Wednesday, March 18, 2009

All Chalk

Obama picks three #1s and one #2 for the Final Four. I think Memphis is eternally overrated, but they did make the final four last year, albeit with Derrick Rose. If Lawson's not 100% I feel like Oklahoma ought to be the favorite in the South, but I don't think we can accuse Obama of pandering by picking UNC, considering he picked Louisville out of the Midwest and Memphis out of the West. Of the teams seeded below #2 I like Xavier, but I like Pittsurgh better; and I like West Virginia, but Louisville has a clear edge there. While the Huskies had a pleasantly surprising season and ended up seeded fourth, the Pac-10 was just miserable this year; this team isn't as strong as the Brandon Roy-led teams of yesteryear. That leaves the hope for a low seed in Kansas, Mizzou (which will warm the heart of @clairecmc), or an out-of-the-blue underdog. There's an awful lot of parity in college 'ball this year, it would seem. So perhaps Obama's chalk picks will hold up.

Update: Wow. Obama picked a whopping three upsets, plus two of the 8-9 games. Weak sauce.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you think the chances are for Wake Forest to upset Louisville in the 16s?

Nick Beaudrot said...

That's not a bad pick either, but Pitino has historically done very well in the tourney. Maybe it's small sample size and luck, but I've always liked picking Louisville in the Pitino era.