The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 5A NCAA TOURNAMENT PREVIEW ISSUE 1 Ohio State 16 UT-San Antonio 8 George Mason 9 Villanova 5 West Virginia 12 Clemson 4 Kentucky 13 Princeton 6 Xavier 11 Marquette 3 Syracuse 14 Indiana State 7 Washington 10 Georgia 2 North Carolina 15 LIU 1 Duke 16 Hampton 8 Michigan 9 Tennessee 5 Arizona 12 Memphis 4 Texas 13 Oakland 6 Cincinnati 11 Missouri 3 Connecticut 14 Bucknell 7 Temple 10 Penn St. 2 San Diego St. 14 No. Colorado Ohio State Ohio Sta George Mason The Daily's men's basketball beat fills out its 2011 NCAA Tournament bracket. West Virginia Kentucky West Virg Ohio State EAS EAST Xavier ~~~ Syracuse Syracuse Washington Washington North Carolina Syracuse Ohio State 73 Pittsburgh 65 Kansas Kansas Richmond SOUTHWEST Georgetown Georgetown Notre Dame Pittsburgh Pitsburgh Kansas State 1 Kansas Kansas 16 Boston Univ. 8 UNLV U NLV .....v... 9 Illinois 5 Vanderbilt Richmond 12 Richmond 4 Louisville Louisville 113 Morehead State 6 Georgetown Georgetown 11 USC/VCU 3 Purdue Purdue 14 Saint Peter's 7 Texas A&M Texas A&M 10 Florida State 2 Notre Dame Notre Dame 15 Akron 1 Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ~16 UNC-Ashville 8 Butler Old Dominion 9 Old Dominion S Kansas State Kaosas State 12 Utah State 4 Wisconsin Wisconsin 113 Belmont 6 St. John's St. John's 11 Gonzaga 3 BYU BYU ~ 14 Wofford 7 UCLA Michigan State 10 Michigan State 2 Florida Florida anta Bar 15 UC Santa Barb. Duke Duke Michigan Arizona Arizon Oakland Duke WEST r SOUTHEAST Cincinnati Connecticut Connecti< Connecticut St. John's Michigan State Michigan State Penn State San Die, San Diego St. Regional Breakdowns: Who are this year's Cinderellas? SOUTHWEST: The top half of this bracket is pretty cut and dry. Even President Barack Obama picked Kansas to win it all, and the Jayhawks should be able to tear through their first three games. But Purdue or Notre Dame could pose a problem in the regional semifinals. The possible matchup between the Fighting Irish and the Boiler- makers could prove to be one of the most exciting of the tourna- ment. Purdue'spost/guard combo of E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson, who combine for 39 points and 13 rebounds a game, may meet its match in Notre Dame's Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis, who combine for 34 points and10 rebounds a game. The most likely upset is No. 12 Richmond over No. 5 Vanderbilt. The Spiders just finished their regular season with a record- setting 27 wins, including wins over then-No.8 Purdue and Saint Joseph's. Richmond is on a seven- game win streak, led by seniors Kevin Anderson and Justin Harp- er. Last weekend, the Spiders won their first-ever Atlantic-10 title and are looking to make a mark in their second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Florida State - with nine upperclassmen - could also make some noise. It held Ohio State to its lowest point total of the year and handed Duke one of its four losses this season when senior guard Der- win Kitchen caught fire, scor- ing 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. SOUTHEAST: If you're against Purdue to propel them- they have suffered some big expecting a lower seed to find selves into the tournament. losses this year. The Panthers its way into the Final Four, this Remember, Michigan State were stunned at home by Notre could be the region where it coach Tom Izzo has been there Dame and were also exploited happens. before and so has half his squad. by St. John's, the No. 6 seed in The Southeast Region is If the Spartans make it out of their region. Expect Pittsburgh, probably the most competitive the second round, they'll most a team known for not having this year, boasting many high- likely meet Florida. stars to have a rough time mak- er seeds that have been put on The Gators are one of the ing it from of the bunch. upset alert - not to mention, a few first and second seeds that The team most likely to be lot of lower seeds that are play- could fall out early. Florida upset on this end has to be Wis- ing their hottest basketball doesn't have much tournament consin. The fourth-seeded Bad- when it matters most. experience and has been incon- gers finished third in the Big Expect Michigan State to sistent down the final stretch of Ten, but Bo Ryan's squad was make a run on this end. The the season. upset by Penn State in the Big Spartans have had a rough sea- No. 1 seed Pittsburgh is obvi- Ten Tournament and typically son but finished with a big win ously the favorite. But even isn't a good tournament team. EAST: This may be one of the most dangerous regions for those who pick upsets just because they think they must. There aren't any big sleepers here, and seeing Ohio State, North Carolina, Syracuse and Kentucky in the regional semifi- nal could be about as predictable as guessing when your birth- day's coming next year. Syracuse could upset the Tar Heels in that round just because of the Orange's size and Jim WEST: The recent revelation that Duke star freshman point guard Kyrie Irving may return to the court makes this region a lit- tle bit more interesting. Nobody knows if Irving will play - nor how many minutes he'll get or how effective he'll be, even if he does - but don't bet against the Blue Devils after they blew out North Carolina in the ACC Tour- nament. There aren't any compelling Cinderella picks in the West, but look out for a potential upset in the No. 13-No. 4 matchup. Texas Boeheim's 2-3 zone defense. And Syracuse won't come into this tournament lightly. Twice under Boeheim, the Orange have been upset in the first round. It loss in 1991 when the team was a No. 2 seed and again in 2005 when it was a No. 4 seed. Another likely upset is No. 11 seed Marquette over No. 6 seed Xavier. The Golden Eagles are one of the 11 teams out of the Big East to reach the tournament and Xavier recently was upset by is very talented, but Oakland has proven it can play with anybody - and big man Keith Benson might be the best player on the floor when the Longhorns and Golden Grizzlies square off. Elsewhere, if No. 7 seed Tem- ple can get past a tricky first- round matchup with a hungry Talor Battle and his Penn State squad, the Owls are capable of upsetting No. 2 seed San Diego State in the second round. The Aztecs are led by the unappreci- ated Kawhi Leonard - who was overshadowed in the Mountain Dayton in its conference tourna- ment. Marquette would not be a bad choice if you're in need of an early-round upset. And though no one expects it, it is very possible that Princeton busts some brackets. The Tigers are coming off of a big win at the buzzer against Harvard to split the Ivy League championship with the Crim- son. If any No. 13 seed is going to do it, it's Princeton over No. 4 seed Kentucky. West by Jimmer Fredette, but lack experience playing deep in the tournament. Along with Leonard, the standouts in the West are Ari- zona forward Derrick Williams and Connecticut guard Kemba Walker. Either player is capable of a MVP-type run, but look for Walker to carry his team farthest due to how vital guard play is in the Big Dance. And look for a great duel between Walker and Duke coun- terpart Nolan Smith in the Elite Eight. Kansas power forward Markieff Morris (21) and the layhawks were chosen by President Obama to win it all. FOR FULL COVERAGE OF THE WOLVERINES IN CHARLOTTE: LOG ON TO WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM/SPORTS AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @MICHDAILYSPORTS