NCAA Predictions for 2008

One of the most exciting events of the year is upon us: the NCAA tournament! While the Super Bowl remains the biggest one-day event for TV as well as for Vegas, the NCAA tournament is a month long event that millions are spent on through gambling in Vegas to the local office pool. According to an article by the New York Times, in 2005 over 30 million people took part in an office pool of some sort. So, if you are playing for the big bucks or just 5-10 bucks in your office pool, here is my suggestions as to who will be in the final four: Tennessee, Kansas, Memphis and UCLA.

East Region -- Tennessee

So, why is Tennessee going to make it? Looking at the brackets, their toughest competition will come from the number 3 seed Louisville and the number 1 seed North Carolina. The reason that Tennessee is going to come through however is by looking at their competition and what they have done this year. Tennessee was at one point one of the top ranks teams in the nation, but have lost a couple of games recently to bring them down. However, this is going to play to their advantage because they don't have the pressure of being a number 1 seed. It is rare for all number 1's to make it to the final four, and North Carolina will get knocked out this year by Tennessee.

Midwest -- Kansas

Kansas has one of the easier schedules this year to get to the final four. Vanderbilt or Clemson will be over-matched in their meetings and Georgetown just doesn't have the talent to keep up with Kansas in the Elite 8 game. Kansas will build on their excellent regular season to break into the final four.

South -- Memphis

Memphis has been one of the best teams this year and a lot of people will have them picked to win it all. I will warn people however that this is the pick I am least sure about. Memphis does have one of the toughest schedules to make it to the final four. If Texas makes it to the Elite 8, they play their regional in Houston, which will basically be a home court advantage for them which will make it very difficult on Memphis. However, a lot of people don't realize how good Standford is. If they can beat Texas, they will have a good shot at taking them down. I think if Memphis would have gone undefeated during the regular season, the pressure might have been too much and they would have lost, but with their one loss, I think the pressure is off just enough that they should break through. But beware, it will be a tough road.

West -- UCLA

UCLA at first doesn't look they have an easy schedule until you break it down more. UConn, while good, will not be able to contend with UCLA in the sweet 16 and Duke or Xavier are highly overrated this year. Duke, while getting a lot of name recognition, is not good enough this year to be a major contender.

So, there are my predictions, 3 number 1 seeds and 1 number 2 seed, so no Cinderella's in this years final four, which is pretty typical of the tournament.