I find myself in a situation similarly tight as that which I was in exactly a year ago.

It’s the week before exam week and I haven’t had so much as five hours of sleep in the past thirty or so hours.

Two sets of 2-hour naps and the remaining hour is broken down into micro-power-naps with intervals of around 5-10 minutes each.

The daily drill of going to school, studying for the exams, studying for March Madness and taking  a bunch of naps has really taken a toll on me, so I’m going to skip all of my signature introductory rites and bring you straight to the brackets I promised.

If you’re one of the select few loyal/curious/story-thirsty readers that were looking forward to a post on things I’ve missed out on in yet another inexplicable leave of absence, I would like to express two things: The first, my thankfulness, for without people like you, I truly couldn’t remain relevant in this business and secondly; my most sincere apologies as you’ll have to hold on a little bit longer since this post and the one that hopefully follows, will be solely dedicated to the topic of March Madness.

I’ll likely be releasing two pieces through next month and I will make sure that the second of those two will address a lot of the lingering questions and requests I’ve been receiving from the readership and fan base.

As for now, most of the older readers know that March Madness—much like the NBA Playoffs, Valentine’s Day (sorry about missing out this year, will talk about that some other time) and Christmas Day—is dutifully celebrated on The Carlo Chronicles every year.

The usual practice is that I would release my brackets before the tournament begins, keep a live blog while the tournament is underway, and ultimately cap off the season with a mini-novel-like write up that covers all the stories, highlights and gaffes that the casual fan would like to talk about in March Madness.

I’m pretty sure most of you already know what this is, but being that I have a pretty large and varying readership, some people may still have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about.

I’m not really in sync with my bodily functions as I would like to be coming into an article like this, so instead of explaining it to you as I do every year, just click on this: What is March Madness?

So yeah, no prattling whatsoever, just pure college hoops concentrate.

Ladies and gentlemen, JCH’s March Madness brackets for 2012!

The South

Bracket Breakdown: The South is definitely filled with tricky potholes from start to finish this year. Despite hosting the presence of the hottest league powerhouse that is the University of Kentucky, majority of the second round matchups are likely candidates for confused cointosses everywhere. The only “easy” calls of the first batch of eliminations—if there were any—I would have to say were Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky, Duke vs. Lehigh, and Baylor vs. South Dakota State.

The first difficult game to call was Iowa State vs. Connecticut. Iowa State has had a strong season, proving their prowess in the paint through newly acquired freshman forward, Royce White. The Cyclones have been a positively efficient team and have proven themselves durable against quality competition like Kansas. Connecticut however, is an experienced team. The Huskies have managed to stay relevant despite the loss of Kemba Walker and have shown in the latter stretches of the season that they are capable of competing against top tier teams, almost beating Syracuse in two out of their three encounters, with the deficits recorded at 71-69 and 58-55. If a team can keep that close a score against a top seed like Syracuse while at the same time having a squad fresh off a championship year, the Huskies could once again come out of the pack and make a decent run at defending their throne.

Wichita State vs. VCU is a battle between the brain and the gut, Wichita State has an impeccably experienced lineup that includes six senior students including 7-foot star Garrett Stutz and a number of guards with double-digit scoring ability. Throw in the fact that they took the NIT championship through five games of elimination last year, I believed in a clear cut winner. At the same time, my stomach couldn’t count out VCU’s exceptional defense and ability to crash the boards, both brought together by their never-quit attitude, making them a stunning threat to anyone in this competition. The gut was telling me to go with VCU, but my rational thinking just wouldn’t let me get around the favors leaning heavily towards the side of the Wichita State Shockers.

Indiana and New Mexico State was likely the doozie if I made one, taking into account the fact that I based my decision on two major things; the injury of Indiana’s backup point guard and my friend’s guaranteeing advice in favor of the NMS, however, New Mexico State is a solid pick as any, being a good rebounding team that wreaked a lot of havoc in the WAC.

Notre Dame and Xavier was almost impossible to call despite the three-seed difference. Had things gone smoothly for Xavier as they usually had in the past seasons, perhaps it wouldn’t have been too hard a chice. Xavier always puts on a commendable program and this year they showed that swag once they came out of the gates, winning their first 8 games quite convincingly. It all went downhill for the Musketeers from thereon out, as that eighth game also happened to be the brutal, unsportsmanlike brawl between themselves and the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Musketeers lost their groove and began dropping games streaks at a time and even lost to Saint Bonaventure in their final game of the regular season.

Notre Dame on the other hand has overcome great odds (accounting for the loss of their superstar forward Tim Abromaitis) to steamroll over teams like Villanova, Connecticut and even Syracuse. The team has handled itself well for one that should be devastated by such a setback and with all the questions surrounding Xavier, Notre Dame looks like the solid choice between the two.

After that deadly first set of knockouts, I see Kentucky and Baylor blasting through the conference all the way into the Elite Eight, where Kentucky’s star power would be that which will be enough to extinguish Baylor and Perry Jones III.

And yes, I did pick Baylor over Duke in the Sweet Sixteen, I think that opposite to that of my prediction in the Elite Eight, Perry Jones III and company would be too much for the Blue Devils who live and die by Austin Rivers.

The West

Bracket Breakdown: In my bracket, the West will be a classic first vs. second seed matchup with the entire concept of bracketology followed to its very core.

I see all the higher seeds sweeping away all the lower seeds up until the Elite Eight, where I predict Missouri will overcome Draymond Green and the Michigan State Spartans in a slight 2 over 1 seed upset. Missouri has six players averaging double-digits and has excellent cohesion as a unit. The Tigers should make a strong run at the title if they can keep their consistency intact under the pressures of March.

Interesting games in the second round are limited, but I’d have to call out Louisville and Davidson. Though their seed difference lies at 11 spots, this game will showcase the ultimate battle between offense and defense. Davidson is a volume-scoring team, they thrive on their offensive production and take advantage of most of their opponents visible mistakes. However, Louisville is a battle-tested unit that has solid defensive capabilities. I see Davidson being a bit surprised by the higher intensity of Louisville’s defense compared to those of unranked teams and in the process not be able to find the offensive output they very much desire.

The East

Bracket Breakdown: Three upsets highlight my Eastern bracket’s commencement as injuries and eligibility issues become a factor.

The first upset I see happens in the first round, 10 seed West Viriginia over 7 seed Gonzaga. Gonzaga has had a very satisfactory season, showing signs of stellar play during multiple stretched winning streaks and showing signs of lackadaisical play for no more than two games at a time. Though they may sound like a solid choice, we musn’t forget that West Virginia has star senior Kevin Jones, who is a consistent 20 and 10 player. Jones is a phenomenal physical force in the paint and rivals Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger as the most productive man at his position. Making matters worse for Gonzaga, the game will be held at Pittsburgh, automatically putting the Bulldogs at a disadvantage.

Next, it’s the 5 seed Vanderbilt over the 4 seed Wisconsin, all because of my confidence in Vanderbilt’s perimeter game and overall experience. Vandy has four seniors and one junior in their starting lineup, at least two of whom can be considered potential NBA players in John Jenkins and Jeffery Taylor.

Then, I have Vanderbilt again, this time tearing through a Fab-Melo-less Syracuse team. Cuse loves to use the 2-3 zone on defense, but without the domineering presence of the Orange’s second Melo, they will be a completely different team and stronger teams will take that fact an run away with it. Syracuse only makes it to the Sweet Sixteen thanks to my faith in their talent and Jim Boheim’s coaching. Really a shame to lose such a vital player after a season as spectacular as theirs this year.

Ultimately, Ohio State gets another shot at redemption here as they will have no other serious threat in their path, with Sullinger being the reliable difference maker if ever a time of peril comes along.

The Midwest

Bracket Breakdown: My Midwest bracket practically follows the seeding advantages like a rock. Not a single lower seed team won in my calculations, but that doesn’t mean this portion is boring. The sequences are loaded with action from Saint Mary’s going up against Purdue and Robbie Hummel, where I have a gut feeling that the Gael’s heart will make all the difference, up to the power battle between North Carolina and Kansas.

The Midwest is full of high-motor teams and marquee player matchups that I think it might be the most entertaining set of the pack if all goes according to chaos.

One highlight I’d like to point out is the possible meeting of North Carolina and Creighton; a flagship loaded team against a pure firepower team respectively, and the face-off between Creighton’s Doug McDermott (averaging 23.2 points and 8.2 rebounds) and North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes, who could’ve well been a top five pick in last year’s NBA draft had he decided to leave college.

While I was figuring out my bracket, I honestly didn’t expect North Carolina to make it as far as the final four. The Tarheels have all the talent in the world, yes, but they have a bad reputation of being easily rattled, thrown out of focus and have a concerning tendency to blow leads late in the game. If the Tarheels can keep their compsure all throughout this tournament, they could bring in another banner for their Alma Mater.

The Final Four

Bracket Breakdown: Like most people, I found Kentucky winning  the championship this year, likely because of all the talent they have to offer. The Wildcats were talented enough to begin with last season, but with the addition of superstar freshman Anthony Davis, the four pack of Doron Lamb, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones and Darius Miller has become a speeding asteroid of winning.

Don’t get me wrong, I won’t count out Missouri’s big six, but I just think in  one game elimination system like this, Kentucky would come out on top.

North Carolina getting past a possibly exhausted Jared Sullinger won’t be much of a surprise since the Tarheels have more options offensively and aren’t likely to be rattled by simply having to find somone who can put a body on Sullinger in the paint.

It will be a battle between the two most loaded teams in the NCAA, but like I mentioned in the earlier breakdown, North Carolina has a tendency to breakdown under intense—or sometime not-so-intense pressure—and believe me, Kentucky is capable of putting that kind of pressure up and more.

Kentucky 2012.

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