Dancing Queen

So after not that much agonizing over this year’s matchups, here’s my 2011 NCAA Tourney bracket. Just a few observations:

Yes, I have UConn winning it all. Simple rule: never bet against UConn and Maya Moore. I may root against UConn, I may pray against UConn, I may be willing to offer up STAN’s first-born for UConn to lose to Stanford in the title game, but I know to write UConn into the box in the middle of the bracket. Trust me, I will do a happy dance should my bracket get busted if UConn loses early, but at least I can find some solace in a successful bracket if the Huskies are hoisting their third consecutive trophy the first Tuesday in April.

I do have all the 1-seeds advancing to Indy, which seems unlikely, but looking at all the teams, I really feel like those four teams are heads and shoulders above the competition. (Although I am always nervous about Stanford, but a lot of that is cause I’m such a Stanford fan that I worry that everyone can beat them. But realistically, they have enough talent and depth and talented depth that they should make it out of their region, and hopefully without even needing last-minute Pohlen heroics.)

I’m a little nervous about having all 9s over 8s and all 10s over 7s in the first round, especially since the rest of my bracket is relatively upset-free. But I’m fairly confident in all of these upset picks, and more importantly, they’re all STAN-approved, so I’ll just blame him if they all turn out wrong. Some highlights:

- 10 Marist over 7 Iowa State. STAN vouches for Marist. Lori saw enough of Iowa State to have not been impressed. When good teams game plan to shut down Bolte, the Cyclones have not proven that they can break it up and get her shots consistently.

- 10 La Tech over 7 Rutgers. Having faith in a WAC school! Really though, I think the Lady Techsters can withstand the Rutgers pressure, and Adrienne Johnson is a beast inside.

- 10 Vandy over 7 Louisville. I always pick Vandy for at least one tourney upset. And it’s not just cause I have a soft spot for the ‘Dores – they always seem to step up come tourney time. That’s the kind of team they are; what they lack in pure talent they make up for in hustle and dedication and discipline. And that makes a difference in the Big Dance. Plus, Jence Rhoads is teh awesome.

- 9 Texas over 8 Marquette. Okay, Texas is kinda the anti-Vandy. They have a lot of individual talent, but more often than not it just does not translate into successful team efforts. Frankly, I was a bit surprised they even made the tourney – they had no good wins, a lot of good losses, and a couple of bad losses (*cough* Missouri *cough*). But, hey, since they’re here, I’m going to have faith that they can put it together for one game at least. A team with Fontennette, Anderson, Nash and Fussell on offense and Gayle on defense should be able to do that, right?

Other first-round upsets:

- 11 Gonzaga over 6 Iowa. Y’know, Gonzaga didn’t really impress me when they were here in November, but this game is at Gonzaga, and I’m not betting against Vandersloot at home in the first round. Plus, the Zags do have a number of shooters, so if at least a few of them are hot and providing good targets for Sloot, it could be a short night for the Hawkeyes.

- 12 Arkansas-Little Rock over 5 Wisconsin-Green Bay. I asked STAN. He said to pick UALR.