Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

March Madness: UNC will cut down nets in Detroit
By Brad Zak
The Heights, Boston College
March 19, 2009

The Heights Sports section settled on these bracket picks through a scientific process that featured superstition, hand votes, and even the occasional coin flip (likely similar to the way the selection committee picked Arizona to be part of the field).

Boston College
Here's where the superstition came into play. We're simply going chalk with the Eagles and leaving it at that.

Upset Specials
No. 14 North Dakota State Bison over No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks — Ben Woodside and Brett Winkelman of the Bison will be mid-major media darlings.
No. 12 Arizona Wildcats over No. 5 Utah Utes — The Wildcats barely made it in to the Big Dance, but now that they're here, look for the star with the boy band name, circus looks, and playground hops (Chase Budinger) to move 'Zona forward.
No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth Rams over No. 6 UCLA Bruins — UCLA may be one of the most successful programs ever, but they are due for an early exit. We believe it will come at the hands of Eric Maynor, the Rams' stud senior guard who is averaging 22.4 points per game.

Tournament Sleepers
No. 6 West Virginia Mountaineers — West Virginia is a very physical, athletic team that has been tested in one of America's best conferences, the Big East.
No. 4 Wake Forest Demon Deacons — We have Wake Forest reaching the Final Four after we almost had them losing their first round game. They have all the talent in the world, but are probably the most enigmatic team in the bracket. One game they beat Duke, the next lose to Georgia Tech.

Final Four
Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Missouri Tigers, Pittsburgh Panthers, and North Carolina Tar Heels
One of the main arguments we had for moving Missouri on to the championship game was that very few other people would have it and we could come out looking like geniuses, or they could get upset by Cornell and we look like idiots. We hope their press has them looking like the old Runnin' Rebels of UNLV as they march to Detroit.

Champion
North Carolina Tar Heels — The Tar Heels will prevail as champions with the nucleus of Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, and Wayne Ellington, who all have Final Four experience from last year. They are too talented and can run with anyone. Plus, have you heard how hard Hansbrough works?

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