My 2010 NCAA tournament picks are Kansas vs. Syracuse and West Virginia vs. Duke. Three chalk picks and a No. 2. Weak, right? I’m destined for a finish in the bottom 1/3 of every pool I entered (five and counting; all filled out differently). We’ll take Kansas (with some confidence) over West Virginia (reluctantly) for the title. This bracket was entered at CBS Sports, and I’ve got a few over at ESPN.com. If you want bragging rights in these waters for awhile, enter this one.

Played it safe in not picking too many upsets, which ensures that the first round will be full of them. Most of the 1st round upsets that were picked came with this logic: Since I’d have Michigan State beating Maryland in round two anyway, why not pick Houston to beat Maryland in round 1? Hence the following picks: Siena over Purdue and Murray State over Vandy. [And both hardly count as "upsets," as they are trendy picks themselves.]

Upsets I wanted to pick, but didn’t have the onions:

10 Georgia Tech over 2 Ohio State – Don’t like OSU’s lack of size against the Jackets’ mini towers.
7 Richmond over 2 Villanova – The Spiders’ backcourt is woefully underrated. Big problem? St. Mary’s might beat Richmond.
5 Temple over 1 Kentucky – Heck, Texas will give Kentucky a run in the 2nd round. The Wildcats always seem to play close games, and a defensive-minded team like Temple (or Wisconsin) might take ‘em down.

Notes:

Hate the South region. Have little or no faith in anyone. Baylor? Last in turnover ratio in the Big 12. Everytime we see them, we think of Tennessee – a mess in the halfcourt because it’s all undisciplined 1-on-1. Excellent in the open floor, though with great athletes. Villanova? Much weaker than last year’s team inside. Both Baylor and Villanova have better athletes than Duke, though. The safe pick for us was the Blue Devils.

Really concerned about Syracuse. FSU and Gonzaga worry us more than UTEP, Butler or Vandy. Even though we have the ‘Cuse in the Final Four, if we had to pick a No. 1 seed that would fall first, it’d be the Orange slightly over Kentucky.

Absolutely cannot wait for Jason Clark of Georgetown vs. Evan Turner of Ohio State in a regional semifinal. Love Clark as a lockdown defender who has a penchant for scoring binges.

Additionally:
* Other previews can be found here
* Got UTEP and Derrick Caracter going to the Sweet 16
* Yes, we can see Duke getting back to the Final 4 for the first time in six years
* Mastering the Art of Upsetology
* Wacky bet to get to the Final Four: BYU 8:1 (yup, took it)

Despite entering five or more brackets, we’ll sink or swim with this one.