Don’t fill out that bracket just yet, here’s a look at who will
go down early, my final four predictions and the team that will cut
the nets down in San Antonio.

POSSIBLE FIRST-ROUND UPSETS

If you know anything about college basketball, the first round
will always be full of surprises. As hard as these games can be to
predict, here are two possible shockers that you can watch out
for.

In the South Region, I think 10th-seeded St. Marys will upset
seventh-seeded Miami. Miami has had too much of an up and down
year. I think St. Marys’ consistent success in the tough West Coast
Conference will show how good this team really is.

The biggest upset might be 13th-seeded Siena over fourth-seeded
Vanderbilt. Siena has proven that it can beat tough teams after a
big win over Stanford. Also, I believe Siena has the guards to shut
down Vanderbilt’s leading scorer, Shan Foster, who is the only
weapon in the Commodores arsenal.

MY SECOND ROUND SHOCKER

I would bet my bottom dollar that sixth-seeded Purdue defeats
third seeded Xavier in the second round. Drew Lavender (10.7 points
per game, 4.3 assists per game), who is arguably the best talent on
the Musketeers’ team, has been suffering an ankle injury. If Xavier
can’t get quality play from Lavender, the Musketeers will be back
in Ohio much sooner that they wish.

FINAL FOUR

Starting from the East, I like Tyler Hansbrough and Wayne
Ellington to pull the Tar Heels to the Final Four. North Carolina
will then be defeated by Kansas, who is the monster of the
midwest.

My final four sleeper is Connecticut. The Huskies are powered
with five guys who average double figures in scoring and are third
in the nation in rebounding at nearly 42 boards a game.

UConn will then fall to Texas, which has wins over UCLA,
Tennessee and Kansas.

THIS YEAR’S CHAMPION

Last year I picked the Florida Gators to win it all because of
their balance. The Gators used two big guys, Al Horford (13.2 ppg.)
and Joakim Noah (12.7 ppg.) to do the dirty work inside. In the
guard positions, they had Taurean Green (13.3 ppg., 40 percent from
3-point range) and Lee Humphrey (10.3 ppg., and 45 percent from
3-point range) who each could shoot the rock better than anyone in
college basketball.

This year, the one team that you can compare to Florida is
Kansas. The Jayhawks are the most balanced team in the country this
year. They have the best backcourt in the nation with Brandon Rush
(12.7 ppg, 42 percent from 3-point range) and Mario Chalmers (11.8
ppg, 46 percent from 3-point range). For big guys, they are blessed
with the duo of Darrel Arthur and Darnell Jackson who on average
combine for 24 points a game. With a talented bench, they will
defeat Texas 75-70 for the title.