The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 11, 1999 -13A


MCAA Tournament predictions

The Final Four Final Four most
valuable player

Cinderella

First major
to fall

Story of the
tournament


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Duke
Connecticut
St. John's
Arizona

Kevin Freeman,
Connecticut
Hey, you gotta stick
with family, even as
they put up the game
of their lives in an OT
loss to Duke.

Texas
The stars at night are
big and bright ... but
never more so than
when they embarrass
Latack (or me) in the
first round.

Maryland
Denny Crum and Co.
don't waste their
reprieve - Ta-ta Terps.
If UCLA counted as a
major, then I'd say
you'd see them later

ACC-yal
The most overrated
conference in the coun-
try is finally exposed.
Except for, uh, Duke.
Don't believe me? Wait
for the ACC-Big Ten
challenge in December.

FREEMAN

KIEINBAUM

-----e-e-------eee-eee-eee---e------- ..r----.r..,_r.....--- -- -----------------------ee----eei e e e e e e e e e e e -
Duke Elton Brand, Duke Washington Utah Michigan State
The Peekskill, N.Y. I picked the Huskies in If the Huskies are going No, no, this isn't the
Washington native is just a beast the preseason, and, by to reach the Final Four, Flintstones rise to dom-
in the paint. He'll help God, I'm sticking with the Utes will be their inance. Everyone'll be
St. John's the Blue Devils easily 'em. Big man Todd biggest test. But talking about their trip
march to the Final MacCulloch, one of MacCulloch and U-Dub back to Bedrock, made
Connecticut Four, then lead them the best, will lead will pull out the second- after the Sparties lose
to the title. them to the Final Four. round upset... in the third round.
Duke Trajan Langdon, Duke Purdue St. John's Don't believe the hype
In his last NCAA go- Gene Keady's team The Johnnies exited in I'm only going to say
Arizona around, the fifth-year limps in, and is reward- the first round last this once: SW Missouri
senior's long-range accu- ed with Miami - the year, and a round-of-32 State, Kent, Siena,
Maryland racy will lead Duke to weakest No. 2 seed in matchup with Indiana Penn and Miami (Ohio)
the crown. Plus, every- the tournament. The will be too much for are one-and-done.
Connecticut one had already picked battle-tested Boilers the inexperienced kids Settle down with your
the better Duke players. wear the 'Canes down. from the Big Apple. first-round upset fever.
-----r--------.-r---------- --r---r------w--e.-----------------------.---------- ------- e e e e e e e e -

LATACK

Duke
Kentucky
Maryland
Stanford

William Avery, Duke
Brand may grab all the
headlines, but every-
one knows that guards
win tournament games
- and Avery is one of
the best. He makes
the Blue Devils go.

SW Missouri State
As a friend of mine
recently said, anything
Steve Alford touches
turns to gold ... and I
believe it. Watch out
for the Bears in the
Sweet 16.

North Carolina
It's been an off year in
Chapel Hill for Bill
Guthridge and the Tar
Heels. Junior guard Ed
Cota won't be enough
to overcome Florida in
the second round.

Big Ten collapse
The Big Ten gets seven
teams into the tourney
without any going very
far. The regular season
was full of sound and
fury for the confer-
ence, but in the end, it
will signify nothing.

PRANAY
REDDY

Connecticut center Justin Brown is ready for March Madness, are you? His top-
seeded Huskies begin play today against Texas-San Antonio.

The verdict is in...
Iaily Basketball Writers' preseason picks ... and how they stack up to reality.
Correct picks in bold ACTUAL RESULTS RICK FREEMAN JOSH KLEINBAUM ANDY LATACK PRANAY REDDY

i

Michigan Big Ten finish 10th 5th 6th
Big Ten champion Michigan State Michigan State Purdue
All-Big Ten team Mateen Cleav-s - Mich. St. Cleaves Cleaves
(Player of the Year Evan Eschmeyer - N'west. AJ. Guyton - Indiana Michael Redd - Ohio St.
in Italics) Quincy Lewis - Minn, Louis Bullock - Mich. Bullock
Scoonle Penn - Ohio St. Antonio Smith - Mich. St. Calvin Booth - Penn St.
Morris Peterson - Mich. St. Eschmeyer . Eschmeyer
ig Ten Coach of the Year Tom Izzo Brian Ellerbe Bobby Knight
Ail-America team Cleaves Cleaves Laron Profit - Maryland"
Andre Miller, Utah BJ. McKie - So. Car. Vonteego Cummings - P

5th
Purdue
Cleaves
Penn
Luke Recker - Indiana
Brian Cardinal - Pur.
Eschmyw
Gene Keady
Maler

5th
Michigan State
Cleaves
Redd
Recker
Lewis
Eschmeyer
Knight
Cleaves

i

Pitt.

Arthur Lee - Stan

Michigan MVP
Ugliest tipoff writer

Richard Hamilton, Conn.
Jason Terry, Arizona
Elton Brand
Bullock
Freeman

What were these
guys thinking?
Well, we're not entirely sure ourselves. But we
,thought we'd try to explain ... and then give our-
selves a chance to screw up some more picks.
So enjoy us as we make fools of ourselves in
print once again. And if you have any comments,
as always, e-mail us at hoops.dally@umich.edu.

Hamilton
Trajan Langdon - Duke
Brand
Bullock
Reddy
I really don't have
much to say for
myself, I mean, at
least I didn't try to
spite the Spartans.
But McKie What was
I McThinking?
Ellerbe would have
been the pick of the
season ... you know,
if I'd got it right.
Maybe next year, eh?

Hamilton Hamilton
Lee Nailon - Tex. Christian James Posey - Xavier
Brand Brand
Brandon Smith Smith
Latack Kleinbaum
After leading Pitt to With an out-of-
some early upsets, it nowhere gem like
looked like my Penn, I don't have
Cummings pick was to justify myself to
dynamite. Then he any of you. Okay,
collapsed... And Cardinal and Posey
Nailon? Yeah, he's were sleepers that
from Texas Christian, didn't pan out, but I
but he was last year's had to let these
top scorer in the other guys keep it
nation. As for Purdue, close. And I meant
well, i can't explain next season on the
that one... Smith pick.

. Albert White - Miss.
Hamilton
Tim James - Mia.
Brand
Bullock
Freeman
What, you're
going to fault me
for hooking up
Tim James, when
I'm from South
Florida? To that
end, I've always
been a fan of
shady characters,
i.e. the Albert
White pick. And
believe me,
Michael Redd
was robbed.

Aright, so
sue us - our
predictions
weren't all
that good.
But hey,
Latack comes
through with
Scoonie,
Reddy pegs
Freeman, and,
well, can you
really blame
us for not
picking a
Spartan as
coach of the
year? We
were all a
little
optimistic
with
Michigan,
too, but that
was just
wishful
thinking...

\J

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