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2008 NCAA Tournament Upset Predictions
Jimmy Boyd puts his clients and readers on upset alert with his 2008
bracket buster predictions. Find out which sleepers and underdogs Jimmy
thinks has a chance at making a nice little Cinderalla run in this article.
The numbers show that the #12 seed/#5 seed matchup is upset central and Jimmy
has found a couple #12 seeds this year that will be moving out of round one.
First off, we like Villanova in the East Regional over Clemson. There is no way
that Clemson is legitimately seven seeds better than the Wildcats and it will
show here. The Tigers don’t get up for other teams the way they do ACC rivals
Duke and North Carolina. America will see just how good the Big East is and how
solid Nova is when it moves on into round two. And the Wildcats won’t stop
there. We like them to take care of an overrated Vanderbilt team in round two to
advance to the Sweet 16. Vandy is completely vulnerable when not playing on its
home floor and is a very weak defensive team. Expect Villanova to exercise its
physical Big East style of play to take care of the Commodores. Kansas will
snuff out Villanova’s Cinderella story, but the Sweet 16 isn’t too shabby for a
#12 seed.
I’m on upset alert in the West Region as well with #5 seed Drake taking on #12
seed Western Kentucky. Drake won a weak Missouri Valley Conference this season
and is a team which must shoot the ball well to be successful. Western Kentucky
is a much better defensive team than Drake is used to seeing in the Valley.
Also, 6’5’’ guard, Courtney Lee comes in averaging 20.8 ppg. He will be a very
difficult matchup for a Drake team with smaller guards, and ultimately, he’s the
reason Western Kentucky is moving on. That’s as far as the Hilltoppers will go
with UConn waiting in round two.
The #11 seeds beat the #6 seeds just as often as the #12 seeds beat the #5
seeds, so of course we’ve pegged a couple upsets in these matchups as well. In
the South Region, we like the Kentucky Wildcats over the Marquette Golden
Eagles. This is a case where the Wildcats got stronger as the season went on and
the Golden Eagles trailed off. After a lousy start, the Wildcats have been
proving doubters wrong win after win. I like the way coach Gillespie has
connected with his players and he has current big game tourney experience. We’ll
take Kentucky into the second round.
St. Joseph’s is another deadly #11 seed which is playing much better ball than
the #6 seed Oklahoma Sooners. St. Joe’s played its best ball in the biggest
games this season, with two big wins over a Xavier team ranked in the top 10.
St. Joe’s will be moving on.
In #10 versus #7 seed games, look for a very talented Davidson team, which
played Duke and North Carolina down to the wire, to beat Gonzaga. Also, look for
#10 seed St. Mary’s to get past Miami in the South regional.
Take these lower seeds into consideration when filling out your
tournament brackets
so you don’t take a higher seed out too far and get crushed in your pool.
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