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March Madness 2006 Upsets |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 20 March 2006 |
 This year, the NCAA March Madness Tournament has created the most unpredictable bracket ever. This upsets continue to roll, as strong teams are knocked off and only the stronger remain. The sweet 16 has been reached, and here are your teams: Duke vs. LSU, West Virginia vs. Texas, Memphis vs. Bradley, Gonzaga vs. UCLA, Connecticut vs. Washington, George Mason vs. Wichita State, Villanova vs. Boston College, and Florida vs. Georgetown.
To get a good look at the bracket and how the tourney has turned out so far, check out CBS's up-to-the-minute live bracket. It constantly updates after each game. Click read more to check out Dime Magazine's reviews of the best games played on Sunday (just in case you slept on it this weekend)...
(1) Villanova beat (8) Arizona, 82-78. Every time it looked like Villanova was about to make it a rout, Arizona came right back and kept fighting. Ultimately, it was Allan Ray and Randy Foye’s experience that won out, despite a monster game from ‘Zona frosh Marcus Williams. Keep an eye on that kid next year; he’s gonna torch the Pac-10.
Our prediction: Who will win out between the four-guard ‘Nova lineup and Boston College’s triple-threat front line? That could be a wash, so look at the other players involved: Villanova’s front line is closer to matching BC’s than BC’s backcourt is to matching ‘Nova. Take the Wildcats here.
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(13) Bradley beat (5) Pittsburgh, 72-66. Braves center Patrick O’Bryant destroyed Pitt big man Aaron Gray, dropping 28 points and keeping Gray frustrated and in foul trouble all game long. The rest of the Panthers didn’t hold it together any better, and Bradley again just didn’t make mistakes.
Our prediction: Memphis is too good, despite not having been tested yet in this tournament. The Braves will hang with Calipari’s crew for a half, but look for Rodney Carney, Darius Washington, Andre Allen and the rest of the Tigers to pull away eventually.
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(11) George Mason beat (3) North Carolina, 65-60. The Tar Heels’ freshmen finally looked like freshmen, and Roy Williams didn’t help their composure (or lack thereof), throwing chairs around and walking onto the court to scream at guys mid-action. The Patriots played some killer defense, bottling up Tyler Hansbrough and Reyshawn Terry.
Our prediction: George Mason already beat Wichita State by three in WSU’s building last month. From what we’ve seen in these first two rounds, there’s no reason they can’t repeat that performance.
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(1) UConn beat (8) Kentucky, 87-83. You kept waiting for UConn to pull away, but Patrick Sparks kept hitting huge shots to keep Kentucky alive. The Huskies stayed on top with some crucial rebounds and hit their free throws down the stretch and survived a scare. Marcus Williams (20 points, eight dimes) won his matchup with Rajon Rondo.
Our prediction: Even if the anticipated Duke/UConn final holds up, UConn/Washington could seriously be the best game of the tournament. Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay going head-to-head is worth the price of admission alone. But as good as UW has played, UConn has too many weapons and experience for them to deal with. UW relies on a lot of freshmen.
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Dime Magazine
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