NCAA Bracket Predictions: South

Moving on to the South region...

ROUND ONE

(1) Memphis over (16) Texas-Arlington - Memphis wins a squeaker.

(8) Mississippi St. over (9) Oregon - JaMont Gordon is the best player in this game, and he leads an underrated Mississippi St. club to a win over Oregon.

(5) Michigan St. over (12) Temple - The Owls are becoming a popular upset pick, but I like Tom Izzo coached teams a lot. I like the Nietzel and Izzo combo to lead the Spartans to round 2.

(4) Pittsburgh over (13) Oral Roberts - I like ORU, but Pittsburgh is playing pretty solid basketball right now. Their toughness wins out.

(6) Marquette over (11) Kentucky - I don't see the Kentucky guards being able to stop the Marquette guards, and the Wildcats don't have the size to exploit Marquette down low.

(3) Stanford over (14) Cornell - Cornell might keep it close for a while because of their shooting ability, but they can't handle Stanford down low all day.

(10) St. Mary's over (7) Miami - Like everyone else, I'm taking the combo of Patrick Mills and Diamon Simpson to lead the Gaels into round 2.

(2) Texas over (15) Austin Peay - Texas wins this going away. Obviously.


ROUND TWO

(1) Memphis over (8) Mississippi St. - Too many athletes and too much depth for Memphis in this game.

(4) Pittsburgh over (5) Michigan St. - This would be a low-scoring battle, but I like the experience that Pittsburgh has to lead them into the Sweet 16.

(3) Stanford over (6) Marquette - The Marquette guards could have a tough time scoring once they get it into the paint and run into the Lopez Twins. This is a fascinating potential matchup, but I think the Stanford guards are better than Marquette's big men.

(2) Texas over (10) St. Mary's - The Gaels will keep it interesting if they hit their outside shots, but Texas can hurt you in too many ways.


SWEET 16

(1) Memphis over (4) Pittsburgh - Pitt is becoming a popular upset pick here, but I don't see it. I don't think they'll be able to match up with the speed of Memphis. Memphis puts up a little too many points for Pittsburgh to match.

(2) Texas vs. (3) Stanford - In a game I would absolutely love to see. The contrast of styles would be fantastic. I like the Longhorns to prevail in a really tight game, because they can make more plays down the stretch than Stanford. But how would Texas guard the Lopez Twins? How would Stanford guards the Longhorn guards? Intriguing.


ELITE EIGHT

(2) Texas over (1) Memphis - I like Texas' versatility a little more. I like Joey Dorsey a lot, but I don't think he matches up really well with the Texas big men. Derrick Rose vs. DJ Augustin would be an awesome matchup, and I think Augustin is just a little more refined at this point in his career.

Regional Champion: TEXAS