Tee Minus 24 Hours til Mayhem strikes the NCAA world. Let me break down the East bracket for you. The East Bracket is very competitive and very tricky to pick. With overall #1 Ohio St. leading the way. I see Ohio St. and Syracuse making it to the Elite 8 and Ohio St. pulling through to make it into the Final Four. Ohio St faces no real threatening opponent until the Sweet 16 with Kentucky, which will be a battle that could be the downfall of Ohio St. I feel Ohio St. has superior shooting and more experience then the young and talented Wildcat Squad. The Orange Men will have a tough time to make it to the Elite 8, relying heavily on experience to take down a possible sleeper team in Marquette or the likes of Xavier. Then go on to play a young and talented UNC squad. Experience will prevail in this battle and with Jim Boehiem’s zone defense making it difficult for the Tar Heels to disperse the ball. I see Cuse going into the Elite 8 but, falling short to the Buckeyes.

The East is filled with potential bracket busters with seeds higher than 5. Boiling it down to 1 team is tricky but, I will go with the Clemson Tigers #12 seed being a very dangerous in this bracket. Even though I have them losing in the first round to West Virginia, Clemson can be a tough team coming off a impressive ACC tourney run. If the Tigers get by West Virginia and face Kentucky, look for the Tigers to give the Wildcats some trouble. The one area that Clemson has on the Wildcats is experience, and they could just have enough to make a run into the Sweet 16.

The unamious decision on the top player in this bracket and possibly the whole tournment is Jared Sullinger but, I am going with someone else to watch out for, Harrison Barnes. Barnes was the top recruit in the country coming into this year and as of the last month is playing as good as anyone in the country. He has turned himself into a leader on a very young and talented squad. Coming off an impressive 40 point performance in an overtime win against Clemson, look for UNC’s destiny to ride on the back of Harrison Barnes.

My take on Winners of the East Bracket First Round:

(1)Ohio St. over (16)UTSA

(9) Villanova over (8) Mason

(5) WVU over (12) Clemson

(4) Kentucky over (13) Princeton

(11) Marquette over (6) Xavier

(3) Syracuse over (14) Indiana St.

(7) Washington over (10) Georgia

(2) UNC over (15) LIU-Brook

Top 20 Teams Survive Scares:  With the exception of (19) Vanderbilt who lost to (2) Kentucky, every top 20 team that was playing yesterday put another win on their resume. As for the rest of the top 25, (22) Baylor and (25) ranked Wake Forrest both lost to unranked opponents likely knocking them out of the poll. While the top 20 teams won, many of them had some tough scares, highlighted by Vanderbilt almost knocking off Kentucky. (4) Purdue, (8) WVU and (18) Tennessee had much closer games than they should have. And 15th ranked New Mexico almost lost to the worst team in their conference, Air Force. (17) Texas survived a close rivalry game against Texas Tech as well. Overall the top 25 won’t look much different based on yesterday’s games, but at a time when teams need to play their best basketball there were some pretty underwhelming performances.

Grizzlies Suffer A Big Loss:  Just 12 minutes into his Memphis Grizzlies career, Ronnie Brewer went down with torn hamstring. Brewer was acquired by the Grizzlies from the Utah Jazz on Thursday afternoon, in the hopes of bolstering their playoff chances. This injury is a major setback for the Grizzlies, one of the more young and exciting teams in the NBA. Brewer is expected to miss between 3-4 weeks with the injury, and his absence could put a major dent in the Grizzlies playoff hopes.

Jamison Struggles In Debut With Cavs:  One of the biggest named players to be moved at the deadline was the Wizards Antawn Jamison, who was traded to the Cavs. Jamison’s first game for Cleveland was one that I’m sure he will wish to forget. Not only did the Cavs lose by 17 points, but Jamison went 0-12 from the field and scored just 2 points. Overall one game doesn’t mean much, as the deal was a steal for Cleveland. But the pressure will remain on Jamison, until he assimilates into the roster.

McGrady Puts On A Show For First Game In 2010:  Tracy McGrady put up 26 points and almost got the Knicks a victory in his first game since the 3-team trade that brought him to New York. McGrady, who hadn’t been playing with the Rockets, due to a team dispute had only played in 7 games prior to last night this season, and none in the New Year. It was an impressive performance for McGrady and somewhat hopeful for Knicks fans, who watched New York give up a lot of talent to bring McGrady and his expiring contract to the team.

When I tuned in last night to (1) Kentucky at South Carolina, I did so because I hadn’t seen them in a little while and I wanted to seee how their 4 potential 1st round picks in this June’s NBA draft were doing. PG John Wall and F/C DeMarcus Cousins did not disappoint, both having great games. While F Patrick Patterson and G Eric Bledsoe were both relatively quiet, they flashed talent that has NBA scouts salivating. Even with 4 potential lottery picks on the floor, the most impressive player and the guy who couldn’t be stopped was South Carolina’s PG Devan Downey.

Wall stands 6’4″ and is the prototypical size for an NBA point guard. And despite being a true freshman, Wall is one of the front runners for Player of the Year and easily considered the best point guard in College Basketball. His backup/back court mate Eric Bledsoe is 6’1″ and is thought of as potentially the 2nd best point guard in the nation. Last night though, it was pretty evident who the best point guard on the floor (in the nation) was, Devan Downey. Downey stands at just 5’9″ (I’m going to go out on a limb here and say he’s probably more like 5’8″), but could not be stopped by the bigger Wall or Bledsoe, one of whom was on Downey all night.

Downey went for 30 points last night, and added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Downey’s stat line doesn’t tell the whole story, as he literally carried the Gamecocks on his back to a 68-62 upset over the number 1 ranked team in the nation. His drive and determination were 2nd to none, and his heart made up for any size disadvantage on the court. Overall it was one of the gutsiest performances I’ve seen on a basketball court in quite sometime. While this might be the highpoint in the Gamecocks season this year, I hope people will take notice of Downey and look past his size and see just how good he is.

Now I know a 5’9″ (5’8″) point guard is unlikely to make it in the NBA, no matter how many times he can’t be stopped by Wall/Bledsoe (or any other guard in the country). But Downey should be an exception to that standard. Someone should draft Downey come June, and whoever does could get great value out of the 2nd round pick. He may never be a star at the next level because of his size, but his heart will allow him to play in the NBA.  Downey won’t be the biggest player on the court, but he’ll play like it, if you give him the chance.