Mar 14, 2007 By Jim Downey 3 min read

Many, including my esteemed colleagues Rob Burchianti and Dave Stofcheck, will extol the virtues of their ability to help those who care to successfully complete brackets to a winning end with the champion on the middle line of the bracket sheet. I, however, am choosing to take the road less traveled by selecting those teams that won’t win. Yes, you read that correctly, I am going out on a limb with a negative approach to the bracket by picking the losing teams.

So, here I go …

I’ll spot everyone the final eight teams in the draw. If a team is referred to as the “16th-seeded” or “15th-seeded” at anytime, the squad has about the same chance to play a weekend game as an air conditioner in Hades.

A scan of those eight underdogs includes Belmont (a great race track), North Texas (nicknamed for Chuck Noll’s first draft pick), Weber State (not to be confused with the grill folks), and Jackson State (a plucky president for sure, but …).

The No. 14 seeds have a person (Oral Roberts, Wright State), a state named for a person (Penn), and a Native American tribe (Miami, Ohio). Wright won’t be wrong for Pitt. The Texas A&M system has two teams, but since one is a No. 15 seed (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), the law of averages has the mother school defeating the Quakers. Miami has a river running through it, which is just fine for the Ducks of Oregon.

No. 13 seeds? Need I say more, oh triskaidekaphobics of the world! Holy Cross, former Pitt coach Ralph Willard will really need to work the beads against the Salukis of Southern Illinois. Reggie Theus was a pretty good point guard in the days before Michael Jordan, but the New Mexico State head coach won’t be playing against Texas. Albany was a key city in colonial days, but Virginia was the home of presidents, so I’m going with the power.

My sleeper pick is … Virginia Tech! The 5-12 match-up is the upset special and I’m liking the Fighting Illini (or whatever the school’s nickname is these days) to beat the Hokies, whatever that is. No word where the Vick boys will be watching the game, though.

What about the 6-11, 7-10 and 8-9 pairings? Hey, I can’t do all your thinking for you! Besides, if you’ve ever seen my bracket sheet after the second weekend, you wouldn’t desire any advice from me. Hey, I’m getting you through the first two days of the Madness, let Rob and Dave carry you the rest of the way.

Jim Downey is a Herald-Standard sports writer.