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2012 Final Four Predictions

When filling out my NCAA tournament bracket I like to start from the Final Four and work backwards.  Decide who you think are the best teams in each region and advance them to the Final Four.  If you are going to take a chance with upsets, make sure you eliminate teams that you would have probably bounced in the next round anyway.  This keeps you from losing points later on in the tournament when each winner is worth more and gives you a better chance of winning your March Madness contests.

So who are the popular Final Four predictions as we begin the 2012 NCAA tournament?  Let’s take a look at some of the people from around the web to see who they are taking.

• Jack Jones: Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio State, North Carolina
• Steve Janus: Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio State, North Carolina
• Jay Bilas: Kentucky, Michigan State, Syracuse, North Carolina
• Hubert Davis: Kentucky,Michigan State, Syracuse, North Carolina
• Doug Gottlieb: Kentucky, Florida, Ohio State, North Carolina
• Andy Katz: Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio State, North Carolina
• Joe Lunardi: Kentucky, Missouri, Wisconsin, North Carolina
• Digger Phelps: Kentucky, Michigan State, Florida State, Kansas
• Dick Vitale: Kentucky, Missouri, Florida State, North Carolina
• John Gasaway: Kentucky, Michigan State, Ohio State, Kansas

Looking at the 10 analysts and who they took for each region, we see that no one is willing to go against Kentucky in the South. The Wildcats come in with the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed and most believe that their loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament title game was exactly what this team needed to make a deep run.  Kentucky hadn’t loss since losing at Indiana 72-73 back on Dec. 10.

In the West region Missouri and Michigan State are both getting a lot of love to make it to the Final Four. There are a lot of people who feel like Missouri is talented enough to win it all. One person who is definitely not on the Missouri bandwagon is ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb, who has Florida beating the Tigers in the second round as he takes the Gators to surprise everyone with a final four appearance.

The region that seems to be the most wide-open is the East, and it makes sense. No. 1 Syracuse won the Big East regular season title, No. 2 Ohio State earned a share of the Big Ten regular season title. No. 3 Florida State won the ACC Tournament, and No. 5 Vanderbilt beat Kentucky to win the SEC Tournament. To no surprise, this is the region that has the most variety in who will make the Final Four. The most popular pick is Ohio State, but you also see Syracuse, Florida State, and No. 4 Wisconsin getting some respect.

The Midwest region appears to be a two-team race between No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Kansas. No one seems to be buying No. 3 Georgetown or No. 4 Michigan as legit threats to knock off one of the top seeds. The majority of the experts like North Carolina to advance to New Orleans, while Digger Phelps and John Gasaway like the Jayhawks to punch a ticket to the Final Four.