Andrew and I deliberated back and forth, negotiating the difficult waters of this year's bracket. Not surprisingly, our opinions overlapped in most cases. On those games where we disagreed, we turned to the Confidence Rating we had assigned to each pick. We went with the pick from whomever was more confident.
The toughest calls for us were Michigan State over a talented, but youthful, North Carolina team and Memphis over an equally young Kansas squad. In the end, the size and experience of Michigan State, as well as their propensity to show up in mid-March, led us to think UNC might lose to the Spartans in the same way that they lost in the ACC tourney to Boston College.
Over in the Oakland bracket, it was tough to choose Memphis over Kansas, but again, we were concerned that Kasnas' inexperience meant they might be a year away. The good folks at Bruins Nation will be pleased with the way we picked.
In the end, while we know Texas is capable of beating anyone if all cylinders are clicking, we thought that Jim Calhoun's Huskies were the better bet to cut down the nets. It's a wide open field, but we've been saying since January that Connecticut is the team to beat. We still see it that way.
--PB--