2009 NCAA Men's Tournament

Well college basketball fans it's finally here, the 2009 men's basketball tournament seeds are in place and everyone needs to start filling out there brackets. I will break down the games for each round and give you my picks after each weekend of play. So lets break down the first week of the tournament, because this week is so full I may not go into detail of each game.

THE MIDWEST REGION
Here are my winners in the first round of the Midwest Region: Louisville, Siena, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Kansas, USC, and Michigan State. The only upsets I see in the opening round of this region are Siena over Ohio State and USC over Boston College. Siena has had a great season and won their opening round game last year in the tournament and I look for them to do the same this year. USC has been playing great of late, especially in their conference tournament, so look for the Trojans to upset Boston College in their opening round game.

In the second round I like Louisville, Wake Forest, West Virginia and Michigan State. The only upset here would be West Virginia over Kansas.

THE WEST REGION
Here are my winners in the first round of the West Region: Connecticut, BYU, Northern Iowa, Washington, Marquette, Missouri, Maryland and Memphis. Northern Iowa is the big upset here beating Purdue in the #5 vs. #12 game, an upset like this happens every year and I don't think Purdue is a solid team. The other upset I have is Maryland over California, Maryland has been playing better lately and I think they are a better team then California.

In the Second round I like Connecticut, Washington, Missouri and Memphis. No upsets here but look out Memphis Missouri will be tough in the next round.

THE EAST REGION
Here are my winners in the first round of the West Region: Pittsburgh, Oklahoma St., Florida St., Xavier, VCU, Villanova, Texas and Duke. The only upset I have in the opening round in this region is VCU over UCLA. VCU is a very good team and I think they deserved a better seed, UCLA is a very up and down team and if they aren't on top of their game they will get beat and that is what I think will happen.

In the second round I like Pittsburgh, Florida St., Villanova and Duke. I have to pick Florida St. over Xavier based on the way Florida St. has been playing, plus they have size and great guard play.

THE SOUTH REGION
Here are my winners in the first round of the South Region: North Carolina, LSU, Illinois, Gonzaga, Arizona St., Syracuse, Clemson and Oklahoma. This is the one region I see holding to form. The possible upsets here are Michigan over Clemson and Western Kentucky over Illinois but I don't think they will happen.

In the second round I like North Carolina, Gonzaga, Syracuse and Oklahoma. Again no upsets here, but look for the Syracuse Orangemen in the next round.

Check in again after this week's action for my picks for the second week of the tournament.