Win Your NCAA Pool - Last Minute Picks
2011 NCAA Tournament Sleepers & Bracket Busters
March 15, 2011 By Mike Rose Leave a Comment
The 2011 March Madness betting is finally here, and as we do every year, we will take a look at possible sleepers that are capable of busting up some brackets.Before moving on to our top four double-digit seeds that can do some damage, we would like to point out that both Texas and Kentucky seem under-seeded as four seeds, and it would not be surprising to see both of those teams in the Elite Eight and quite possibly one in the Final Four.
We now move on to our 2011 NCAA Tournament Sleepers (seed in parenthesis):
Gonzaga Bulldogs (11): The Bulldogs finished the year strong, winning their last nine games to wind up at 24-9 including a decisive 12-point win over St. Mary’s in the WCC Championship Game. They may also get the good fortune of facing teams missing star players in the first two rounds. In fact, Gonzaga is actually ranked higher in the Pomeroy Ratings (27th) than its first opponents St. John’s (35th), as the Red Storm will be without the injured D.J. Kennedy. If the Zags get past the Johnnies, they may then face the BYU Cougars without the suspended Brandon Davies, and that is assuming BYU gets by 14th seeded Wofford, which is no longer a given.
Richmond Spiders (12): The Spiders may be the least known 27-7 team in the country, and they are ranked 47th overall in the Pomeroy Ratings. Richmond has won 11 of its last 12 games with the only loss coming on the road at Temple, a loss the Spiders avenged in the Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinals. Richmond draws Vanderbilt in the first round. Keep in mind that the SEC has dropped to the seventh ranked conference in the country according to Pomeroy, and the Commodores are just the third best team in that conference. Should the Spiders advance, they would probably draw Louisville. Remember that while the Big East gets loads of teams into the tournament every year, very few have gone far, so Richmond in the Sweet 16 in not unfathomable.
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Utah State Aggies (12): Speaking of hot sleepers, the Aggies are 30-3 and have won 25 of their last 26 games, and they are amazingly ranked 16th in the country by Pomeroy! The Aggies rank fourth in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, and as they say, defense wins championships. This is another double-digit seed that is ranked higher than it first opponent by Pomeroy, as Kansas State is ranked 29th overall. Should the Aggies get by the Wildcats, they seem to have a very winnable game in the third round vs. either Wisconsin or Belmont.
Florida State Seminoles (10): Now Duke and North Carolina are obviously the Big Two in the ACC, but Florida State is next in line thanks to a suffocating defense that ranks second in the country in adjusted efficiency, second in effective field goal percentage against and first in two-point defense at a miniscule 40.3 percent! We like the Noles to shut down the inconsistent Texas A&M Aggies, setting up a probable matchup with Notre Dame. We feel that the Irish are approaching overrated status with some people having them as a top seed, and the Noles have the defense to frustrate Ben Hansbrough and Company and pull the upset.
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