2012 NCAA Tournament Bracket - March Madness Tournament Update

2012 NCAA Tournament Bracket - March Madness Tournament Brackets

Underdogs in the sweet 16:

#10 Xavier. They are there on the basis of some luck. They defeated a #7 team, then had the good fortune to run into a #15 in the second round, thus offering them an easy ticket to the dance. It won't be easy for them to go any farther, because the other three teams in their bracket are the 1, 3, 4 seeds.

===

#7 Florida. Underdog, schmunderdog. These guys are the best team in the tournament so far. OK, Florida hasn't been tested. They beat a #10 and a #15. But they didn't just beat them. They whupped 'em like red-headed stepchildren. They blew out Virginia by 26, then sent Cinderella back from the ball, wiping Norfolk all over the floor with a 34-point victory that was decided about ten minutes in, when Florida took a 29-6 lead. Yeah, you read that right. Six.

Florida played one of the hardest schedules in the NCAA this year. They played Syracuse and Ohio State and Kentucky and Kentucky - and Kentucky again. They had Kentucky on the ropes in that third game, but couldn't deliver a knockout. The battle-hardened Gators now move on to Marquette, who might have their hands full with these guys. The early line on that game is only 1.5 points. With a break or two, the Gators have a shot at the final four.

===

#13 Ohio. They got a break when the went up against a #12 seed in the second round. After all, one of them had to win. Well, they did beat Michigan, but it gets rough now. North Carolina is next.

===

#11 NC State. Their #11 seed and their 12-loss season is deceptive. Eight of those losses came against ranked teams. Of course, the flip side of that is that they were 0-8 in those games. But that was then, and this is now. They had to beat a #6 and a #3 to get this far, so they proved they can play against the big boys.

===

SIDEBAR: Somehow, the leader in the ESPN bracket competition: has the right 16 teams in the sweet 16. My hat is off to that dude. By the way, President Obama's entry is in the 98th percentile. The man knows his hoops. Wish he had the same touch with oil prices.