March Madness Bracket Pick – Texas Defaults, Gives Way To BYU In Southwest

Our March Madness bracket pick of Texas last week has basically defaulted out of that position, giving way to BYU, which was very impressive in its win over San Diego State. Also, UCLA gains, and Michigan State loses. What do we do with St. John’s? Well, let’s see in the Big East tournament, where they could elevate to a #3 or #4 in our March madness bracket pick.

You know, we just can’t help but stuff these brackets with Big East teams, but what are you going to do? The conference is just that good!

Here was last week’s top half of the region with our March Madness bracket pick pack for the Southwest:

(1) Texas
(2) Purdue
(3) Notre Dame
(4) Louisville
(5) St. John’s
(6) Utah State
(7) UNLV
(8) Michigan State

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Yeah, things are starting to shake out here. Notre Dame traveled to West Virginia and laid an egg, then had a life-and-death struggle at Providence, with Carleton Scott hurting his ankle. Then all the Irish did was hold Seton Hall to 21 second-half points, then hit about a million three-pointers in crushing Villanova. That caused us to shift Notre Dame out of this region entirely and raise it to a #2 seed as we craft our March Madness bracket pick.

Purdue is a pretty solid #2 seed right now. The Boilermakers are currently #6 in the country in both major polls, and they pushed Michigan State one step closer to elimination from any Big Dance consideration with a 20-point win.

This is the brand new March Madness bracket pick pack for the Southwest:

(1) BYU
(2) Purdue
(3) Texas
(4) Louisville
(5) St. John’s
(6) Utah State
(7) Temple
(8) UCLA

BYU deserves to be positioned ads the #1 seed in our March Madness bracket prediction. And it makes sense when you examine their case. The Cougars have lost just twice on the season and they are ranked third in both major polls. They have dealt San Diego State its only two losses of the season, both times when the Aztecs were residing in the top ten and both times by thirteen points.

They are also #1 in the RPI, and they only have to win the Mountain West tournament to guarantee themselves a spot as a top seed in the 2001 March Madness bracket. or so it would seem, anyway.

Texas has suffered three losses in its last four games, is going to drop from its #7 and #8 sports in the polls, and although I think they’re going to have a protected seed as well as a chance to redeem themselves in the Big 12 tournament, I think a lot of people who are making up their 2011 March Madness bracket are losing faith in them. Texas has to play Baylor on Saturday, and the Bears will probably be playing for the opportunity to be a top eight seed in that game.

UCLA is firmly in the picture, with eight wins in the last nine games, and with that 71-49 destruction of Arizona on Saturday, they have probably punched their ticket to the Big Dance. if they get in, they’re in the top half of a region, and so they are #8 for now in our 2011 March Madness bracket.

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