Thursday's Picks

The greatest two days of the year are finally here, so to kick things off here are my picks for Thursday's games.

8-LSU vs 9- Butler
These 8 vs 9 games are really just the flip a coin because most likely you have the winner losing in the second round to the 1 seed. I flipped a coin and it was heads, Butler called heads so I'm going with Butler.

2- Memphis vs 15- Cal State Northridge
Memphis should have no problem taking care of the fighting Tito Santanas.

8- BYU vs 9- Texas A&M
A&M won the toss go with the Aggies.

5- Purdue vs 12- Northern Iowa
The always interesting 12 vs 5 games. I don't see an upset here as I'm taking Purdue behind E'Twaun Moore, Robbie Hummel, and JaJuan Johnson part of that great sophomore class Matt Painter was able to bring in.

1- UNC vs 16- Radford
Well I'm picking UNC to win it all but if there was ever a time that I wouldn't care about winning in a pool it would be seeing Radford pull off the greatest upset of all time.

7- Cal vs 10- Maryland
Jerome Randle will score exactly 29 points to lead the Bears over the Terps.

1- Connecticut vs 16- Chattanooga
UCONN by 31.

4- Washington vs 13- Miss. St.
Some people like this as an upset but I tend to side with a team that was solid all year like the Huskies over a team like Miss. St. that is just like last year's Georgia team who got hot and won the SEC before losing their first game in the tourney.

7-Texas vs 10-Minnesota
I'll take Tubby Smith over Rick Barnes.

7- Clemson vs 10- Michigan
ACC is better than the Big 10. Clemson gets an easy W.

3- Villanova vs 14- American
I'm not as high on Villanova as most people are but they will not lose to the American Eagles.

4- Gonzaga vs 13- Akron
Gonzaga will win a close low scoring game.

2- Oklahoma vs 15- Morgan St.
I think this is close until there's 10 minutes left in the second when the Sooners realize who they are playing and pull away.

2- Duke vs 15- Binghamton
This will not be like last year's 'near defeat' at the hands of Belmont. Duke wins by 20.

6- UCLA vs 11- VCU
This will be the best game of the day. Eric Maynor vs Darren Collinson (if healthy) will be a great match up. I think UCLA pulls this one out in thriller.

5- Illinois vs 12- W. Kentucky
Another game that I think will be close and exciting until the end. I like Illinois and I think too many people are thinking, "well W. Kentucky made the sweet 16 last year as a sleeper why, not this year," and I point to the Orlando Magic roster where you find Courtney Lee now playing.

I'll have tomorrow's picks later tonight or Friday morning. Enjoy today's games.