DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall will look to continue to lead Kentucky.

(1) Kentucky
No mention of young age in this particular section, Kentucky is the obvious favorite, well because of two freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. They are one of the best 1-2 tandems in recent college basketball memory and complement each other very nicely. They have an excellent coach in John Calipari and a solid veteran in junior Patrick Patterson. I really like Kentucky's chances of getting at least to the Elite 8.

The committee got the seeding in this bracket mostly right.

The committee got the seeding in this bracket mostly right.

Buzz Williams and Marquette have plenty of reasons to jump for joy recently.

(6) Marquette
How can you not love the way the Golden Eagles have been playing as of late. Marquette has won 11 of its last 14 games and even in Golden Eagles losses, Marquette loves to play in close games. Here's a stat for you: the Golden Eagles 10 regular season losses were by a total of 35 points! Just 35 points! Marquette isn't really big, but they can really knock down the 3-point shot and will be able to spread you out and beat you in many ways. Not a lot of teams play harder for their coach, than Marquette does for Buzz Williams.

(12) Cornell over (5) Temple
I'm not going to pick it, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Cornell knock out Temple. The Big Red took Kansas to the final minute, before eventually losing. They can shoot from beyond the arc with the best of them and have no fear on the court. Again I am not picking this upset, but I can see why some would.

(10) Missouri over (7) Clemson
I'm an ACC guy and a big fan of Oliver Purnell (hey, he's a former Radford coach), but Coach P is 0-5 in the NCAA tournament and Clemson has struggled mightily in recent postseason tournaments. Not to say Missouri is a much better team, but they have better wins than Clemson this year.

(11) Washington over (6) Marquette
Now, don't get me wrong ... the Huskies have talent. I am huge Quincy Pondexter fan and Lorenzo Romar is one of the best unknown coaches in America. Yet, the Huskies needed a hot weekend to win a weak Pac-10 Conference tournament. Marquette is just as hot and in my mind, the Golden Eagles are the better team.

(5) Temple vs. (12) Cornell
Much like in the West bracket, the 5-12 game pits an interesting match-up of mid-majors (although can you really call the A-10 a mid-major conference?). Temple hasn't gotten much love by the press or early returns in fan brackets, but the Owls are very tough. They rank fourth in scoring defense and they'll need that play to carry over against one of the nation's best 3-point shooting teams in Cornell. Giddy up, we've got a good one on our hands.

(1) Kentucky vs. (8) Texas
It all depends on which Texas team shows up, but if it's the good one, then Kentucky should expect a tight one. The Longhorns are a couple months removed from being the nation's top team and they have fallen to a 5-5 record over their last 10 games. But when they want to, seniors Damion James and Dexter Pittman can give opposing frontcourts many problems and they have the experience to give Kentucky a scare.

The Temple-Cornell connection
By now you should all know the story Temple coach Fran Funphy was the head coach at Penn for 17 seasons, where he was assisted by current Steve Donahue coach for 10 of those years. Hello, old friend, we meet again!

(1) Kentucky vs. (2) West Virginia
Yikes, this year I sure do have a lot of 1-2 match-ups in the Elite 8. But, I have the most faith in this one actually going down. I've gone on and on about how hot Marquette is, but West virginia just won the Big East and made a strong case for a 1 seed. They should find a path to the Elite 8 and Kentucky should be able to do the same in the top half of the bracket.