COLLEGE CUP 2008 - BEULAH'S PICKS

Brackets anyone? I thought I’d put my bracket up for public consumption this year. I invite you to go to the message board and do the same (or if you’re not up for filling out the whole bracket, how about a final four). I’m really terrible at predicting these things, so feel free to mock, ridicule and otherwise laugh hysterically as all of my picks fall!

Notre Dame quadrant

First Round

Notre Dame
Michigan State
Minnesota
Colorado
Boston College
Harvard (I’ve gotta go for the Ivy when I can)
Auburn
Florida Sate

Second Round

Notre Dame
Minnesota
Boston College
Florida State

Third Round

Notre Dame
Florida State

And Notre Dame comes out of the region. It’s really unfortunate that one of the two strongest 2 seeds was put in the same quadrant as Notre Dame – I understand that because both UNC and FSU are ACC teams, the committee didn’t want to put them in the same side of the draw, but it’s where they belong. Before I saw the bracket, I had both of these teams making it to Cary.

Stanford quadrant

First Round

Portland
Texas
James Madison
Wake Forest
Oklahoma State
Penn State
Kansas
Stanford

Second Round

Portland
James Madison (I had to pick an upset somewhere and I loved this team when I saw them during the season, so it’s with them that I’m going out on a limb)
Penn State
Stanford

Third Round

Portland (I can only go with JMU so far)
Stanford

Portland comes out of the region. I feel a little bad for the U-20 players who were worked out of the lineup over at Portland, but I think it’s going to serve them well.

UCLA quadrant

First Round

UCLA
San Diego
BYU
USC
Duke
South Carolina
West Virginia
Virginia

Second Round

UCLA
BYU
Duke
West Virginia

Third Round

UCLA
West Virginia

And UCLA comes out of the region. No clue why I picked West Virginia to get this far. Weird things tend to happen in this tournament, this is one of the weird things I’m picking.

UNC quadrant

First Round

Florida (this would be a better game if Alex Morgan was going to be there)
Central Florida
LSU
Texas A&M
Missouri
Illinois
Tennessee
UNC

Second Round

Florida
Texas A&M
Illinois
UNC

Third Round

Florida
UNC

And Florida comes out of the region. I know I’m probably wrong with this pick, but you know, Casey Nogueira can’t do it alone and with Nikki Washington in Chile, I just don’t know how much I like this UNC offense. UNC got lucky with the draw though. As much trouble as Florida has scoring goals at times, they might lose early . . . as early as the first round wouldn’t stun me.

OK, so I’ll take Notre Dame over Portland in one of the best games in College Cup history. I’ll take UCLA over Florida in one of the ugliest. Then Notre Dame wins it all. They’ve been the best team in the country all year – you only have to see them play once to realize they’re playing at a level to which most other teams can only aspire – and I think they’ll prove that on the pitch in Cary.