ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

I really wish I had time to finish off that NCAA bracket control. (that's for the .Net Geeks out there) If I would have coded it, I wouldn't have to type up my picks by hand. I hate my picks this year. In truth, I hate them every year. I guess it goes without saying that you should not be gambling using my picks. They are horrible. It's always hard to make picks in the tournament. Especially if you are from Chicago.

If you are from Chicago, you have grown accustomed to seeing the best kids playing for teams other than the locals. This leaves the door wide open on various bandwagons. The most comfortable of all the bandwagons is the in-state school bandwagon. It consists of, Illinois, SIU, and Bradley. I guess some people would include Marquette, but I'm not one of those people. Mayor Daley hasn't annexed Wisconsin. If he did, we probably wouldn't stop at adopting just the Marquette team. This leads me to our next familiar bandwagon. The tri-state area bandwagon includes teams that are in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana.

A closer look at bandwagon #2 might lead you to believe I have mislabled it by not calling it the Big Ten bandwagon. This would be true if there wasn't a mid-major from the Horizon league up in Milwaukee. The Big Ten bandwagon is actually the last bandwagon we'll discuss. We have 2 Big Ten teams that are close to home in Illinois and Northwestern. While NU isn't very good at roundball, the Illini are great. Illinois has a strong fan base here in Chicago. The majority of bracketologists in this city are riding the Illini wave to the elite eight. But if Illinois faulters, or you are like me; without a team in the tourney to cheer for, you have plenty of Big Ten teams to back. Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Ohio State are sitting right there waiting for you to depend on. So pour your heart into your bracket. Let nastalgia blind you into picking Gonzaga into the final four. Try to create a story with your bracket. Or fight the urge to ride the Big Ten bandwagon and pick all of them to lose in the first round. Whatever your poison, make sure you take the time to come back and rip into me for not follwoing my own advice.

Here is the schedule for tomorrow's games. We're going to be breaking my picks down one round at a time.

Atlanta Bracket

• Duke
• NC Wilmington
• The 'Cuse
• LSU
• West Virginia
• Iowa
• NC State
• Texas

Oakland Bracket

• Memphis
• Arkansas
• Pittsburgh
• Kansas
• Indiana
• Gonzaga
• Alabama
• UCLA

DC Bracket

• Connecticut
• UAB
• Washingon
• Illini
• Mich State
• North Carolina
• Wichita State
• Winthrop

Minneapolis

• Villanova
• Wisconsin
• Nevada
• BC
• UW-Milwaukee
• Florida
• Georgetown
• Ohio State

Good luck to everyone out there. I know that during March Madness most of you are going to be goofing around at work. You'll probably be spending your time over at Yahoo, or ESPN, or even CBS to catch a glimpse of the live games. Just don't forget about us over here at CSB . Especially since baseball season is about to start, and I have that awesome Blogger Mock draft starting in April.

Filed under: Men's NCAA Tournament