Can't Every Month Be This Exciting?

I love college basketball. March is one of my favorite months of the year because of the NCAA Championship, as I have said before. So far, this is the best March Madness tournament I have ever seen. March Madness 2010 has exceeded expectations, as a majority of the world picked a 1 seed to win it all. 10 of the 32 first round winners were the lower seed, and 16 of the first 48 games played were decided by five points or less. Many people have busted brackets thanks to teams like Northern Iowa, Murray State, Saint Mary's and Cornell. While my bracket is close to busted, I realize that upsets and surprises are what make college basketball so exciting.

Tonight, the Sweet 16 starts. Syracuse and Butler will go head to head soon, with Washington and West Virginia to shortly follow. Xavier and Kansas State took care of business last week and will play at about 9:35 tonight. Cornell is the first Ivy League team to make it to the Sweet 16 since 1979, and they will play Kentucky at about 10:00. Unfortunately, I don't have any upsets tonight, with the 1 and 2 seeds in the East and West each advancing to the Elite 8. My upset predictions come tomorrow. Here is how I think Friday's games will play out:

South
1 Duke vs. 4 Purdue - Duke

3 Baylor vs. 10 Saint Mary's - Saint Mary's
Baylor and Saint Mary's are both terrific teams. Baylor has one of the best backcourts left and a dominant center in Ekpe Udoh. But Saint Mary's has a pretty good center as well: Omar Samhan has averaged 30.5 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game in the first two rounds of the tourney. Saint Mary's has been one of the Cinderella teams this year's tournament, and I think this game is going to be really great. The guards are going to need to step up for the Gaels, and I think they can. If they can stop LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter on defense (Dunn and Carter average a combined 34.5 points per game), I think Saint Mary's can keep their dream season alive.

Midwest
2 Ohio State vs. 6 Tennessee - Ohio State

5 Michigan State vs. 9 Northern Iowa - Northern Iowa
This is also a very interesting matchup, but the key will be Korie Lucious for Michigan State. His game winner against Maryland was definitely a confidence booster, but the Spartans will be without their star point guard and leading scorer, Kalin Lucas. I think that no Lucas will be a huge loss for Michigan State and his absence will give the backcourt advantage to Northern Iowa. The Panthers are a defensive team, allowing just 55 points per game. Yes, they play in a weaker conference in the Missouri Valley Conference, but they beat Kansas and UNLV despite scoring under 70 points in each game. In fact, Northern Iowa has not allowed over 70 points since January 3rd. Michigan State lost the only game this season that Lucas missed, and I just have a gut feeling that Northern Iowa will pull off another upset keep their season alive.