Banners staff Final Four picks and games to watch

Games tip in just 15 minutes. This is the moment in the year where everyone is just blurting four college names at each other and it doesn’t seem weird. Walk up to someone in October and yell “Gonzaga, LSU, Illinois, and Ohio State.” You may end up in an ambulance being checked for a stroke. Yell that right now and people just think you are really overrating the Tigers.

Here are the picks from the guys who cover Xavier for Banners all year. We’ve thrown in our favorite first round matchup and an upset pick we all made just for fun. Enjoy the next four days. Being a sports fan doesn’t get better than this.

First round game we want to see

Brad: #3 Texas v. #14 Abilene Christian
Joel: #6 Texas Tech v. #11 Utah State
Bryan: #8 Oklahoma v. #9 Missouri
Braydan: #3 Arkansas v. #14 Colgate

Best upset pick

Brad: #11 UCLA over #6 BYU
Joel: #10 Rutgers over #7 Clemson
Bryan: #12 Georgetown over #5 Colorado
Braydan: #13 Ohio over #4 Virginia

Final Four picks

Brad: Gonzaga, Alabama, Baylor, Illinois
Joel: Gonzaga, Florida State, OSU, Illinois
Bryan: Gonzaga, Alabama, Baylor, Illinois
Braydan: Gonzaga, Alabama, Baylor, Illinois

And finally, thanks to J. Coates for playing along.