NCAA Women's Division 1: Final Four Picks

By Robert H. Kelly

No fanfare..no hoopla. Just my picks. Take them for what they are, my picks.

Tennessee over North Carolina

LSU over Rutgers

NCAA Men's Division 1: Final Four Predictions

By Robert H. Kelly

Four teams are left. 60 teams, or 61 if you count the play-in

game, have been sent home. They will meet in Atlanta to play three

more games. Here are my picks. Please feel free to make comments.

After all, that is what makes it fun.

As I have said before...Here we go:

Ohio State over Georgetown

Florida over UCLA

NCAA Women’s Division 1: Elite Eight Results

By Robert H. Kelly

I went two for two on the Women's Elite Eight. No comments and no

excuses for the picks. They were picks, no more and no less. The Final

Four is this weekend. I will post my predictions before the games begin.

Here are the results:

Connecticut loses 73-50 to LSU

Arizona State loses 64-45 to Rutgers

Tennessee wins 98-62 over Mississippi

North Carolina wins 84-72 over Purdue

Today: 2-2
Total 41-19 for 68%

NCAA Women’s Division 1: Elite Eight Predictions

By Robert H. Kelly

The women's tournament is down to the Elite Eight. Four will advance and four will go home.

T

he picks are getting more difficult. The women's games have so many surprises that the tools I use to make predictions seem not to work as they do with the men.

Here are my picks:

Connecticut over LSU

Arizona State over Rutgers

Tennessee over Mississippi

North Carolina over Purdue

NCAA Women’s Division 1: Sweet Sixteen Results

By Robert H. Kelly

The women's tournament is down to eight teams. I went five for three on this round. The women's tournament is becoming more perplexing as is progresses.

I will not be giving comments on these games, because I don't really know what to say about them.

Here we go with the results.

Correct picks:

Arizona State wins 67-49 over Bowling Green

Connecticut wins 78-71 over North Carolina State

LSU wins 55-43 over Florida State

Tennessee wins 65-49 over Marist

North Carolina wins 70-56 over George Washington

Incorrect picks:

Duke loses 53-52 to Rutgers

Oklahoma loses 90-82 to Mississippi

Georgia loses 78-65 to Purdue

Today: 5-3
Total: 39-17 for 69.64%

I will make my picks for the Elite Eight on the next post.

NCAA Men's Division 1: Elite 8 Results

By Robert H. Kelly

The Elite Eight games are complete. Four teams are left. The FINAL FOUR. Four team have made it to the show. Now the fun begins. Four teams will mean in two games to determine who plays in the BIG GAME.

I went two for two in the Elite Eight. My prediction of all four number one seed getting to the Final Four was flawed. However, predictions are predictions. If anyone could predict the outcome of all the games, the bookmakers would never stay in business.

Here are my results.

Correct picks:

Ohio State wins 92-76 over Memphis

Florida wins 85-77 over Oregon

Incorrect picks:

Kansas loses 68-55 to UCLA

North Carolina loses 96-84 to Georgetown

Today: 2-2
Total: 43-17 for 71.67%

The Final Four will see Ohio State versus Georgetown and UCLA versus Florida.

I will post my predictions and rational for them by midweek.

NCAA Women's Division 1: Sweet Sixteen Picks

By Robert H. Kelly

Without any fanfare, below are my predictions for the NCAA Division 1 Women's Basketball Sweet Sixteen. I will not go into much detail as I really don't have too much to say about my predictions other than they are my picks.

Here I go:

Arizona State over Bowling Green

Duke over Rutgers

Connecticut over North Carolina State

LSU over Florida State

North Carolina over George Washington

Georgia over Purdue

Tennessee over Marist

Oklahoma over Mississippi

On to the Elite Eight.

NCAA Men's Division 1: Elite Eight Picks

By Robert H. Kelly

The time has come for the Elite Eight. The eight teams that will battle to go to the Final Four hit the floor today and tomorrow. Four move on, Four join the other 61 teams that will be viewing the final two games from the cheap seats.

So without any further ado, here are my picks and the rational for them.

Here we go!

Ohio State over Memphis

Kansas over UCLA

Florida over Oregon

North Carolina over Georgetown

If you have been keeping up with this year's tournament and look at the picks I have made, one thing should come to mind.

It is not that hard to see, but one must be observaint.

My picks are all the number one seeds. The number one seeds will advance to the Final Four. This will be the first time that has happened in quite a while, if ever.

So there you have it. My picks for the Final Four. Everyone will know on Sunday evening who they will be.

I will be back later to give the scores of day one of the Elite Eight and my views about the games.

NCAA Men's Division 1: Sweet 16-Day 2

By Robert H. Kelly

Four more teams are eliminated. Eight remain. I did better this round, going 3 for 4 today and 5 for 8 overall in the Sweet Sixteen. UNLV gets me again. Oh well, what can I say about Las Vegas that hasn't alerady been said by myself and so many others. Here are my results.


Correct predictions:

North Carolina wins 74-64 over USC
(North Carolina dug in and pulled it out at the end.)

Georgetown wins 66-65 over Vanderbilt
(The Hoyas gave everyone who picked them a bit of a scare, but did wheat they were supposeto do. Another close game in the Sweet 16)

Georgetown wins 66-65 over Vanderbilt
The Hoyas gave everyone who picked them a bit of a scare, but pulled it out. Another close game in the Sweet 16)

Incorrect Predictions:

UNLV loses 76-72 to Oregon
(UNLV did come back to bite me in the butt. I didn’t pick them in the tournament until this round and they lose. Just like the casions in Las Vegas, I can never predict what UNLV will do.)

The Elite Eight starts on Sunday. I will have my ppicks posted by tonight.

Today: 3-1

Total: 41-15 for 73.21%

NCAA Men's Division 1: Sweet 16-Day 1

By Robert H. Kelly

The predictions get harder with some and easier with others. Here are my results. The tournament is progressing along nicely. Some have described this tournament as "boring" and "uneventable." I find it to be the complete opposite. The games have been exciting. What more could a fan want.

Correct picks:
Ohio State wins 85-84 over Tennessee
(The phase “comeback kids” is used too often in sports and journalism. But when you rally from 20 points down win, I cannot think of any other words to use. The phase just fits. )

Kansas wins 61-58 over Southern Illinois
(The Salukis tried to slow the game down, Kansas got down in the dirt for the victory.)

Incorrect picks:
Pittsburgh loses 64-55 to UCLA
(Pittsburgh was a sentimental pick. Sometimes you have to go with your heart and not with your head. This one I missed. Next time, I may not.)

Texas A&M loses 65-64 Memphis (line: TAMU -3)
(The Aggies had too many mistakes in the second half to win. They shot 45% from the floor and 50% from the free throw line. If a team cannot score from the line, they cannot win. The Aggies proved that fact. Memphis shot 66% from line and that proved to be the difference.)

Four team advance to the Elite 8. Four more will get their tickets punched. I will be back tomorrow for more coverage.

Today: 2-2
Total: 38-14 for 73.08%

NCAA Men's Division 1: Sweet Sixteen Picks

By Robert H. Kelly

We have finally arrived at the Sweet 16. 48 teams, or 49 if you count the play in game, have been sent home. In a couple of day, 8 more will be sent packing. I struggled for a while and as usual, I resorted to "feelings" for soem of my selections. As I post the picks, I will attempt to give you my reasons for their selection.

As usual, here I go:

Florida over Butler (Butler's luck will run out. They cannot stay with Florida.)

UNLV over Oregon (I am finally giving in UNLV. I hope this choice doesn't come back to haunt me.)

Kansas over USC (Kansas is on fire. They will run away with this game.)

Pittsburgh over UCLA (I was born in Pittsburgh and must go with my birthplace.)

North Carolina over USC (NC's shooting is HOT. USC will not be able to keep up.)

Georgetown over Vanderbilt (I have a gut feeling. It might be my dinner, but it might be about this game.)

Ohio State over Tennessee (The Buckeyes will keep it close at the beginning of the game. The Volunteers will fall in the final minutes.)

Texas A&M over Memphis (The Aggies have been getting better all season. Memphis will put forth their best effort of the season, but will fall short.)

By Friday evening, we will know the Elite Eight. As they say in the movies, "The plot thickens."

NCAA Women's Division 1: Round 2, Day 2

By Robert H. Kelly

Today's results were not much better than yesterday's. I went 4-4, again.

The womem's teams were not playing as I though they would. Predicting the Sweet 16 results will be a bit tough. I am planning on studying the teams before making my selections.

Now, on to my results.

Correct picks:

Tennessee wins 68-54 over Pittsburgh

Duke wins 62-52 over Temple

Connecticut wins 94-70 over Wisconsin-Green Bay

North Carolina wins 60-51 over Notre Dame

Incorrect picks:

Michigan State loses 70-57 over Rutgers
(I thought this game would be closer than it was.)

Baylor loses 78-72 to North Carolina State
(Baylor couldn't hold on to the ball. They fell apart in the final minutes.}

Maryland loses 89-78 over Mississippi
(I have nothing to say. I just missed this one.}

Vanderbilt loses 59-56 to Bowling Green
(Vanderbilt had been playing well into the tournament. They couldn't keep it together at the end.)

Today: 4-4
Total: 34-14 for 70.83%

Look for my Sweet 16 picks later in the week.

NCAA Women's Division 1: Round 2, Day 1

By Robert H. Kelly

Well, I didn't do as well as I had hoped on the first day of the second round. Having only four correct picks is a low for this basketball playoff season.

Perhaps I will raise it a bit on the second day of round two.

Here are my prediction results.

Correct picks:

Georgia wins 76-56 over Iowa State

Oklahoma wins 78-47 over Marquette

Purdue wins 76-63 over Georgia Tech

LSU wins 49-43 over West Virginia

Incorrect picks:

Texas A&M loses 59-47 to George Washington
(The Aggies ran out of steam. It was a nice run for the ladies from College Station.)

Middle Tennessee loses 73-59 to Marist
(Perhaps I will take another look at Marist. I had no idea they are this good.)

Stanford loses 68-61 to Florida State
(Stanford left behind and couldn't catch up at the end of the game. They will be back next year.)

Louisville loses 67-58 to Arizona State
(Arizona State is looking better as they go further in the tournament. I will take another look at them.)


Today: 4-4
Total: 30-10 for 75%

NCAA Women's Divsion 1: 2nd Round Predictions

By Robert H. Kelly

Here are my second round predictions. Let's hope I can keep up my prediction percentage. I am not seeing many posts on other blogs about the women's tournament.

I hoped more people would take and interest and post about it. That is half the fun of making the the predictions and discussing them with others

Please feel free to make any comments and express your views about my picks.

Here I go with my predictions for the second round:

Dallas Region
North Carolina over Notre Dame
Texas A&M over George Washington
Georgia over Iowa State
Purdue over Georgia Tech

Dayton Region
Tennessee over Pittsburgh
Middle Tennessee over Marist
Oklahoma over Marquette
Maryland over Mississippi

Fresno Region
Connecticut over Wisconsin-Green Bay
Baylor over North Carolina State
LSU over West Virginia
Stanford over Florida State

Greensboro Region
Duke over Temple
Michigan State over Rutgers
Louisville over Arizona State
Vanderbilt over Bowling Green

NCAA Women's Division 1: Round 1, Day 2 Results

By Robert H. Kelly

The first round of the women's tournament is complete. I did do a bit better on the women's side than I did on the men's side.

Round two begins tomorrow. I will have my predictions up in my next post.

Please feel free to read, comments, and participate in the blog.

Correct picks:

Notre Dame wins 62-59 over California

North Carolina State wins 84-52 over Robert Harris

Vanderbilt wins 62-47 over Delaware State

Maryland wins 89-65 over Harvard

Baylor wins 68-55 over Chattanooga

North Carolina wins 95-28 over Prairie View

Tennessee wins 76-37 over Drake

Duke wins 81-44 over Holy Cross

Michigan State wins 69-58 over Delaware

Pittsburgh wins 71-61 over James Madison

Connecticut wins 83-33 over University of Maryland-BC

Temple wins 64-61 over Nebraska

Rutgers wins 77-34 over East Carolina

Oklahoma State loses 70-66 to Bowling Green
(Another close game of close seeds.)

TCU loses 86-72 to Mississippi
(I felt TCU would do wee after their conference tournament.)

New Mexico loses 59-52 to Wisconsin-Green Bay
(Another upset I didn't see coming.)

Today: 13-3
Total: 26-6 for 81.25%

NCAA Men's Division 1: Round 2, Day 2

By Robert H. Kelly

The first two rounds are over. Sixteen teams have made it this far. For the other 48, it is a long flight home, with thoughts of what have could have been and what will come in the future.

The Sweet Sixteen will start on Thursday. I will have my picks up by that time. In bewteen, I will try to post some thoughts on each of the eight games.

Here is the outcome of my day 2, round 2 picks, along with my overall record.

Correct picks
Oregon wins 75-61 over Winthrop

Tennessee wins 77-74 over Virginia

Florida wins 74-67 over Purdue

Southern Illinois wins 63-48 over Virginia Tech

Memphis wins 78-62 over Nevada

Kansas wins 88-76 over Kentucky

Incorrect picks.
Wisconsin loses 74-68 to UNLV
(I again went against UNLV. When will I learn.

Texas loses 87-68 to USC
(Being an alumni of Texas, I picked them our of ssetamantality. I must learn to pick teams using my head instaed of my heart)

Today: 6-2
Overall: 36-12 for 75 percent.

CBS Posting NCAA Basketball Tournament Clips on YouTube

By Robert H. Kelly

CBS Sports has joined with YouTube to provide selected clips from the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament to viewers.

The service is free and most of the clips at 10-20 seconds showing an outstanding play or some other highlight that fans may want to view.

The good thing is that it is free, but the bad thing is that you cannot download the clip to post on your own site.

It is obvious to me that CBS figured they better get into the game on YouTube, because fans were going to just upload their own files and post them anyway.

It is nice to be able to see clips of some of the plays.

Click here to go to YouTube to view the clips.

NCAA Women's Division 1: Round 1-Day 1

By Robert H. Kelly

I went 13-3 for the first day of round 1 in the 2007 NCAA Women's Division 1 Basketball Tournament. Not following women's collegite basketball much during the season, I didn't have much to refer to in the way of first hand knowledge.

However, looking at their conference finish, strength of schedule, and scores against top ranked opponents aided me in making my selections.

Here are the results. Please feel free to make comments.

The correct predictions:

George Washington wins 76-67 over Boise State

Texas A&M wins 58-50 over University of Texas at Arlington

Iowa State wins 79-60 over Washington

Georgia wins 53-36 over Belmont

Marquette wins 87-58 over Louisiana-Lafayette

Oklahoma wins 74-60 over SE Missouri State

Stanford wins 96-58 over Idaho State

Georgia Tech wins 55-54 over DePaul

West Virginia wins 65-52 over Xavier

Middle Tennessee wins 85-46 over Gonzaga

Louisville wins 80-54 over Brigham Young

Arizona State wins 57-50 over UC Riverside

Purdue wins 63-42 over Oral Roberts

Old Dominion loses 85-75 to Florida State
(It was close at times, but not close enough to make my pick correct.)

North Carolina-Asheville 77-39 loses to LSU
(Oops. I really messed up on this one. Oh well, predicting upsets is what this is all about.)

Ohio State loses to Marist 67-63
(An upset that I guess, very few if any, predicted.)

Totals: 13-3, for 81.25%.

NCAA Men's Division 1: Round 2, Day 1

By Robert H. Kelly

I went 7-1 today, only missing one pick. I am pleased with the outcome. It would have been nice to get them all correct, but I would be very surprised if my luck (or skill) holds out with tomorrow's games.

Here we go with the results.

Correct selections:
Butler wins 62-59 over Maryland
Texas A&M wins 72-69 over Louisville
Ohio State wins 78-71 over Xavier
Vanderbilt wins 78-74 over Washington State 2OT
Pittsburgh wins 84-79 over VCU
North Carolina wins 81-67 over Michigan State
UCLA wins 54-49 over Indiana

Incorrect selctions:
Boston College loses 62-55 to Georgetown
(I was hoping for an upset in this game. BC coundn't find a bucket if they had been paid to.)

Today: 7-1
Total: 30-10 for 75%

2007 NCAA Women's Division 1 Basketball Tournament

By Robert H. Kelly

The NCAA Division 1 Women's Basketball Tournament starts today. Below are my predictions for the first round. Like the men's predictions, I will be posting the next round once the current round is complete.

HERE WE GO!!!!

Dallas Region
North Carolina-Asheville
Notre Dame
George Washington
Texas A&M
Iowa State
Georgia
Georgia Tech
Purdue

Dayton Region
Tennessee
Pittsburgh
Middle Tennessee
Ohio State
Marquette
Oklahoma
TCU
Maryland

Fresno Region
Connecticut
New Mexico
Baylor
North Carolina State
West Virginia
North Carolina
Old Dominion
Stanford

Greensboro Region
Duke
Temple
Michigan State
Rutgers
Louisville
Arizona State
Oklahoma State
Vanderbilt

NCAA Men's Division 1: 2nd Round Predictions-March 17-18.

By Robert H. Kelly

The second round of the 2007 Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament starts today. Yes, that will be Saturday, as I am writing this at 12:12am on Saturday morning.

I have divided the 2nd round into both days and will post the results at the conclusion of each day's games.

So "HERE WE GO;" my second round predictions:

March 17-Saturday
Midwest
Butler over Maryland

West
Pittsburgh over VCU
UCLA over Indiana

East
North Carolina over Michigan State
Vanderbilt over Washington State
Boston College over Georgetown

South
Texas A&M over Louisville
Ohio State over Xavier

March 18-Sunday
Midwest
Florida over Purdue
Oregon over Winthrop
Wisconsin over UNLV

West
Kansas over Kentucky
Southern Illinois over Virginia Tech

East
Texas over USC

South
Tennessee over Virginia
Memphis over Nevada

NCAA Men's Division 1: Round 1, Day 2

By Robert H. Kelly

Day 2 of the first round was a bit better for my predictions. I picked 12 correct while only missing four. That gives me a 23-9 record with a winning percentage of 71.875.

Here are my picks and how they went. First the correct selections.

Florida wins 112-69 over Jackson State

Purdue wins 72-63 over Arizona

Oregon wins 58-56 over Miami (Ohio)

Wisconsin wins 76-63 over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Kansas wins 107-67 over Niagara

Kentucky wins 67-58 over Villanova

Texas wins 79-67 over New Mexico State

Southern California wins 77-60 over Arkansas

Tennessee wins 121-86 Long Beach State

Virginia wins 84-57 over Albany

Nevada wins 77-71 over Creighton

Memphis wins 73-58 over North Texas

My incorrect predictions were:

Illinois loses 54-52 to Virginia Tech
(A two point loss. It could happen to everyone.)

Holy Cross loses 61-51 to Southern Illinois
(What can I say. I just missed this one.)

Georgia Tech loses to UNLV 67-63
(I was in Las Vegas when the tournament seeds were announced and UNLV was upset over their seed. I figured they would not regain their composure and lose. I was wrong.)

Notre Dame loses to Winthrop 74-64
(Possibly the biggest upset of the first round.)

Day 2: 12-4
Overall: 23-9

My picks for the second round will be up soon.

NCAA Men's Division 1: Round 1, Day 1 Games

By Robert H. Kelly

With day 1 complete of the 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Championships, 16 games have been concluded and I finished with an 11-5 record. That is a 68.75 percent average.

Not as good as I had hoped, but some of the losses were upsets, at least as far as I am concerned. I will see if I can improve at percentage on day 2.

My correct winning prediction are as follows:

Maryland wins 82-70 over Davidson

Pittsburgh wins 79-58 over Wright State

UCLA wins 70-42 over Weber State

North Carolina wins 86-65 over Eastern Carolina

Vanderbilt wins 77-44 over George Washington

Washington State wins 70-54 over Oral Roberts

Boston College wins 84-75 over Texas Tech

Georgetown wins 80-55 over Belmont

Ohio State wins 78-57 over Central Connecticut

Louisville wins 78-58 over Stanford

Texas A&M wins 68-52 over Pennsylvania

My incorrect predictions are as follows:

Old Dominion loses to Butler 57-46 (Pete Campbell hitting three 3-pointers to spark a 17-0 run was the turning point. Old Dominion just couldn't make up the difference.)

Duke loses to Virginia Commonwealth University 79-77 (Eric Maynor hit a 15-foot jumper with 1.8 seconds left to give VCU the win.)

Gonzaga loses to Indiana 70-57 (I always pick Gonzaga as a sentimental favorite. Some day they will make it to the Final Four.)

Marquette loss to Michigan State 61-49 (I thought Marquette would pull the upset in the first round game.)

Brigham Young loss to Xavier 79-77 (BYU had not made it out of first round of the NCAA tournament since 1993. I felt 2007 was going to be their year. They came close, but no cigar.)

16 games down, 47 to go.

2007 NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament: 1st Round Predictions

By Robert H. Kelly

Every year, TexSport Publications gets into the mix and makes our predictions on the outcome of the 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. We will see if we can do better than the so-called experts.

This year is no different. However this year, we will make our predictions after each round instead of the entire tournament at once. Here are our predictions:

MIDWEST
Florida
Purdue
Old Dominion
Maryland
Notre Dame
Oregon
Georgia Tech
Wisconsin

WEST
Kansas
Kentucky
Illinois
Holy Cross
Duke
Pittsburgh
Gonzaga
UCLA

EAST
North Carolina
Marquette
Southern California
Texas
Vanderbilt
Washington State
Boston College
Georgetown

SOUTH
Ohio State
BYU
Tennessee
Virginia
Louisville
Texas A&M
Nevada
Memphis

Now the fun begins. let see who will make it to the Final Four.