Bracket Time

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The Bald Truth

FIRST ROUND

Louisville over Morehead State. Believe it or not, the Cardinals are even better than Alabama State.

Ohio State over Siena. Fred Taylor would be so proud.

Arizona over Utah. Just a 12-5 upset hunch.

Wake Forest over Cleveland State. Closer than one might think.

West Virginia over Dayton. Start of something beautiful for Mountaineers.

Kansas over North Dakota State. Sherron Collins played against my son in eighth grade and is still motivated by visions of Ben's thunder dunks.

USC over Boston College. If you lose to Harvard, can you win in the NCAAs?

Michigan State over Robert Morris. Might be closer if Sparty had to contend with more than one player. Who is this Morris guy, anyway?

UConn over Chattanooga. By the time this is over, Huskies will own the choo-choo, too.

Texas A&M over BYU. After which, Jim McMahon will moon Bill Raftery.

Purdue over Northern Iowa. Healthy Boilermakers just heating up.

Mississippi State over Washington. One 13th seed will win, so why not Bulldogs?

Marquette over Utah State. Don't think this Golden Warrior Eagles alum isn't more than a little worried about this one.

Missouri over Cornell. Amazing that the team Illinois dismantled back in December ended up as a No. 3 seed.

Maryland over Cal. ACC also-ran gets nod over Pac-10 also-ran.

Memphis over Northridge. Keeping with the West Regional trend of picking schools that start with M.

Pitt over East Tennessee State. DeJuan Blair eats teams like this for breakfast. Literally. I mean, have you seen DeJuan Blair?

Tennessee over Oklahoma State. Hope Pat Summitt keeps her shirt on if she's cheering.

Florida State over Wisconsin. Seminoles won't be bored into submission by Bo's Badgers.

Xavier over Portland State. If only Neil Lomax were still around.

UCLA over Virginia Commonwealth. I picked VCU over Duke two years ago but can't imagine another lightning strike.

Villanova over American. First Bernie Madoff and now this; how much loss can Americans take?

Texas over Minnesota. Rarely has so much mediocrity captivated so few.

Duke over Binghamton. Take that, Tony Kornheiser!

North Carolina over Radford. With one Ty tied behind their backs.

LSU over Butler. Dawg Pound will be licking its wounds.

Western Kentucky over Illinois. Smoke blows away and mirrors crack for Illini.

Gonzaga over Akron. Zags over Zips.

Arizona State over Temple. No (Dionte) Christmas cheer.

Syracuse over Stephen F. Austin. Yeah, but let's see 'em stop Stephen A. Smith!

Michigan over Clemson. Welcome back to the dance, Wolverines.

Oklahoma over Morgan State. Scratch MSU's Itchy Bolden from tourney.

SECOND ROUND

Louisville over Ohio State. Pitino won't need to break out his Travolta suit.

Wake Forest over Arizona. Wildcats are out of their Teague.

West Virginia over Kansas. Ending one heck of a run for Bill Self.

Michigan State over USC. Kalin Lucas is just too good.

UConn over Texas A&M. Huskies don't like being least respected No. 1.

Purdue over Mississippi State. JaJuan Johnson is gagreat player.

Marquette over Missouri. Yes, Marquette lost five times down the stretch ... to UConn, 'Ville, Pitt, 'Cuse and 'Nova. Relatively speaking, Mizzou should be a breeze.

Memphis over Maryland. Derrick Rose probably wishes he were still there.

Pitt over Tennessee. A beatdown so bad, it will leave even Lane Kiffin speechless.

Florida State over Xavier. Thankfully, we won't have to listen to announcers saying "Ex-Avier" again 'til next season.

Villanova over UCLA. Sad way for John Wooden to celebrate his 211th birthday.

Duke over Texas. The swagger is back for the Dookies.

North Carolina over LSU. Enough to make Roy Williams cry.

Western Kentucky over Gonzaga. Gotta pick somebody to be this year's Cinderfellas. Might as well choose the team playing yesteryear's Cinderfellas.

Syracuse over Arizona State. Almost picked ASU in an upset but then changed my mind. In other words, the smart money is on Sun Devils.

Oklahoma over Michigan. It won't be close enough for the Wolverines to be done in by a bad time-out call.

The Balder Truth

SWEET SIXTEEN

Louisville over Wake Forest. Terrence Williams is one of the top five pro prospects in the nation.

West Virginia over Michigan State. If you hadn't heard of WVU frosh Devin Ebanks, you'll know him now.

UConn over Purdue. Thanks for playing, Big Ten.

Memphis over Marquette.  Even I can't pick this upset.

Pitt over Florida State. I'd be tempted to go with the 'Noles if I didn't think Pitt was the best team in the country.

Duke over Villanova. It will come down to 3-point shooting, and that's Duke's game.

North Carolina over Western Kentucky. Well, it was fun while it lasted for the Hilltoppers.

Oklahoma over Syracuse. As long as the Sooners can finish 'em off in regulation.

ELITE EIGHT

Louisville over West Virginia. Too many waves of Cardinals for Huggy Bear's Mountaineers.

Memphis over UConn. The Huskies really will miss Jerome Dyson in this one.

Pitt over Duke. The breakthrough victory Pitt has been eyeing forever.

Oklahoma over North Carolina. Blake Griffin whips Tyler Hansbrough and ensures No. 1 draft status.

THE BALDEST TRUTH

NATIONAL SEMIFINALS

Louisville over Memphis. 'Ville can match Memphis' athleticism and defensive intensity ... and then some.

Pitt over Oklahoma. No surprise here: An all-Big East title game.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Pitt over Louisville. 

When the teams met back in mid-January, the Cardinals' smothering, swarming defense held Pitt to 1-for-16 shooting down the stretch. Though an even better team now, Louisville won't have home cooking this time. The Panthers will handle whatever 'Ville throws at them in what should be a highly entertaining title matchup.