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Message: [QUOTE="oldude, post: 2622806, member: 7511"] The brackets are set, and the tournament is finally at hand. Most UConn fans have been anticipating this year’s Big Dance since about one minute after Morgan William’s shot in OT sunk the Huskies championship hopes last season. To the team’s credit, they approached this season, and will approach the tournament, with a “one game at a time” mentality that has always served them well. Yet again, UConn won “one game at a time” 32 times in a row, to complete another undefeated regular season and conference tournament, earning the #1 overall seed. Heading into the tournament, we’re all hopeful that the Huskies win just one more game, six times in a row, to earn their unprecedented 12th national championship. With that goal in mind, I thought it would be worthwhile to look at each of the 6 rounds and what might be in store for the Huskies, should they run the table once more. [B][U]1st Round (Storrs)[/U][/B] – St Francis is the only team in the tournament assured of playing the Huskies. Their coach and players will say all the right things about, “looking forward to the challenge of facing UConn.” Unfortunately, after almost two weeks off, heading into the tournament at home, UConn will be a supercharged version of themselves. St Francis will lose by 40+ pts, with UConn’s starters largely serving as cheerleaders during the 4th qtr. [B][U]2nd Round (Storrs)[/U][/B] - While UConn will have a walk in the park for their 1st game, Miami and Quinnipiac will battle tooth and nail for the privilege to play the Huskies in the 2nd round. For the Bobcats from nearby Hamden, CT, it will be like a home game, with the enthusiastic support of not only their own fans, but Husky fans as well. Hopefully, Quinnipiac tops Miami. But no Sweet 16 Cinderella this year as the Huskies will win by 30+ in the 2nd round matchup. [B][U]Sweet 16 (Albany)[/U] [/B]– Just like WBA in Bridgeport, the Times Union Center in Albany is another one of UConn’s “home away from home” arenas. TUC will be sold out for the Regional tournament, with Husky fans already gathering up most of the tickets. There will be a handful of tickets set aside for each of the other 3 teams that make it to the Albany Regional. This year it appears that Dawn will do the complaining, like Brenda did last year. It’ll likely be a “battle of the dogs” between GA and UConn. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, it’ll be their first game against the Huskies since Andy Landers coached, and as history has taught us, the first time you play UConn, it won’t be pretty. Huskies win by 20+. [B][U]Regional Final (Albany)[/U] [/B]– Once you get down to the Elite 8, all the pretenders are usually gone. Geno has said that the regional final is the hardest to win. UConn will likely meet up with SC for a 2nd time this season. While UConn handled SC in Columbia, the Gamecocks played their best basketball in the SEC tournament, and they should give the Huskies a battle for the Regional Championship. But this is one of those games where UConn’s ferocious defense and Gabby doing a little bit of everything, leads UConn to a double-digit victory and their 11th straight trip to the FF. [U][B]National Semifinal (Columbus)[/B][/U] – While there’s typically an expectation that the “usual suspects” will make it to the FF, upsets do happen. With that said, it’s highly likely that UConn will face the winner of ND – Oregon. After losing 4 players to ACL’s this season, ND has been amazing. Both the Irish and the Ducks can score a lot of points, but I think the difference will be defense. Oregon has finally figured out how to play a little defense to go along with their potent offense, and I think that puts them in the FF over ND. Once there, they get to match up again with the Huskies, one round later than last year. Oregon is not a Cinderella this year. They’ll give the Huskies a much better game. In the end, Oregon will have no answer for UConn’s frontcourt of Pheesa, Gabby & Z. [U][B]Championship (Columbus)[/B][/U] – Lots of good teams on the opposite side of the bracket, including MS St, Louisville, Baylor & TX. My picks to get to the FF are MS St and Louisville. TX can’t beat MS St and Baylor hasn’t beaten a really good team outside of the state of TX. MS St-Louisville will be a nail biter, but I see Durr & Hines-Allen being the difference. So that sets up a rematch of Louisville and UConn. Evidently, Walz and Geno have a side bet for a bottle of wine if this game happens (Big mistake by Walz). This one will be a battle, but as every Husky fan knows, UConn does not lose national championship games. The maintenance crew at Gampel will need to get ready to hoist a 12th banner up in the rafters. [/QUOTE]

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