What Lincoln is Thinkin’ - Bracket Breakdown

You hear it a lot, but this is by far my favorite time of the year. There's nothing like calling in sick from work on Thursday and Friday to watch college basketball ALL day. I mean, I won't be doing that... but for all of you out there.. enjoy your days.

Before I get into breaking down this year's bracket, I have a pet peeve to share. I absolutely HATE when guys fill out five or six DIFFERENT brackets. How can you have any faith in the picks that you make, when you pick different teams in each bracket? When I make my selections, I pick the teams because I think they will win the games. So why would I make a bracket that has different selections? Have faith in your picks - you'll feel better about yourself when they're right.

First Round Upsets

I love Davidson over Gonzaga, St. Mary's over Miami and St. Joseph's over Oklahoma. Would you like to impress all of your friends by picking an obscure sleeper? Take Siena to upend Vanderbilt.

High Seeds who won't see the Elite Eight

Duke doesn't have a terribly difficult draw, but I still see them struggling against either West Virginia, Xavier or Purdue.
Wisconsin is an overrated team, with overrated players, from an overrated conference, with an underrated coach. Pick them to lose to whoever you think will win the freshman phenom matchup. (I like Kansas State).
I think Memphis, Texas, Stanford and Pittsburgh are all very similar talent-wise, despite being 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeds. So to me they're all even... so I'd avoid taking the Tigers.

Low seeds who will see the Sweet Sixteen

I like Kansas State to beat Wisconsin, West Virginia to topple Duke and Drake to beat UConn.

Teams I didn't pick to go deep, but still could

It's tough to sleep on Marquette, Southern Cal, and Butler. They're very talented and could make deep runs.

Do not do the following things no matter what you do

DO NOT pick a Big 10 team to go to the Elite Eight.
DO NOT pick anyone other than UCLA to come out of the West.
DO NOT pick four number 1's to make it to the Final Four.
DO NOT sleep on Pittsburgh.
DO NOT pick Clemson to beat Kansas.

Final Four Selections

Kansas over Tennessee, and UCLA over Pittsburgh, with Kansas over UCLA in the championships.

Hope you take these tips to heart. Unless you're in one of my pools. Then forget everything you just read.

Agree?, Disagree? Tell me what you're thinkin' about your bracket!

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