftime. A rather ho-hum end to an otherwise exciting tourney.

Haha, I'm actually interested in the MD/Duke game coming up in the Women's final. Yeah, I'm sure many people here are of the "ho-hum" women's basketball mentality, but I actually got some enjoyment out of watching an underdog MD team beat the team that everyone had picked to take it all (in UNC). I guess I'll tune in tomorrow, if nothing else is on.

Yeah, so the Lady Terps won the national championship. There's rioting down Route 1 (the main road by the university). I don't understand at all.

Women... + basketball... the hell?

Haha, don't they riot in MD anytime they play Duke, win or lose? I remember many times when I would drive by College Park after a big game and it looked like a warzone.

You missed a great game. This championship was much more exciting than the men's final. Just because it was women didn't mean it wasn't an enjoyable game. While I'll admit to joining onto the bandwagon for the women's team, this was a team (as I said) that everyone had slept on, which just adds to more of the accomplishment.

I watched the last few seconds of regulation and the overtime period when a friend of mine was watching the game in the diner (he got kicked out of his apartment because of smoke). I think I was okay with watching what I saw. I was already about to kick something, which would've devastated my big toe.