Idol predictions.

First of all let me say, I'm in no way connected to the show, I'm just a fan, and want to share my predictions which are solely my opinion (with some input from my friend Nicole).

Based on who they have focused on up to this point, and the names they dropped last night on the show, and who was left in the top 44, here is who I think are the top 24. (with * by who from that I think may make up the top 12) Please forgive spellings (I know I'm going to really mess up some of the names) and in some instances I don't remember last names. I'm not sure if they are going to be doing "Wild Cards" this year, but there were about 6 names of people we (My friend Nicole and I) kind of liked that were in groups that were cut last night. My suspicions are that the ones they havne't shown up to this point probably aren't going to be in the top 24, so based on that, here's the list, We'll find out tonight how close we were, at least for the top 24.

Girls: Carrie Underwood*, Janae C*, Vonzell Solomon, Tammy Nash, Jacylin Crum*, Makala Gordon*, Lindsay Cordenelli, Jessica Sierra*, Nadia (not sure of her last name but she has the afro)*, Rachel Leslie, Gina (not sure of her last name, but she was in Janae's trio), Faith Galewood. (Wild Cards if there are any: Rashida Johnson, Carrie Zaruba, and Jennifer Todd -- I was really sorry to see her cut, I really wanted to see her compete) (Carrie, Jacylin, Makala and Nadia being my top pics at the moment)

Boys: Jamar Jefferson, Mario Vasquez, Matthew Kester, Anwar Robinson*, Constintine M.*, David Brown*, Jud Harris, Anthony Federov*, Scott Savol*, John Ceca, Bo Vise, Jamie Paul Koehler* (Wild Cards if there are any: Danny Steward, Desmond Meeks, Ross (the crooner with the hat)) (although this is the tougher of the two competitions I think, and in that Jamar, and Mario sill could be top 12 I'm less fond of Scott since his personality kind of puts me off him, but we've seen more of him so he got the "*" becasue of that. We haven't seen much of John or Bo so they could still play a factor too.)(Top pics here for now are Anwar, Constintine, and David -- with a soft spot for JP as well)

As for the top 12, we'll have to wait longer for, and of course, my opinions could change once we hear them sing some more, and I'm not really thinking about the "cute factor" which may help some of the guys/gals along by getting a lot of preteen and teen vote solely based on looks, yes it is a singing competition, but it happens.

I do think the competition overall is a lot tougher this year than in the past, it may have to do with the age limit being bumped up, but a lot of the really good talend where the women are concerned are really young, with two of my top choices being 16. The age thing has helped the men's competition though. Either way, the young ones will have to put on more mature performances if they want to stay in the game with the more experienced ones. I don't see that as a problem for Jacylin or Makala since they both had very mature stage presences. (at least while they were singing ;) )