Bracketology special

March Madness is here, and it's time for me to break down each of the regions and give my predictions for this year's NCAA Tournament.

We'll start with the Midwest region. This bracket is loaded with talent, especially with the overall No. 1 seed Louisville in it. However, Louisville isn't the only team in this region that is going to be making some noise. I like West Virginia to make a run to the Sweet 16, upsetting the defending national champion Kansas Jayhawks in the 2nd round. The Mountaineers have been playing the nation's heavyweights for the second half of the season, and are coming off a solid conference tournament with a convincing win over a much more physical Pittsburgh team.

The shocker in this region for me is going to be Wake Forest upsetting the top seeded Louisville Cardinals in the Sweet 16. Louisville has been subject to some shakey losses this seasons, despite being the overall top seed. I think Wake Forest matches up well with this Louisville team, and I think Jeff Teague will take over in this game and propel the Deamon Deacons to an Elite Eight matchup with Michigan State.

In that game, I like the Spartans, led by Big Ten Player of the Year Kalin Lucas, to move on to the Final Four in Detroit.

In the West region, Big East powerhouse UCONN comes in as the No. 1 seed. However, Memphis has something to prove, after being denied a No. 1 seed. For me, not too many surprises will come out of this bracket. However, I like Maryland over California in the first round as my big upset in this bracket. Purdue will ride their Big Ten tournament championship to the Sweet 16 before being knocked off by a much bigger and more physical UCONN team. Purdue just simply can't match up with the Huskies down low, and ultimately don't have the guard play to stop UCONN on the perimeter.

In the regional final, I like the fast and athletic Memphis Tigers to knock off Hasheem Thabeet and UCONN. This will set up an interesting semifinal game with Michigan State.

We move to the East region, where my pick to win it all, the Pittsburgh Panthers, are the No. 1 seed. Two of the first round's most intriguing games come out of this region. Oklahoma State and Tennessee play in the 8-9 game, which always proves to be a battle. These two teams are fairly similar to each other. They both shoot around 45% from the floor, and average about the same number of points and rebounds per game. However, guard play is the deciding factor in this tournament, and I think Byron Eaton will be too much for Tennessee to handle, and the Cowboys will move on in this one.

The other intriguing matchup in this region is the 11-6 matchup between VCU and UCLA. Eric Maynor leads VCU, and is one the nations top scorers at 22.4 points per game. He will go up against one of the Pac-10's best players in Darren Collison. This game will be a battle, but I predict the Bruins to move on in this one.

Look for the Panthers of Pittsburgh to defeat Duke in the regional final to advance to the Final Four.

The South region provides some very interesting matchups as well. North Carolina comes in as the top seed, and Blake Griffin and the Oklahoma Sooners come in as the two seed.

The games to watch in this region will be LSU vs. Butler, Western Kentucky vs. Illinois, and Michigan vs. Clemson.

I like Butler to knock off LSU before losing to North Carolina, a much bigger and physical team.

I think the Western Kentucky vs. Illinois matchup will be one of the most intriguing of the tournament. You can argue that I'm biased toward Western Kentucky, but just about every year there is a 12-5 upset. The Hilltoppers did it last year, as a 12 seed, and I believe it will happen again.

Illinois will be without defensive specialist Chester Frazier, so that works in the Hilltoppers' favor. Also backing me up on this upset is ESPN's Digger Phelps and Jay Bilas, who both predicted Western Kentucky to beat the Illini. I also have them finding their way to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year after knocking off Gonzaga.

Michigan will knock off Clemson in the always tough 10-7 matchup.

I also see Syracuse making a run to the Elite Eight before being knocked off by North Carolina.

So now my Final Four is set, with Michigan St. taking on Memphis, and Pittsburgh up against North Carolina.

I think Tom Izzo will rally his troops to get past Memphis, and will meet Pittsburgh in the title game.

DeJuan Blair, Levance Fields and Pittsburgh's size and physicality will be too much for the Spartans, and the Pittsburgh Panthers will be cutting down the nets come April 6 at Ford Field in Detroit.