Lost Lake Tribune NCAA Tourney 09 Edition

The NCAA Tournament Is Ready to Begin- The 2009 NCAA Tournament is ready to begin with 65 teams poised to make a run for the Final Four in Detroit, MI on April 4-6. The Midwest region gets the action started with the play in game on Tuesday between Alabama St. and Morehead St. at Dayton, OH. The winner will face the Nation's number 1 team and the Midwest's no. 1 seed, Louisville. Michigan State is the 2 seed and they will start their road to the final four in Minneapolis, MN. Kansas will also play in the Metrodome as the 3 seed. Wake Forest is the 4 seed in the Midwest, they will begin play in Miami on Friday. Whoever wins twice in the Midwest will earn the right to play in Indianapolis, IN. The West Region features Connecticut as the 1 seed. The Huskies begin play i Philadelphia, PA and are two wins away from playing in Glendale, AZ just a few miles away from Phoenix where they played in 2004 in the sweet 16 when they won the national championship. UConn also played in Phoenix for the regionals in 1999 when they won their first national championship. Memphis is the 2 seed and they will begin play in Kansas City, MO. Missouri is the 3 seed and they will start their March Madness in Boise, ID. Washington is the 4 seed and they will begin in Portland, OR. Purdue earned the 5 seed in the packed West region, the Boilers will face the 12 seeded Panthers of Northern Iowa in the first round. The 1 seed in the East is Pittsburgh and they will start in Dayton. Duke is the 2 seed and they will play close to home in Greensboro, NC. Villanova begins play in Philadelphia as the 3 seed. Xavier is the 4 seed and they will begin in Boise. The East regionals are in Boston, MA. Minnesota is the 10 seed in the East region. The ACC regular season champion, North Carolina, is the 1 seed in the South region. They will play in Greensboro. Oklahoma is the 2 seed and they will play in Kansas City. Syracuse who played a total of seven overtime periods in the Big East tournament, is the 3 seed and will begin their road to Detroit in Miami, FL. Gonzaga won the West Coast Conference and has the 4 seed. The South regionals will be played at the Pyramid in Memphis, TN. Butler is the 9 seed in the East. The Lost Lake Tribune invites you to a free NCAA tournament challenge! The winner will be allowed to write the championship game article for the Lost Lake Tribune. Here is how the challenge works. You need to pick all of the game winners for every round and then whoever has the most points wins. You do NOT need to send in a BRACKET but just email the LLT at benfugate2005@yahoo.com with your winners in an organized fashion as is shown in the next article. For a printable bracket to help you may go to: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/mayhem/brackets/printable_men Here is the point system for the NCAA tournament challenge: First Round winners Correct: 1 point per team Sweet 16 Teams: 2 Points per team Elite 8 teams: 4 Points per team Final Four: 8 Points per team Championship game: 12 Points per team Champion: 20 Points for the correct champion Tiebreaker: Pick the score for the NCAA championship (Score will be used only if you pick at least one of the Final Four teams correctly). 172 Points possible. The Lost Lake Tribune NCAA Predictions from Editor and Basketball Analyst, Benjamin Fugate Midwest Region First round winners: Louisville, Ohio State, Utah, Wake Forest, Dayton, Kansas, USC, Michigan State Second round winners: Louisville, Utah, Kansas, USC Third round winners: Louisville, Kansas Regional Champion: Lousiville West Region First round winners: Connecticut, Texas A & M, Purdue, Washington, Marquette, Missouri, California, Memphis Second round winners: Connecticut, Purdue, Missouri, Memphis Third round winners: Purdue, Memphis Regional Champion: Memphis East Region First Round Winners: Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Xavier, UCLA, Villanova, Texas, Duke Second round winners: Pittsburgh, Xavier, UCLA, Duke Third round winners: Xavier, Duke Regional Champion: Xavier South Region First round winners: North Carolina, Butler, Illinois, Akron, Temple, Syracuse, Clemson, Oklahoma Second round winners: North Carolina, Illinois, Syracuse, Oklahoma Third round winners: North Carolina, Syracuse Regional Champion: North Carolina Final Four: Louisville, Memphis, Xavier, North Carolina Championship Game: Memphis 87, North Carolina 84 Here is the Final Four Picks from Lost Lake Tribune Basketball expert, Kyle Courtney Final Four: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, North Carolina Championship Game: North Carolina 74, Louisville 70 The NIT Is Packed With Competitive Teams.- INDIANAPOLIS - The 72nd edition of the National Invitation Tournament was released today and the 32 team field features 22 teams with 20 or more wins and five automatic qualifiers. First round action on campus sites tips on March 17 and 18 and features number one seed San Diego State out of the Mountain West hosting Weber State; Kansas State, a Big 12 entry hosts Illinois State out of the Missouri Valley; South Carolina , a back-to-back NIT champion (2005,2006) is hosting high scoring guard Stephen Curry along with his Davidson team while St. Mary's (CA) with Patrick Mills back from a broken hand, will host Washington State out of the Pac-10; automatic qualifier out of the Ohio Valley Conference, Tennessee - Martin, visits number one seed, Auburn, out of the Southeastern Conference; Tulsa hosts Northwestern out of the Big Ten, while Big 12 competitor, Baylor, hosts Georgetown out of the Big East; Duquesne will make the trip to the ACC's Virginia Tech. The other 16 teams include number one seed Creighton out of the Missouri Valley hosting Bowling Green; UNLV will visit perennial powerhouse Kentucky; the Big 12's Nebraska will travel to New Mexico, who plays in the Mountain West; UAB will visit the Irish of Notre Dame on St. Patrick's Day; Jacksonville will travel to in-state rival and number one seed Florida; ACC entry Miami will play at Providence out of the Big East, the Atlantic-10's Rhode Island visits Niagara from the MAAC while Colonial Conference participant George Mason travels to Big Ten entry Penn State. http://www.nit.org/sports/m-nit/spec-rel/031609aac.html The CBI begans play on Tuesday The College Basketball Invitational is a single-elimination tournament, up until the "Best of Three" Championship Series, with all games being played at campus sites. Prior to the semifinals, the remaining teams will be re-seeded. The Championship Series is a "Best of Three" series in which the higher seeded team will host the first and last (if necessary) home games. "We are very excited to have the opportunity to continue our season and play a first round game in front of our home crowd," said Oregon State Head Coach Craig Robinson. "I'm very proud of the way the team has grown throughout the year and the selection is a great reward for our seniors who have worked so hard over the past few seasons. The chance to play in a postseason tournament will give our guys valuable experience as we continue to build the program." East Regional March 18th- St. John's vs. Richmond and College of Charleston vs. Troy West Regional March 18th Vermont vs. Green Bay and Houston vs. Oregon St. Midwest Regional March 18th- Buffalo vs. Wichita St. and BoiseSt. vs. Stanford South Regional March 17th- Northeastern vs. Wyoming and UTEP vs. Nevada http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nit/sports/m-nit/auto_pdf/Bracket.pdf Editorial- If you read the early edition of the LLT, then you saw several articles about unorganized crime. A mass murder in Germany, a mass murder in Alabama and the homicide of a pastor in the St. Louis metro area. According to my source, reported crime rates have steadily dropped over the past 17 years (1991-2007) http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm. However crime still exists and is still a threat from fellow humans. It is best to be safe. Own a gun, have a home alarm system, lock your car, leave your valuables in the trunk are some best pieces of advice. At your workplace you should encourage management to hire security guards to watch the building 24/7/365. Churches should hire paid security guards for at least 10 hours a week. Schools should have at least one security guard per two hundred students. Every security guard should be paid at least $10.00 an hour and should have the necessary equipment including a cell phone, flashlight, taser, club, and handcuffs. Security guards are inexpensive and can be more trustworthy than an elaborate warehouse alarm system. So are you safe? Do you exercise caution when a stranger enters your home, workplace or church? Do you keep your eyes and ears open? Do you have security training? If you answered "no" to any of these questions, I encourage you to address the situation soon. This is the OPINION of editor, Benjamin Fugate PLEASE EMAIL me at benfugate2005@yahoo.com