6B the university daily kansan
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sports
tuesday, march 16, 2004
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POOLS: Fans across the nation attempt to predict champions
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Office of Admissions and Scholarships. Kuckelman has followed basketball since she was a kid, but this is only her second year participating in a pool.
She said pools were a good way to liven-up the tournament action.
"It's fun to see how people pick certain teams and see how things play out." Kuckelman said.
She says she's heard of people going through their bracket by picking winners because of mascots or states. Kuckelman prefers to crunch the numbers, incorporating strength of schedule, record and hot streaks to decide who will move on to the latter stages of the tournament.
Kuckelman said she loved Kansas but regretlessly left the Jayhawks out of her Final Four, choosing instead Kentucky, Oklahoma State. Cincinnati and Maryland.
"I have to be realistic," Kuckelman said.
Careful research is also what Ben Bammes, Topeka junior, uses to fill out his bracket. Unlike Kuckelman, his research has led him to think Kansas will be the national champion at the tournament's end.
Besides Kansas, Bammes said he hadn't made any picks yet, but would wait a couple of days to
He said he had participated in tournament pools since high school and found it a way to make all the games of March Madness more exciting.
weigh the possibilities before making his final decisions.
"It gets you into games that you wouldn't be rooting for one team or another." Bammes said.
Bammes lives in K.K. Amini Scholarship Hall and plans to participate in a pool this year with other residents of the hall.
He said even if Kansas happened to lose, he would still be engaged in the tournament because of the pool he was participating in.
Bammes said his favorite part of being in a pool was the element of competition between himself and people he knew. March Madness,he said,presents a unique forum for that competition.
Although Bammes has Kansas as the final winner, he will his use research to determine the fates of the other teams.
"It's so massive," Bammes said. "In any game anybody can beat anybody."
Then he, like the multitude of other pool-participating fans this month, will sit down with a pencil or at his keyboard, painstakingly work out every 6 vs. 11 seed upset possibility, every Cinderella
TOURNAMENT PICKS
Student Final Four Cinderella Possibility Dan Hearshman Kentucky, Oklahoma State Manhattan Overland Park junior Miss, State, Stanford Sweet 16
Patrick Dipman Gonzaga, Pittsburgh Louisville Burdett freshman Duke, Connecticut Elite Eight
Jacki Shepherd Kentucky, Oklahoma State Wisconsin Cheney sophomore Duke, Connecticut Sweet 16
Katie Phillips Kentucky, Saint Joseph Xavier Austin, Texas, Texas, Maryland Sweet 16 freshman
Nathan Wu Wichita senior
Candace Nicholas Gonzaga, Saint Joseph Maryland Genesco Senior Duke, Stanford Elite Eight
Kansas, Wake Forest Washington Duke, Connecticut Sweet 16
Scott Steele Leawood senior
Kentucky, Oklahoma State BYU Texas, Connecticut Sweet 16
Michael Bryde Wichita junior
Kentucky, Oklahoma State Northern Iowa Miss.State, Stanford Elite Eight
Courtney Vancura Kansas, Florida Florida
Kansas City junior Duke, Syracuse Final Four
Jeremy Kempke Ellsworth senior
Kansas, Oklahoma State Nevada
Duke, Connecticut Elite Eight
hopeful, and watch March Madness unravel all his expectations
TOURNAMENT: 'Kansan' predicts few upsets for Phoenix bracket
Edited by Joe Hartigan
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18
consistency, but is still dangerous. BYU will present a nice challenge, receiving an at-large bid from the WAC. The Cougars have a senior trio that combines to average nearly 35 points per game. They are anchored by senior center Rafael Arraujo, who averages 12.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per game and is a surefire first round NBA draft pick come June. BYU will give Syracuse its money's worth. Prediction - Syracuse 82, BYU 70
No. 4 Maryland (19-11) vs No. 13 UTEP (24-7)
Karma could bite Maryland pretty hard. The Terps lost 11 regular season games, including nine in conference play. Yet they played their best ball at the best time, winning the ACC Tournament. Do they deserve to be in? Yes. Do they deserve a No. 4 seed? No. Maryland is very talented, but at the same time is very young and inexperienced. Maryland starts four sophomores and a senior, with three freshmen coming right off the bench. Sophomore guard Ryan
Gilchrist needs to stay hot into the NCAA Tourney. UTEP is underrated and could shock Maryland. The Miners start four guys over 6-foot-5. Maryland has had several disappointments this season, and this might get added to the list. Prediction — UTEP 75, Maryland 74
No. 6 Vanderbilt(21-9) vs. No. 11 Western Michigan (26-4)
Vanderbilt 73
Give Vanderbilt credit for weathering a tough SEC season and receiving an at-large NCAA Tourney bid. The Commodores have a huge frontcourt, including the school's all-time leading scorer, Matt Freije. The Kansas City senior averages 19.1 points per game and is the best player you've never heard of. On the other hand, Western Michigan is the best team you've never heard of. The Broncos have great height and unbelievably smooth shooters. Forward Mike Williams, 6-foot-8, and guard Ben Reed, 6-foot-3, are both big and are two of the nation's purest shooters. No one knows about Western Michigan right now, but come next weekend, the Broncos could be a household name. Prediction — Western Michigan 83,
No. 3 North Carolina State (20-9) vs.
No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette (20-8)
North Carolina State could be the most overrated No. 3 seed in a long time. The Wolfpack probably won't be around after the opening weekend. They do, however, have a few great players. Julius Hodge is a 6-foot-7 wingman who can run the point, and scores 18.1 points a game. He can also score 50 at will. Marcus Melvin and Scooter Sherrill also highlight a talented and experienced starting five. On the other hand, NC State slipped early in the season. The Ragin' Cajuns are scary because they nearly upset Arizona in Tucson earlier this year, and boast five players who average double figures in points per game. North Carolina State should squeak by, but ULA will leave with much-deserved respect. Prediction — North Carolina State 93, ULA 90 (OT)
No. 7 DePaul (21-9) vs. No. 10 Dayton (24-8)
DePaul is a great team that people are just starting to find out about. The Blue Demons' top sib players are all at least 6-foot-5 which will come in handy on the boards against a tough Dayton squad. DePaul's two big men Delonte Holland and Andr
Brown, can score at will. The Blue Demons have also earned huge victories this season against Cincinnati and Louisville. Dayton was last year's biggest disappointment, losing in the opening round as a No. four-seed. It returns a lot of guys from last year's team, more important than forward Keith Waleskowski. He's a scorer and a bruiser in the middle. Dayton will compete, but DePaul will kill them with outside shooting. Prediction — DePaul 81, Dayton 62
No. 2 Connecticut (27-6) vs. No. 15 Vermont (22-8)
Vermont is a great story, having made its way to two consecutive NCAA Tournaments, but will once again leave immediately. UConn is one of the nation's top three teams in terms of overall talent and depth. Now it just depends on which Huskies team shows up over the next couple of weeks. If Emeka Okafor and Charlie Villanueva are ready to go at full strength, it is nearly a guarantee that UConn will move on to the Sweet 16 in Phoenix. The X-factor is point guard Ben Gordon, who is one of the nation's top-two scoring point guards along with St. Joseph's Jamee Nelson. Prediction – UConn 98, Vermont 52
Edited by Robert Perkins
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