The Captain’s Brilliant Bracket Breakdown- Elite Eight

Elite Eight

I know everyone wants to read my March Madness predictions, but you should really read my first round, second round, and Sweet Sixteen forecast.

Atlanta Region

(4) LSU’s Mike the Tiger against (6) West Virginia’s Mountaineer- Now we get to that stage of the tournament where the teams have become part of our lives. We know and love them as we would a close friend. We can’t root against any of them, and we will be sad no matter who loses. This match-up is a classic example of this. Mike the Tiger and the Mountaineer are both top level mascots, and they’ve proven themselves. I want this fight to be an all-time classic, but I realize it cannot be. For as much as I have been praising the finely tuned skills of the mighty mountain man, he has a few weaknesses that have thus far been masked. Have you ever tried to load, ready and fire a black powder musket? It takes like three-minutes to do the whole thing properly. In the previous match-ups the Mountaineer hasn’t really been pressed for time. In this one, even if I assume the Mountaineer already has “one in the chamber” so to speak, I still think it will take more than one lousy musket ball to stop an enraged Bengal tiger. In the time it takes the Mountaineer to reload, Mike will make deli slices out of him. My pick: LSU.

Oakland Region

(4) Kansas’s Jayhawk against (11) San Diego State’s Aztec Warrior- I really take my hat off for the basketball culture at the University of Kansas. Their traditions and commitment are legendary. They have produced so many pieces of college basketball history that every true basketball fan has to know something about Kansas basketball. I truly believe that the Jayhawk is a college mascot Hall of Famer. That’s why I’ll be so sad when it falls to the floor with the Aztec Warrior’s spear down his beak. My pick: SDSU.

Washington, D.C. Region

(13) Air Force’s Falcon against (10) Seton Hall’s Pirate- You probably are all sick of how I can’t stop pimping the Seton Hall Pirate. I admit it may be a little much. I just have a hard time contemplating what set of skills any other mascot could have that could possibly match with the multi-faceted arsenal of battle-tested talents a pirate brings. His performance is so dominant, it’s like one of those team’s with such a good inside, outside, offensive, and defensive game that you can barely imagine anyone else competing with them. I mean this is the kind of mascot everyone gets really excited about, because no matter what seed they get you know they’re going to cause some serious damage. A pirate mascot is the equivalent of a team getting hot at the right time. Plus, seamen don't generally have trouble with birds unless they are albatrosses. This is looking like the year of the pirate. My pick: Seton Hall.

Minneapolis Region

(12) Montana’s Monte the Grizzly against (2) The Ohio State University’s Brutus Buckeye- Just like Monte was Rocky -an inspirational story of a little-known challenger who come from nowhere to face of against a massively favored super-star- the Ohio State is their Apollo Creed –the alpha dog at the top who’s just too tough to beat (to be clear this is Rocky, not Rocky II, to which I am referring). I think Monte will be just a little too tired from his previous matches to best the equally tough Brutus. The Buckeyes get the brawl of lifetime in this game and are lucky to win, in overtime, on some questionable officiating that essentially is a judge’s decision. My pick: The Ohio State University.

Stay tuned for the shocking conclusion in my Final Four predictions, here.