My Super Sweet 16


# 16

- UNLV
In

his rankings of the remaining teams, ESPN.com resident doofus Gene Wojciechowski placed

UNLV

as the fifth-best remaining team, writing:

Of the remaining field, no team has b

eaten

a higher seed in the first round (No. 10 Georgia Tech) or in the second round (No. 2 Wisconsin). That doesn't mean they're going to beat Oregon on Friday

night in St. Louis, but it does mean the selection com

mittee totally underestimated Vegas.

Or it could mean that the selection committee totally overestimated Wisconsin. There's a reason nobody picked the Badgers to go to the Final Four. And if Georgia Tech hadn't played like spastic pre-teens in the first round, we'd likely be reading about how the selection committee underestimated them.

#15 - Butler
After Butler's win over Maryland on Saturday, the most commonly heard theme was "yeah, but the Terps are a better team." It's always easy to play that game, especially in the Tournament when teams are seeded according to ability (at least in theory). Any time a lower-seed wins a game, it's an easy move to say that the losing team was more talented but didn't play well, or the underdog played an amazing game, etc. However, in the case of Maryland/Butler, the comment is actually legit. Maryland is a better team and played pretty well; in fact, I'm still a little unsure of how they ended up losing.
The Terps had a higher field goal percentage, grabbed more rebounds, shot well from beyond the arc and had a fairly-balanced offensive attack. They forced Butler into more turnovers than usual while giving it up close to their own season average. The only statistical fact you can look at and figure out Maryland struggled was their poor free throw shooting. Still, Gary Williams' team didn't go inside enough and never made the run they needed to regain the lead from the feisty Bulldogs.

#14 - Pittsburgh
If Aaron Gray were any stiffer he'd be starring in an off-off-Broadway version of Weekend at Bernie's.

#13 - Vanderbilt
One can't fault Vandy for taking advantage of their easy draw, but one can try. (I mean, come on... They played George Washington in the first round in a 6/11 game? GW was a #8 seed last year when they went 26-2. This year, with six more losses and an RPI 44 spots lower, they were an #11. And don't get me started on Washington State. I'd call them a paper champion, but then they'd probably go out and lose to rock, as scissors stands idly by.)

#12 - Southern Illinois
Logic dictates that the Saukis' reward for another fine season will be a drubbing at the hands of Kansas. Of course, everyone said the same thing last year about George Mason before they went and played UConn.

#11 - Memphis
This is a tenative ranking, based on the injury to star Chris Douglas-Roberts. Memphis is the great unknown of this Tournament, but not in a cool or mysterious way like the cosmos are.

#10 - Oregon
Yesterday's Washington Post ran an eerie graphic comparing Oregon to last year's championship-winning Florida team. Both were unranked to start the year, had a comparable won/loss record, a three-game losing streak near the end of the season, won their conference tournaments and earned a #3 seed in the NCAAs. The similarities are undeniable. They bear a striking resemblance to the careers of two Hollywood superstars, both of whom got their starts as a guest star on a popular network TV show, played the role of a troubled teen in their first big-time film, were teen heartthrobs to millions of young girls and starred in a movie with Tom Hanks. Their names? Leonardo DiCaprio and Corey Feldman.

#9 - Tennessee
I'm not ashamed to say I watch American Idol. OK, maybe a little. But there's this guy on the show this season named Blake who is, essentially, a pretty-boy, beatboxing hipster with too much product in his hair. His voice isn't all that good, but when he performs, he commands the stage with his inventive arrangements of classic songs. America seems captivated by him, which isn't surprising, as style always seems to win out over substance in our culture. I'm not saying Tennessee is the college basketball version of Blake, mainly because I don't think Bruce Pearl likes 311.

#8 - UCLA
It's tough to take a team seriously when they had to scratch out a victory against a Kelvin Sampson-coached team after leading 20-13 at halftime.

#7 - Ohio State
March 9: Xavier loses to Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
March 17: Ohio State needs a miracle, as well as help from the officials, to beat Xavier.

#6 - Texas A&M
Acie Law IV is impressive, but call me when he ends communism like Rocky IV.

#5 - USC
Look, I'm not sold on USC either. But their absolute destruction of Kevin Durant and Texas was the most impressive showing during the Tournament's first weekend.
Also, read this unbelievable New York Times piece about the Trojans' "recruitment" of troubled high school star O.J. Mayo. The word "unbelievable" gets thrown around a lot when, most of the time, the thing being described is totally believable. In this case, however, the story is actually unbelievable. Read the whole thing.

#4 - Florida
The scariest thing about Florida right now is Joakim Noah's hair. Why does it seem like everyone in the MSM is afraid to call out the Gators for their weak performance last weekend? If not for Al Horford beasting it inside, Florida might have been knocked off by Purdue. The old "Florida will turn it on when they have to" chorus has been deafning, but people who buy that forget that UF has won exactly one close game in the past year, and that was to Mississippi State. The Gators know how to win when they're up big. But if they find themselves in a battle with a good team, flipping a switch won't be enough.

#3 - North Carolina
The Heels played well in front of the in-state crowd in Winston-Salem. The real test comes now for the team that was 4-4 on the road in the ACC.

#2 - Georgetown
Ohio State's "win" over Xavier has led to a lot of talk about how that sort of game is what propels teams to the National Championship. To which; not really. Geting bailed out by the refs and bad coaching makes not a champion. Georgetown's win over BC fits the bill though. The Hoyas played poorly for 35 minutes, watched their star have an off game and had the crowd turn on them (the pro-Carolina crowd was eager for a Georgetown loss, thus clearing the way for the Heels to Atlanta). And they still ended up shooting free throws in the final minute as BC tried to extend the game. Watch out for the Hoyas. (This means they're losing tomorrow to Vandy, of course.)

#1

- Kansas
The best team in the Tournament. While the Florida comparison seemed apt for Oregon, I think the Bill Self/Billy Donovan comparison works betters. Last year, Donovan was getting knocked around for losing in the Tournament so much. Self came into this March losing his first two NCAA games with KU, despite being highly seeded. His coaching is still KU's big question mark, but I'm sticking with them to win.

Thursday Picks
West
#1 Kansas over #4 Southern Illinois
#2 UCLA over #3 Pittsburgh

South
#5 Tennessee over #1 Ohio State
#3 Texas A&M over #2 Memphis