After spending four years as a professional sportswriter — and four years overthinking the heck out of my March Madness picks — I’ve decided to go a different route in 2012. No match-ups, no X’s and O’s, no coaches.
Only one factor determined my picks: where do my former students go to school?  This led me to a few top seeds (thank you, Lauren Hicks and Nick Batcha!) but also a few longshots (damn you, Sam Callahan and Kate Schroeder!), so we’ll see which alums I love and which I hate by the time March turns to April.
Want to try to beat me? Hold down “control”, click here, and then select “open in new window”. From there, just use your Prospect or yahoo login and bring it on!

First Round

South Region Winners:
Kentucky (Lauren Hicks)
UConn
Wichita State
Indiana (Mike Hammersley, Giovanina Penze, Petyon Eckert, Megan Maughan) UNLV
Baylor
Xavier
Duke
West Region:
Michigan State
Memphis
Long Beach State
Louisville
Murray State
Marquette (Kevin O’Brien, Katie Ritchie, Keelan Murphy, Beth Rowe)
Florida
Missouri (Riley Simpson, Margaux Henquinet, Emily Smoucha)
East Region:
Syracuse
Kansas State
Harvard (Chris Miller)
Wisconsin (Erica Nakanishi-Stanis)
Texas
Florida State
Gonzaga
Ohio State (Nick Batcha)
Midwest Region:
North Carolina
Creighton
Temple
Ohio U. (Kate Schroeder)
NC State
Belmont (Sam Callahan)
Purdue
Kansas (Evan Prellberg)
Sweet 16:
Kentucky
Indiana
UNLV
Xavier
Michigan State
Louisville
Marquette
Missouri
Syracuse
Wisconsin
Florida State
Ohio State
North Carolina
Ohio U.
NC State
Kansas
Elite Eight:
Kentucky
UNLV
Michigan State
Marquette
Syracuse
Ohio State
North Carolina
Kansas
Final Four:
Kentucky
Marquette
Ohio State
Kansas
Title Game:
Kentucky over Ohio State