San Jose bracket

Teams that can win: Kansas, Southern Illinois, UCLA, Pittsburgh

Yup, I left out Gonzaga, Duke, Villanova, Kentucky (trust me: I pick Kentucky to win every year but not this year). This is the bracket of stumbling giants, wouldn't you say? Duke and Kentucky are both down, Indiana hasn't been strong in a while now, Illinois and Villanova are far from their peaks, even Gonzaga has seen its shiny reputation get all dull.

And Kansas and UCLA, everyone's expected regional finalists, seem a bit overrated to me. I know, I know, they've both got plenty of talent and good coaches and all that but I sense a softness in both of these squads. I think they both display a tendency to get complacent, self-absorbed in the middle of games, they forget their opponent and those are the teams that lose.

Southern Illinois is one of those sexy mid-majors that I know absolutely nothing about. They're probably really good, they can probably totally hang with these big boys. I have them losing to Kansas in the Sweet 16, maybe I'm way off.

Pittsburgh is a team that hasn't played its best basketball yet. They made the Big East finals again (I believe they've made 7 of the last 8) and again they failed to win (they've won only 1 time in those 7 final appearances). They're a good team, I like that big guy inside and I think their guards are ready to step up and get it done.

I have Gonzaga beating UCLA, Pitt beating Gonzaga and Kansas. We'll see.

And it's on! Good luck with your bracket(s).