Between 'Nova and Duke, brackets nationwide are now in smithereens



… tough time for the ACC

I do not like to say "I told you so,' but this is what I wrote Saturday morning before the start of the second round of the NCAA tournament, men's side.

"Possible upsets? Wisconsin will have to play well, but they could give the Wildcats a real battle. South Carolina may also give Duke a real battle in a 2-7 matchup. Those are both potential upsets."

Now, I did not definitively call those upsets, but those were the two games that I called upset potential. And indeed, they happened.

I actually like those of those teams. Not a huge fan, but they are two of my favorites.

In fact, in my final four, I had Nova. In fact, I had Nova winning it all.

There goes my prediction, though the other three -- Arizona, Kansas, and North Carolina -- are still alive.

I guess that I can root for the only Pennsylvania tie left in the field: Arizona, coached by Pittsburgh area native Sean Miller, a former Pitt Panther.

I do have reservations about that because the one team that has really been upsetting the higher seeds is Xavier, and that is who Arizona plays.

Look out for Michigan

The upset that I was going to pick was Michigan over second-seeded Louisville, but I backed off of it. Coach John Beilein's team is really playing well right now, and who knows, they could go a long way.

Tough time for the ACC

Remember when the Atlantic Coast Conference was crowing about having nine teams in the tournament. Actually, it was eight in the field of 64 … but guess what? Only one is left, North Carolina, and they struggled against Arkansas.

The breakdown of conferences left in the 16 is interesting: Conference: Big Ten 3, SEC 3, Pac 12 3, Big 12 3, Big East 2, West Coast 1, ACC 1.

Who would have thought that the Big Ten, which was pretty weak, and the SEC, which other than Kentucky, was also lackluster this year, would have three teams left? Well, they do, and teams like Xavier and Butler of the Big East could be surprises, too.

Anyone could win this

The East is wide open now with their top seed in Villanova gone and Duke at 2 also out. Makes that interesting for Baylor, the 3, and also for Wisconsin. The Wisconsin-Florida winner is in the Elite Eight. That is interesting.

Anyway, my hope for the rest of the way is Arizona, but I still do not see anyone taking down Kansas yet.

But, as the first two rounds indicated, there could be more surprises on the horizon in 2017.

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