While Dick Vitale decided to leave Kansas out of the Elite Eight in his 2011 NCAA Tournament bracket, Jay Bilas went the opposite direction, choosing Kansas to cut down the nets and bring home the NCAA Tournament Championship. Bilas released his bracket as the ESPN experts made their NCAA Tournament predictions on Monday in taped special on the network.
Bilas chose an Elite Eight consisting of Ohio State, Syracuse, Duke, UConn, Kansas, Purdue, Pittsburgh and Florida. For his Final Four, Bilas bucked the trend, picking Syracuse to upset Ohio State. Bilas also has UConn upsetting Duke to reach the Final Four, with Kansas and Pittsburgh surviving to advance to the last four, as well.
In the Final Four, Bilas has UConn over Syracuse and Kansas over Pittsburgh, with the Jayhawks bringing home the title in the finals. For the most part, it's all favorites for Bilas, with no seeds lower than No. 4, and every No. 1 seed, appearing in the Elite Eight. The top-half of his bracket does have two minor upsets ahead of the Final Four, with UConn and Syracuse advancing. In the end, the odds-on favorite Kansas prevails, though, rising to the top in the NCAA Tournament.
For more on the bracket predictions, check out the rest of our NCAA Tournament predictions StoryStream. Grab a printable bracket and get to work filling out your own while you're at it. To break down the bracket with Gonzaga and Washington fans, be sure to stop by SB Nation’s The Slipper Still Fits and UW Dawg Pound.