Filling Out Your Bracket? Here Is One Man’s Vision

After the road to St. Petersburg has been traveled, any number of you will be able to say that you had the winner in the office pool. I mean, how hard can it be to write Duke in the space reserved for the NCAA champion?

But how many of you will be able to look at your brackets and say that you correctly identified the sleeper--or sleepers?

It’s not easy. If it were, those teams wouldn’t be called sleepers.

How many of you, for instance, chose Valparaiso, seeded 13th in the Midwest Region, to reach the Sweet 16 last season? Be honest.

If you did, I can think of only two explanations:

a) You know everything about college basketball.

b) You know nothing about college basketball.

Before proceeding, we need rules to determine which teams are potential sleepers. One is that they have to be seeded 10th or lower and the other is that they must win at least two games and reach the Sweet 16.

My candidate: George Washington.

The Colonials, seeded 11th in the South, has a running offense led by 5-foot-4 point guard Shawnta Rogers that could cause a team like their first-round opponent, Indiana, to unravel.

George Washington Coach Tom Penders has overachieved in the tournament at Rhode Island and Texas. Indiana Coach Bobby Knight has underachieved recently with a 1-4 record in the last four seasons.

Besides, I don’t start to enjoy the tournament until Knight loses. Go GW.

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SOUTH

Sweet 16: Auburn, Ohio State, George Washington, Maryland.

Winner: Maryland.

No one ever heard--or heard of--Dick Vitale before he coached at Detroit. . . .

Twenty years later, it’s time to forgive the Titans. . . .

A defensive-oriented team that holds opponents to 37% shooting, Detroit would not have been high on UCLA Coach Steve Lavin’s wish list for first-round opponents. . . .

If the Bruins really are the “scatterball, playground” team that Arizona forward Eugene Edgerson claimed they were Saturday, his prediction of a first-round loss for them might come true. . . .

Even if the Bruins advance to the second round, a limping Baron Davis might not be a match for Ohio State’s Scoonie Penn.

WEST

Sweet 16: Connecticut, Arkansas, North Carolina, Stanford.

Winner: Connecticut.

With a tournament winning percentage of .686, three Final Four teams and two national champions in the last four seasons, the Pacific 10 deserved a fifth team. . . .

The Big Ten, with seven teams, is not that much deeper than the Pac-10. . . .

California should have received a berth, not Alabama Birmingham. . . .

The Bears had victories against North Carolina, Arizona, UCLA and Rhode Island. . . .

North Carolina point guard Ed Cota is grumbling about Coach Bill Guthridge’s offense. I guess we know now that Dean Smith really is gone. . . .

With the outside shooting of Matt Santangelo and Richie Frahm, Gonzaga is too good to be a No. 10. I’d guess Minnesota is no happier with its draw than UCLA. . . .

EAST

Sweet 16: Duke, Wisconsin, Temple, Miami.

Winner: Duke.

Even if you’ve never heard of the College of Charleston, it doesn’t qualify as a sleeper. . . .

Coach John Kresse’s team is seeded eighth and will lose in the second round to Duke. . . .

Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery was asked if anyone could stop the Blue Devils. . . .

“Tonya Harding,” he said. . . . I can’t think of one good reason for Duke not to win. . . .

Except that Nevada Las Vegas, with an equally dominating team that included Larry Johnson, Stacy Augmon and Greg Anthony, lost in the semifinals in 1991--to Duke. . . .

MIDWEST

Sweet 16: Michigan State, Arizona, Kentucky, Utah.

Winner: Kentucky.

From a historical perspective, you could have one of the best Final Four fields ever from this region alone. . . .

The two winningest programs in college basketball history, Kentucky and Kansas, could meet in the second round. . . .

The best player you might not know much about is Miami of Ohio’s Wally Szczerbiak, who has a power forward’s body but is a deadly shooter from the outside. . . .

No one ever said Jim Harrick couldn’t coach. (OK. Some people did.) With a few breaks against North Carolina-Charlotte and Arizona, Rhode Island, seeded 12th, could be the sleeper.

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While wondering if Baron Davis realizes he will be the Clippers’ No. 1 draft choice if he leaves school now, I was thinking: North Carolina couldn’t beat Duke even if Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter hadn’t left school, Rick Majerus should be coach of the year, I wouldn’t bet against Chamique Holdsclaw and Tennessee in the women’s tournament.

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com