Time for contenders to get busy

Some (not-so) bold predictions for each region:

SOUTH

■ Who will win: Kentucky. It has been the best team since Midnight Madness opened another college season. It could lose once getting to the Final Four but not prior. Indiana has as much chance beating the Wildcats a second time this season as Pat Knight does having a fouler mouth than his old man. (Oops.) Either way, this group of NBA players from the Commonwealth lives to see New Orleans.

■ Player to watch: Tu Holloway. Xavier doesn’t have much chance escaping the region, but I hope someone puts a microphone in front of Holloway and we get more of those “There’s a whole bunch of gangstas in our locker room” gems. Holloway has All-America skills as a guard and All-Knucklehead skills as a spokesman. People in my business love the combination.

■ Best chance for an upset: How shall I put this … if the world was coming to an end and the only way to save mankind was to identify the smartest team among these 16 to devise a strategic plan and avoid annihilation, Baylor would rank No. 17. The Bears have more athleticism than Waco does petty crime, and Steve “They Call Me Brady Heslip” Nash is an out-of-this-decade shooter, but don’t fall over if Xavier outthinks the Bears and wins.

EAST

■ Who will win: Ohio State. I’d feel better about Cincinnati’s chances if this were 1961 and players had to shower at the team hotel and walk two blocks to the arena for a national championship game. But it isn’t, and the Buckeyes are better. Four schools from Ohio have reached the Sweet 16. Ohio State advances furthest. It’s loaded.

■ Player to watch: Yancy Gates. We’ve seen him throw cheap-shot right crosses and know he can brawl with the best of them (or at least against guys who aren’t looking his way), but for Cincinnati to have any chance, its center needs to guard Ohio State star Jared Sullinger without fouling. Or punching him in the face, which would be a foul unless Mountain West Conference zebras are on the game.

■ Best chance for an upset: Wisconsin wants one thing from you in its game against top-seeded Syracuse: to fall asleep by halftime. The Badgers want to play slower than usual, which is ridiculously slow. They want to have more swings through the swing offense than an entire state of parks. What’s one way to beat Syracuse? Shoot 46 percent against zone defenses, which Wisconsin has this year.

MIDWEST

■ Who will win: North Carolina. I know the potential absence of point guard Kendall Marshall (fractured wrist) is devastating. I also know that with four future NBA lottery picks, advancing to next week still is more than a reachable goal. I’m a big karma guy and have loved the Tar Heels ever since their fans gave Jerry Tarkanian a standing ovation at The Orleans in November.

■ Player to watch: D.J. Cooper. He is March Madness. The guard from Ohio has averaged 20 points in two NCAA wins and has carried a No. 13 seed to the tournament’s second week. He is why we cheer this event so wildly, why it remains the greatest sports spectacle each and every year.

■ Best chance for an upset: I laughed when North Carolina State coach Mark Gottfried acted like a schoolboy in jumping around and falling over his players when the Wolfpack made the NCAAs, only to then address his team with, “We are good enough to make the Final Four.” Uh, no one is laughing now. They are good enough and big enough and long enough and athletic enough. Yeah. I know. So is Kansas. But the last time I saw Jayhawks coach Bill Self in person, he was eating a steak alongside Billy Clyde Gillispie, and they weren’t jumping around and acting like schoolboys. Which only means Billy Clyde’s drink order hadn’t arrived.

WEST

■ Who will win: Marquette. People will injure themselves jumping on Florida’s fast-moving bandwagon this week, but remember only that the Gators have beaten a Virginia side that hadn’t played well entering the tournament and a Norfolk State side coming off a huge upset of Missouri. Marquette is defending as well as any team remaining, and Jae Crowder and Darius Johnson-Odom can play with anyone Florida or Michigan State or Louisville throw at them. And then some.

■ Player to watch: Peyton Siva. This is another way to suggest reading “Play Their Hearts Out,” by Pulitzer Prize winner George Dohrmann, who offers one of the best basketball books in decades. In it, there is a part about Siva, now a junior point guard for Louisville, falling down and crying after turning the ball over for a Rotary Select AAU team from Seattle. It has been awhile since someone pulled an Adam Morrison in such a huge NCAA game. After all, what’s March without star players breaking down on the court in the waning seconds of defeat?

■ Best chance for an upset: The one thing that can be said about Louisville: It always defends for the length of a shot clock and not just those 15 seconds its coach prefers during “special encounters.” The Cardinals can be an eyesore to watch offensively, but ugly might overcome Michigan State. Louisville’s strength is in its guards and ability to get stops, factors that trend well this time of year.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on “Gridlock,” ESPN Radio 1100 AM and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.