Final Four Preview

Georgetown vs. Ohio State
One of the most important moments of this contest will happen about 75 minutes before tip-off, when the NCAA announces which three officials will be on the floor for the game. Those three men (assuming the NCAA doesn't steal Violet Palmer from the NBA) will be responsbile for deciding what constitutes a foul when two 7-footers are banging bodies in the low-post. Good luck, suckers. Because, pretty much, these guys are going to be screwed either way. They'll either call the game too tight, meaning OdenBert will play a combined 39 minutes or they'll let them play and then call random ticky-tack fouls at the end and get slayed for it in the media. There's almost no shot of them being consistent with their calls, sort of like NBA officials are with Shaq. You can't call everything on the big men or else they'll foul out by the second TV timeout. But you can't have them ending the game with one foul each either. It's a Catch-22 and it will likely make one fan base very angry at around 7:14 tomorrow evening.
The NCAA selects three three-man teams to work the two National Semifinals and National Championship after ranking officials for their work during the Tournament's first four rounds. John Feinstein details the process in his book A March to Madness but apparently I've lost, misplaced or lent-out all three of my copies of the book because it doesn't seem to be on my bookshelf. (When relatives and friends know you like both athletics and reading - a la Justin Redemer - you tend to get accumulate multiple copies of books. And since I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth or any other area of its body, I tend to have as many copies of popular sports books as the local library does of the fourth Harry Potter. But I digress.) Anyway, getting the Final Four nod is a really big deal to these refs, as you could imagine, but probably haven't.
My problem is (and never having officiated a basketball game, I could be totally wrong), it's probably pretty awkward for three guys who, presumably, are not familiar with each other's officiating style to get thrown together late in the week to call the biggest college basketball games of the season. Again, I'm kind of treading in unfamiliar territory here with the inner working of college officiating (it's like I'm Bill Simmons, except refereeing replaces the entire sport of college basketball), but I'm pretty sure the three-man teams are culled together with guys from various conferences. So, in theory, you could have an ACC ref joining together with an SEC and Big East ref for a Final Four game. That seems ridiculous.
Each conference plays a different style of basketball and, as a result, each games are called a different way. Officials mix-and-match during non-conference play but, on the whole, a ref is identified with the conference he works in during January and February. I really don't know where I'm going with this and think I might be in over my head, so let me try to wrap this up before I get off another tangent: A Big Ten game is called differently than an ACC game and and ACC game is called differently than a Big East game and a Big East game is called differently than a Pac 10 game. To throw officials from those conferences together for the biggest games of the year is akin to expecting a team comprised of NBA All-Star team to be able to beat the Mavericks. Talent doesn't equal teamwork.
In conferences (or at least in the ACC) there aren't specific officiating teams, but guys work often with one another and know each other's styles. Thusly, the NCAA should consider getting officials from conferences not represented in the Final Four to officiate those games. Familiarity might breed contempt, but it also breeds a better-called game.
But enough about the refs. Tomorrow's Georgetown/Ohio State matchup should be a good one, which means that it almost definitely won't be. The only college game that has lived up to its hype this season was Georgetown/UNC in the Regional Final. Every other uber-hyped matchup in both the Tournament and regular season has been kind of boring. The best games have been the unexpected ones (Texas/Oklahoma State, Florida/Tennessee, Ohio State/Xavier, etc.).
For all the talk there's been about the Florida/UCLA rematch, I haven't heard or read once that Georgetown/OSU is also a rematch from last year's Tournament. The seventh-seeded Hoyas knocked off #2 Ohio State in the second round before losing to, yes, Florida, in the Sweet 16. (The Hoyas gave UF their toughest game during their Championship run.)
Even if the game doesn't live up to the hype, the Hibbert/Oden battle will be interesting. But it doesn't change the fact that Jeff Green will be the best player on the court. Before the Tournament I wrote that Green would be the breakout star of March. And even though he hit a game-winning buzzer beater and is the best player on a good Final Four team, he's still somehow underrated. I guess five tools guys can't get any love in a point guard/center dominated world.
Green reminds me a lot of Josh Howard; a guy who does everything really, really good, but nothing really, really great. Luckily for him, Green won't fall to #29 in the NBA Draft. Compare their numbers in their final seasons in college (assuming Green comes out as a junior):

Howard: 19.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.9 apg, 47.7 fg%, 37.3 3p%, 83.3 ft%
Green: 14.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.2 apg, 50.9 fg%, 37.5 3p%, 78.0 ft%

Howard, it should be noted, played on one of the most prolific offensive teams in the country during his senior season, which explains the difference in points and rebounds.
Because of Green, expect John Thompson III to have Hibbert go right at Oden. A foul-fest between the two big man benefits Georgetown since Green is capable of carrying the Hoyas by himself.
Worst case scenario for the "Challenge Oden" theory: Hibbert falls on his grenade and takes Oden with him. Best case scenario: Hibbert fares better than everybody expects against Oden. For all the talk of "Hibbert has never seen anyone as big as Oden," don't forget that Oden hasn't seen anybody as big as Hibbert either. Oden is clearly the superior player, but there could be an adjustment period for the freshman. And with only 40 minutes to adjust, Hibbert could have a surprising day.
Pick: Georgetown

Florida vs. UCLA
Besides the fact that UCLA played Florida and that Joakim Noah acted like a jackass before, during and after the game, what do you remember about last year's Championship? As Edwin Starr could doubtlessly tell us, "absolutely nothing." And you know why? Because last year's NCAA Title game was so boring, it made Maryland/Indiana look like the Duke/Kentucky '92 Regional Final. Here's what I wrote about the Championship game last year:

One time, as part of court-ordered community service, I volunteered at a homeless shelter. (Of course, if one is forced to partake in an activity under threat of penalty of the law, can it really be considered volunteering?) Anyway, during my 50 hours at the shelter, one of my responsibilities was to look at the security monitors at night to make sure all was kosher throughout the building. Nothing ever happened (which was good, because what the hell would I have done if, say, a fight had broken out in the sleeping hall - walked up there and politely requested they stop?), so my evening pretty much consisted of staring at the one monitor that had a partial-shot of the road on the off-chance that a car would drive by to give me a wee-bit of excitement and flipping through various back-issues of Ebony from the early-'90s. This would go on from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. for five consecutive Monday nights. And sitting in that cramped little space, watching six monitors where nothing ever happened in the middle of a men's homeless shelter, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the ghetto... Well that was still a whole lot more exciting than the 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
Man, that was boring.

But if Bill Simmons says the rematch is going to be great, then it's so gonna be!
UCLA absolutely shut down Kansas last Saturday night. Florida hasn't seen a defense like the Bruins' all season and it will fluster them early. I'm expecting a tight game but am picking UCLA because I'm not convinced Florida knows how to play a close game. I'm not in the mood to scroll through the posts from the past few weeks, but somewhere I looked up how many close games Florida has played since last March and it's not very many. The close games they have won haven't been against very good teams either. The Gators could be very vulnerable if this game is close late.
My main problem with Florida is that everyone expects them to win, and those teams rarely do, indeed, cut down the nets on Monday. (Chuck Klosterman echoes this sentiment in his fantastic Final Four blog on ESPN.com. Unlike some Page 2 personalities, Klosterman knows college basketball and can make erudite points while still keeping his pop culture sensabilities. I wonder how this makes Bill Simmons feel? He's supposed to be ESPN.com's cock of the walk and then some hipster in Lisa Loeb glasses steals his thunder by playing Hemingway to his Danielle Steele. I doubt highly that Simmons fans are Klosterman fans, though. Judging by the mean-spirited, underpunctuated rhetoric that was spewed on my Comments after a Simmons-rant from February, I'd be amazed if those readers made it past the fourth word of Klosterman's first entry from today. (It began, "Much to the chagrin...) Anyway, Klosterman thinks Florida is predestined to doom because of their favorite status. He also thinks that OSU's escapes over Xavier and Tennessee means they're on the road of good karma since Championship teams always seem to have one close call in the Tournament. I thought the same thing after the Xavier win, but then said that the Tennessee win cancelled it out. Last thing about Klosterman; promise. In his final entry of the day, he theorizes that the over-saturation of sports is hurting sports. Again, this is something I talked about the other day when I was bitching about how ESPN is making me hate the NFL Draft because they spend so much time talking about it on Sportscenter. Wait, I lied about that being the last thing because I just saw that, in the same entry, Klosterman writes about how awesome Moses Scurry was. As longtime readers here know, Moses Scurry is my go-to name whenever I need to make a craziness comparison. And that's the difference between Klosterman and Simmons: One knows who Moses Scurry is, the other thinks college basketball ended and began with The Fab Five.)
Where was I? Doesn't really matter since I'm ready to finish this up anyways. In closing, Florida is the most cocky college basketball team since UNLV in 1991. And we all know what happened to them.
Pick: UCLA

Enjoy the weekend and come back Monday when I'll be previewing the inevitable Florida/Ohio State National Championship.

O.J. Mayo Laughs At Grandmama's Un-Blingy Watch

I've been light on the posts this week for a few reasons, none of which are very good and/or interesting. Come on back tomorrow for a Final Four preview and more inanity from Bill Simmons. (He's become the college basketball equivalent of Sanjaya. Simmons is a loathsome, offensive brute, yet I cannot look away.)
In the meantime, the other day I thought of this old Sports Illustrated cover and finally made it over to SI.com's cover archive to see if it was as awesome as I remember it. The verdict; it's good, but not Delta in-flight magazine good. And why is Larry Johnson in an overcoat? Were those chilly Vegas autumns too much for him?
I'm not 100% certain, but I think this was the first SI that ever came to my house. I seem to remember begging my mom and dad for an SI subscription because SI for Kids (of which we were charter subscribers when it came out in January '89) wasn't timely enough since it was a monthly. I was eight at the time, the same age Greg Oden was when he first started subscribing to SI in 1973.

Bill Simmons? More Like Lazarus Simmons!

It's 83 degrees in downtown Bethesda and I have the day off, so I'm about to leave to sit on an outdoor deck, drink some cervezas and eat my weight in hot wings.
Some quick hitters:

* Thank Bill Simmons that Bill Simmons started watching college basketball this year. The game has been so irrelevant since He left it for the greener pastures of watching NBA teams go through the motions until mid-April. Now that He's back on board with the NCAA, the college game has been so much better. Imagine if Simmons would start watching the NHL. My, how He could resurrect that moribund league!
Never before has an NCAA Tournament been competitive or had a lot of favorites advance to the Final Four... Until Simmons came, that is. Never before have two point guards been a huge part of the Tournament, especially not two years ago when Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Raymond Felton, John Lucas III, Gerry McNamara, Marcus Williams, Randy Foye and Allen Ray played starring roles. If you think the current point guard bonanza and Simmons return to the game are coincidental then you, my friends, are ignorant.
Now I'm all riled up and want to write a lot, but I've gotta get outta here, but not before saying that Oden and Durant made this season great, but Durant flamed out in the second round and Oden isn't really a compelling figure while on the court. Sure, he's great and the battle with Roy Hibbert will be fun, but have you had discussions this week with people about how fun it is to watch Greg Oden play? No, you were talking about how awesome the Georgetown/UNC game was; a contest that would have been equally great if the NBA didn't impose their age-requirement (which Simmons lists as the #1 reason college basketball is "back".)
And how can Simmons list D.J. Augustin on his "quality point guard" list? Augustin was simply brutal in the Longhorns blowout loss to USC; he did more to lose that game than Rick Barnes, and that's saying something. Two more guards that made his list, Tyrese Rice and Gabe Pruitt, are fine basketball players, but there are ten to fifteen guys every year just like them. And that's being really generous to Rice.
As for Simmons' line that this is the best Final Four since 1993 - maybe it is, if you haven't been watching since 1993. Off the top of my head, the Final Fours in 2005 (UNC, Illinois, Louisville and Michigan State (?), 2002 (Duke, Arizona, Maryland and Michigan State (?) and 1999 (Duke, Connecticut, Ohio State and Michigan State (? why do I always assume MSU is in the Final Four?) were all fantastic and featured NBA-ready talent. Hell, there were four lottery picks off that 2005 UNC starting lineup or one less than there'd be right now from all the Final Four teams combined (Oden, Green, Noah, Horford and Hibbert). Don't get me wrong, the talent level this year is fantastic; but certainly not historic.
(Simmons does, in fact, mention the 1999 Final Four in the column, but also says in the same paragraph that this will be the most exciting Final Four since 1993, which is where I got that from.)
This line also got to me, but in a different way than the old man from Home Alone gets to Costanza:

Saturday's games (Florida-UCLA and OSU-Georgetown) are appointment viewing for anyone who ever gave a crap about basketball. When's the last time you could say something like that about the Final Four?

Phew! Thanks for clearing that up, Bill. I had tickets to Cirque du Soleil on Saturday, but now that you've issued this decree to all basketball fans, I'll give those away and instead watch some games! I can't remember the last time I watched a Final Four. Certainly not last year when the greatest Cinderella story since the 1980 U.S. Hockey team was unfolding before our eyes. Or the year before that when the two best teams in college basketball, UNC and Illinois, played an instant classic in the Finals. Or in 1999 when Duke and Connecticut met in a colossal slugfest.
The quality of play is no better in this Tournament than in any Tournament over the past ten years. That Ohio State and Georgetown got bailed out by bad officiating and Al Horford managed to save UF against Butler doesn't change this. The high seeds in the FInal Four are as much of an anomaly as George Mason was last year. That unpredictability makes up the beauty of college basketball, as every real fan of the game knows.

* Before you start comparing this Georgetown team to the dynasty from the mid-'80s, check out Thomas Boswell's column from today's Washington Post. Read the whole thing.

* The American swim team is in the midst of an unprecedented run at the World Championships. Michael Phelps shattered one of the sport's most untouchable records today in the 200 free, as Aaron Piersol and Natalie Coughlin broke their own world records in their respective backstroke events as well. Local product Kate Ziegler also won gold, almost breaking Janet Evans' world record in the 1500 freestyle, a mark which has stood for an amazing 19 years. Towson-born Katie Hoff then went and broke an American record in the 200 freestyle in her semifinal heat.
I'm very pleased to see ESPN.com keeping up with the World Championships in their headlines, along with a number of the MSM news wesbites. As always, the coverage in The Washington Post has been phenomenal. Amy Shipley's coverage from Melbourne has been superb and the print newspaper has devoted a large amount of space and graphics to the meet, despite the difficulties of covering an event that mostly takes place in the early-morning hours stateside.

Peyton Manning'll Kill A Snitch

The Super Bowl MVP hosted Saturday Night Live last night and showed his softer side in this United Way spot:

Why Is This Not A Technical?


When Greg Oden has an uncontested dunk, he tends to viciously throw-down with two hands and pull himself up on the rim for no reason other than intimidation. It's not hanging on the rim, per se, but it certainly is in violation of NCAA Basketball rule 10.13 which states a technical foul should be assessed for "grasping a basket in an excessive, emphatic manner when the player is not trying to prevent an obvious injury to himself or others". Between this and his intentional shoves, what will it take for Oden to get called for a tech, getting his goose on with Maurice Clarett during TV timeouts?

Chalk

* I'm glad it took CBS two-and-a-half hours to notice that Jeff Green travelled on his game-winning shot against Vanderbilt. Way to be on top of it, guys. Following this timetable, Seth Davis won't be able to make a lame defense of the refs until 3 a.m. EDT. (Not that I'm complaining about the call, mind you. Frankly, the officials were unbelievably inconsistent with their charging calls tonight so they probably owed G'Town a few.)

* Kobe sure does have awful timing with his history-making. His current 50-point run comes in the middle of the NCAA Tournament, when the NBA is as far off the radar as the NHL. And his 81-point outburst last season came late on the night of the NFL Conference Championship Games.

* Speaking of timing, nice technical foul, Tim Floyd. Who throws small pieces of paper on the floor outside of a racetrack? Needless to say, O.J. Mayo won't be happy about this. (That was a lame foul call, though. Moving screens happen all the time and never get whistled.)

Gary Walters For President!

Why is the NCAA Selection Committee earning praise for the dominanace of the favorites in this year's Tournament. I've heard some variation of, "I guess all the chalk in this Tournament vindicates the committee" a number of times this week and, I have to say, it doesn't make any sense.
Was it really so hard to put Florida, Kansas, North Carolina and Ohio State in as #1 seeds? And have their ever been so many clearcut #2 seeds either? The least-difficult part of this Tournament was seeding the good teams. Just because the commitee didn't screw it up doesn't mean they need to be congratulated. Have they really set the bar so low for themselves that we are surprised when they are able to accomplish simple tasks without tripping over their own feet?
The committee didn't miss all those shots for Davidson. The committee didn't stink up the joint for Holy Cross. In actuality, the committee's inability to accurately seed the mid-range teams is why there's been so much chalk this March.
Old Dominion and Creighton were slotted against other mid-majors. Long Beach State was one of the worst #12 seeds in history. Albany was a brutal #13 seed. (Ken Pomeroy said that the UVA/Albany game was the first #7 vs. #15 game in first-round history.) And, most importantly, Stanford, Illinois and Arkansas were all given at-large bids and then proceeded to wet the bed in front of a national TV audience. But let's forget about that because we happen to have two #1/#2 matchups in the Elite Eight.

Friday Picks
East
#1 North Carolina over #5 USC
#2 Georgetown over #6 Vanderbilt

Midwest
#1 Florida over #5 Butler
#7 UNLV over #3 Oregon

I picked Oregon to go to the Final Four (on this site, at least), but there has to be an upset tonight (doesn't there?) and the Ducks are the most likely candidate. If I had the stones, I'd pick against Florida. But, all in good time. Hold on, though. UNLV barely beat Georgia Tech and the Pac 10 has proven me wrong all Tournament. Let me try this again.

Friday Picks
East
#1 North Carolina over #5 USC
#2 Georgetown over #6 Vanderbilt

Midwest
#1 Florida over #5 Butler
#3 Oregon over #7 UNLV

Ahh, chalk. You know, the selection committee did a really good job of putting together this Tournament.

Oh, What A Night II

What a great set of games last night, with only the UCLA/Pitt game (predictably) disappointing. Kansas shot 62% yet scored only 61 points in their close win over a game Southern Illinois. Memphis did their best Ohio State impersonation and took advantage of bad reffing and coaching to beat Texas A&M. And the aforementioned Buckeyes made a furious second half comeback and won a slugfest with Tennessee. This is the second straight year the Thursday Sweet 16 games have been thrillers. Thoughts on last night's action:

* As he was racing down the court with the clock running down, it was clear Tennessee guard Ramar Smith had no intention of giving the ball up. First off, his name is Ramar. Second, he just had that "I want to be the hero" look in his eyes. It's tough to argue with Smith, as he as 7-11 on the night, but Chris Lofton has to be involved in the final play in some way. The real problem was, Smith didn't look for anyone else the entire time. OSU was playing solid defense, but if Smith had looked around he could have seen a wide open Wayne Chism trailing on the wing. I don't mind Bruce Pearl letting his team go, but you'd think he could have come up with a better play after his mid-FT timeout.

*In between playing the role of Southern Illinois Booster #2, Jay Bilas actually made a halfway-decent point. I know, it startled me too. He said Kansas might be feeling more pressure against a mid-major like SIU because of the expectation that they should win the game. Put KU in a contest against Texas or Florida and they'll be fine, Bilas contends. If true, this would support the notion that Bill Self might be a great recruiter and basketball coach, but lacks in the motivation department.
As for the SIU Booster thing, Bilas was all over the Salukis' jock tonight. He repeatedly harped on two calls that when KU's way (two missed shot clock calls that both went Kansas' way), but then when an SIU player clearly charged in the lane said, "I don't want to hear about that call." And I don't want to hear about that time you went to the Final Four in 1986, Jay, but that doesn't stop you from telling it 40 times per season.

* I root for Kansas. Not in the same way I pull for Wake Forest or Maryland, mind you, but my Godfather instilled some Jayhawk-love in me at an early age and I've always cheered on his team as a result.
When Roy Williams bolted Lawrence for Chapel Hill I was disappointed, but was even more bummed out when KU hired Bill Self as his replacement. I wasn't a fan of Self during his time at Illinois, but gave him the benefit of the doubt upon his arrival at Kansas.
As KU went down to Southern Illinois early in the second half last night, I decided to write a lengthy rip of Self, in the hopes that the assumption of a Kansas loss would jinx Southern Illinois, leading to a Kansas win. The way I looked at it, if Kansas won, I'd be happy. And if Kansas lost, I'd have a ready-made rip of Bill Self up on the site before the teams even walked off the court. After getting some karma approval on this matter, I began my critique. And by critique I mean hatchet-job. Almost instantly, Kansas got out of their funk and took the lead. And I'm taking full credit. Full.

* Seth Davis must be doing pretty well for himself. In addition to collecting paychecks from CBS, Sports Illustrated and Mike Krzyzewski, Davis seems to be on the NCAA's payroll as well. How else to explain his repeated defense of referees this March? First, the ex-Dukie was praising the officials for not calling a flagrant foul on Greg Oden late in the Xavier game. Really, Seth? People have been charged with assault for less than what Oden did. I heard the AARP revoked his privileges after the foul.
Then, last night, after initially (and correctly) ripping the Memphis/A&M refs for inexplicably taking 1.1 seconds off the clock at the end of the game, Davis reversed course and took it back during halftime of Tenneseee/OSU. First of all, even if the ball didn't hit John Calipari (which it might have), there's no way 1.1 seconds elapsed from the time the Memphis player touched the ball to the time it hit the scorer's table. (The NCAA Rule Book is quite ambiguous about when the ball is officially considered OB. In one section, it claims the ball has to hit an object. In another, it seems to suggest that if nobody is pursuing it, the ref can blow the whistle. Oh, and there's a guy on the rules committee named Dick Hack.)

* On the other hand, Texas A&M missed an absolute gimmie of a layup with 45 seconds left and then let Memphis get four straight offensive rebounds after missed shots in the final seconds. If the Aggies could have pulled down one of those rebounds, they wouldn't have needed those 1.1 seconds back.

* One thing that has impressed me during this Tournament is the moxie of teams that have given up big leads. Normally, when a team gets ahead by double-digits and then gives up the lead late in the second half, they end up losing. It always seems that once a team makes a big run to get back in the game, it's tough to keep them from continuing that run until the game is out of reach.
During this Tournament a fair number of teams have seen their leads disappear, only to build them back up. Winthrop did it against Notre Dame, UNLV held off Georgia Tech and, tonight, Tennessee hung tough after OSU eradicated a 20-point margin in a matter of minutes.
After the Buckeyes made their furious second-half comeback, the Vols managed to hold on to a slim lead, but eventually saw Ohio State go ahead with 8:00 left. Instead of rolling over, they started hitting threes like they did at the beginning of the game and took the #1 seed down to the wire. Their resiliance was the most impressed I've been all Tournament.

* One of my favorite parts of the NCAA Tournament are the Masters promos CBS runs. (I once concocted a plan to carry a boombox around everywhere I went so I could walk into a room, pause at the doorway and play the last six notes of The Masters theme before I entered. It never happened, but it would have been pretty awesome.) Sadly, the Tiffany Network has stopped showing my all-time favorite, taken from the end of the 1998 Tournament.
On Mark O'Meara's final, Masters-winning putt, there's a ground level shot taken from behind O'Meara. As he strikes the ball, the greenside gallery stands in unision. One young gentleman apparently got bunched the wrong way as he stood up and proceeds to adjust himself as the putt is rolling. And when I say 'adjust', I mean this dude is going to town, right in the middle of the shot. It's not like it's tough to see either. He's standing right above the hole and is only one of three or four people you can see in the fairly tight camera shot. Nobody I've shown this to had ever seen it before, but once they do, they can see noting but.
I noticed this in 1999 and have mentioned it to everyone that has ever watched the NCAA Tournament with me since. I cannot describe how hilarious the juxtaposition of the piano playing the Masters theme is with a guy scratching his junk as one of the most famous putts in Masters history rolls in. Shame on you, for ruining my March, CBS. Shame on you.

My Super Sweet 16


# 16

- UNLV
In

his rankings of the remaining teams, ESPN.com resident doofus Gene Wojciechowski placed

UNLV

as the fifth-best remaining team, writing:

Of the remaining field, no team has b

eaten

a higher seed in the first round (No. 10 Georgia Tech) or in the second round (No. 2 Wisconsin). That doesn't mean they're going to beat Oregon on Friday

night in St. Louis, but it does mean the selection com

mittee totally underestimated Vegas.

Or it could mean that the selection committee totally overestimated Wisconsin. There's a reason nobody picked the Badgers to go to the Final Four. And if Georgia Tech hadn't played like spastic pre-teens in the first round, we'd likely be reading about how the selection committee underestimated them.

#15 - Butler
After Butler's win over Maryland on Saturday, the most commonly heard theme was "yeah, but the Terps are a better team." It's always easy to play that game, especially in the Tournament when teams are seeded according to ability (at least in theory). Any time a lower-seed wins a game, it's an easy move to say that the losing team was more talented but didn't play well, or the underdog played an amazing game, etc. However, in the case of Maryland/Butler, the comment is actually legit. Maryland is a better team and played pretty well; in fact, I'm still a little unsure of how they ended up losing.
The Terps had a higher field goal percentage, grabbed more rebounds, shot well from beyond the arc and had a fairly-balanced offensive attack. They forced Butler into more turnovers than usual while giving it up close to their own season average. The only statistical fact you can look at and figure out Maryland struggled was their poor free throw shooting. Still, Gary Williams' team didn't go inside enough and never made the run they needed to regain the lead from the feisty Bulldogs.

#14 - Pittsburgh
If Aaron Gray were any stiffer he'd be starring in an off-off-Broadway version of Weekend at Bernie's.

#13 - Vanderbilt
One can't fault Vandy for taking advantage of their easy draw, but one can try. (I mean, come on... They played George Washington in the first round in a 6/11 game? GW was a #8 seed last year when they went 26-2. This year, with six more losses and an RPI 44 spots lower, they were an #11. And don't get me started on Washington State. I'd call them a paper champion, but then they'd probably go out and lose to rock, as scissors stands idly by.)

#12 - Southern Illinois
Logic dictates that the Saukis' reward for another fine season will be a drubbing at the hands of Kansas. Of course, everyone said the same thing last year about George Mason before they went and played UConn.

#11 - Memphis
This is a tenative ranking, based on the injury to star Chris Douglas-Roberts. Memphis is the great unknown of this Tournament, but not in a cool or mysterious way like the cosmos are.

#10 - Oregon
Yesterday's Washington Post ran an eerie graphic comparing Oregon to last year's championship-winning Florida team. Both were unranked to start the year, had a comparable won/loss record, a three-game losing streak near the end of the season, won their conference tournaments and earned a #3 seed in the NCAAs. The similarities are undeniable. They bear a striking resemblance to the careers of two Hollywood superstars, both of whom got their starts as a guest star on a popular network TV show, played the role of a troubled teen in their first big-time film, were teen heartthrobs to millions of young girls and starred in a movie with Tom Hanks. Their names? Leonardo DiCaprio and Corey Feldman.

#9 - Tennessee
I'm not ashamed to say I watch American Idol. OK, maybe a little. But there's this guy on the show this season named Blake who is, essentially, a pretty-boy, beatboxing hipster with too much product in his hair. His voice isn't all that good, but when he performs, he commands the stage with his inventive arrangements of classic songs. America seems captivated by him, which isn't surprising, as style always seems to win out over substance in our culture. I'm not saying Tennessee is the college basketball version of Blake, mainly because I don't think Bruce Pearl likes 311.

#8 - UCLA
It's tough to take a team seriously when they had to scratch out a victory against a Kelvin Sampson-coached team after leading 20-13 at halftime.

#7 - Ohio State
March 9: Xavier loses to Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
March 17: Ohio State needs a miracle, as well as help from the officials, to beat Xavier.

#6 - Texas A&M
Acie Law IV is impressive, but call me when he ends communism like Rocky IV.

#5 - USC
Look, I'm not sold on USC either. But their absolute destruction of Kevin Durant and Texas was the most impressive showing during the Tournament's first weekend.
Also, read this unbelievable New York Times piece about the Trojans' "recruitment" of troubled high school star O.J. Mayo. The word "unbelievable" gets thrown around a lot when, most of the time, the thing being described is totally believable. In this case, however, the story is actually unbelievable. Read the whole thing.

#4 - Florida
The scariest thing about Florida right now is Joakim Noah's hair. Why does it seem like everyone in the MSM is afraid to call out the Gators for their weak performance last weekend? If not for Al Horford beasting it inside, Florida might have been knocked off by Purdue. The old "Florida will turn it on when they have to" chorus has been deafning, but people who buy that forget that UF has won exactly one close game in the past year, and that was to Mississippi State. The Gators know how to win when they're up big. But if they find themselves in a battle with a good team, flipping a switch won't be enough.

#3 - North Carolina
The Heels played well in front of the in-state crowd in Winston-Salem. The real test comes now for the team that was 4-4 on the road in the ACC.

#2 - Georgetown
Ohio State's "win" over Xavier has led to a lot of talk about how that sort of game is what propels teams to the National Championship. To which; not really. Geting bailed out by the refs and bad coaching makes not a champion. Georgetown's win over BC fits the bill though. The Hoyas played poorly for 35 minutes, watched their star have an off game and had the crowd turn on them (the pro-Carolina crowd was eager for a Georgetown loss, thus clearing the way for the Heels to Atlanta). And they still ended up shooting free throws in the final minute as BC tried to extend the game. Watch out for the Hoyas. (This means they're losing tomorrow to Vandy, of course.)

#1

- Kansas
The best team in the Tournament. While the Florida comparison seemed apt for Oregon, I think the Bill Self/Billy Donovan comparison works betters. Last year, Donovan was getting knocked around for losing in the Tournament so much. Self came into this March losing his first two NCAA games with KU, despite being highly seeded. His coaching is still KU's big question mark, but I'm sticking with them to win.

Thursday Picks
West
#1 Kansas over #4 Southern Illinois
#2 UCLA over #3 Pittsburgh

South
#5 Tennessee over #1 Ohio State
#3 Texas A&M over #2 Memphis

Dat's Only N Tha Mornin'

Been feeling a little rough these past few days. Every time I sit down to continue writing some NCAA Tournament Power Rankings entitled "My Super Sweet 16", I get about one sentence in before realizing that I'd rather be laying in my bed watching Iron Chef on DVR. Even if I keep feeling crappy, I'll have something up before tomorrow's games regardless. However, I can't promise it will be coherent.
Until then, here's an Internet blast from the past. It's quite possibly my favorite clip ever. Pay special attention to the part near the end where they demonstrate whistle tips by speeding away down the wrong side of the road and almost hit a parked car. It's gold, Jerry. Gold.

NCAA Tournament Thoughts

* Is Florida looking at another cakewalk to the Final Four? After blowing through one of the easiest draws in recent Tournament history last year, UF could luck-out again if UNLV defeats Oregon this Friday. I’m still standing by the “Florida will not win” prediction I’ve been making all year (especially if they keep starting slow), but losses by Maryland and Wisconsin certainly will make the Gators run to Atlanta a little easier.

* The ACC and Big Ten both have just one team in the Sweet 16. (If memory serves me correctly, this is the first time the ACC has had only one Sweet 16 rep in 27 years.) Don’t compare the two conferences though. Maryland lost in the final minutes to a solid Butler team, Virginia was a three-pointer away from forcing overtime with Tennessee and, well that’s it, ‘cause it’ll be a cold day in hell before I ever consider Boston College and Virginia Tech part of the ACC.
The Big Ten, on the other hand, is garbage. Ohio State would have lost if the refs had a pair, Wisconsin stunk up their arena twice, Purdue couldn’t capitalize on an off night for every Florida player not named Al Horford and Indiana… Please, children could be reading this. (I left out Michigan State because they played UNC very tough in what amounted to a home game for the Tar Heels).

* There are zero compelling match-ups in the Sweet 16. This doesn’t mean there won’t be some great games (who was expecting Duke/LSU to be a thriller at this time one year ago), but nothing that’s going to get anybody excited over the next three days. Memphis/Texas A&M figures to be fun, and the contrasts between Ohio State and Tennessee could make for a solid game. But UNLV/Oregon? Shouldn’t that game be on Fox Sports West at 11:00 p.m. Eastern? Pittsburgh/UCLA makes for good copy because of the Ben Howland thing, but Pitt has to be the most overrated team left in this Tournament. And UCLA played one of the more boring games of the Tourney against Indiana. The best-possible Elite Eight match-up would be UNC/Georgetown, which means one of those teams is definitely losing Friday night.

* Tennesee freshman Wayne Chism (right, on far left) wears his headband like it's a yarmulke. Just an observation.

* VCU coach Anthony Grant will become the next star of the college coaching ranks. Here’s hoping he doesn’t get lured to another program after this season (doubtful) and takes over for Skip Prosser after Wake Forest goes 5-11 in the ACC again next year. And can you believe that guy is 41? He looks young enough to be Greg Oden's son.

* Georgetown played terribly against Boston College, but still came away with a seven-point win. The big question mark about the Hoyas going into the Tournament was whether or not Jeff Green could save the day if Roy Hibbert was off. Interesting, then, that it was Hibbert who single-handedly led Georgetown to a win as Jeff Green struggled.

* Was very impressed with how easily Memphis can seemingly turn it on. They reminded me of Kansas in that regard. I’m really looking forward to their game with Texas A&M.

* What better way to quiet the skeptics who criticized your at-large worthiness than to get absolutely hammered by average teams in the first round. Way to go, Arkansas and Stanford. You did belong! This happens every year; Air Force and Seton Hall choked in ’06, Northern Iowa did it the year before. Sometimes a bubble team makes the most of the committee’s decision and makes a historic run (George Mason) or merely an impressive one (UAB in ’05), but those are few and far between. I’m not saying Syracuse deserved to be in this Tournament, but I know they wouldn’t have been down 26 to Louisville at halftime either.

* The poor showings by Arkansas and Stanford were expected, if not anticipated. The egg laid by Georgia Tech, on the other hand, came out of nowhere. Paul Hewitt teams always play hard, smart and controlled. The Tech that lost to UNLV on Friday looked like they’d been snorting Valium and Xanax before the game. Greg Oden’s beard showed more emotion this weekend.
If there was a loose ball, UNLV got to it. If there was a contested rebound, UNLV came down with it. The Runnin’ Rebels won the game despite shooting 19 of 60 from the field, including an 0-8 showing by Kevin Kruger, son of UNLV coach Lon Kruger. The younger Kruger looked like one of those coach’s kids in a rec league game who would wear #23 and shoot the ball every time he touched it. Whilst sucking.
UNLV was able to win because of the second, third and fourth opportunities Georgia Tech gave them on the offensive end. This sequence that occurred with the game tied at 59 and 1:40 remaining was a microcosm of the entire game:

2:07 UNLV Inbounds
1:40 Wendell White missed Two Point Jumper
1:40 Wendell White Offensive Rebound
1:21 Wendell White missed Two Point Jumper
1:21 Gaston Essengue Offensive Rebound
1:17 Jo’Van “Wink” Adams missed Three Point Jumper
1:17 Jo’Van “Wink” Adams Offensive Rebound
1:11 Wendell White made Two Point Layup

The Rebs had the ball for nearly one minute with the game tied and missed three potential go-ahead shots and got the rebound every time. After UNLV finally scored, Tech freshman Jarvis Crittenton was called for a five second call on the subsequent possession. It’s worth noting that I’ve watched over 100 college baketball games this season and have seen a five-second call once. And GT gets called for it with under 90 seconds left in an NCAA Tournament game when they’re down two points. I feel really bad for the idiots who were dumb enough to put Tech in the Final Four. Oh, wait... That was me.

* Don’t know what was worse: The Ohio State/Xavier refs not calling a flagrant foul on Greg Oden’s chest-butt or Seth Davis and Clark Kellogg defending said cupcake call. Oden intentionally fouled the Xavier player, didn’t make a play on the ball and knocked him so forcefully to the ground that said player was surely hurting on his free throws. It was an intentional/flagrant foul in every way. Just because the foul came at a critical juncture of the game doesn’t make it acceptable to swallow the whistle. I’d feel sorry for Xavier, but since they allowed Mike Conley to shoot his game-tying three instead of putting OSU on the line with under four seconds, they deserved everything they got.

* And what was with that guy on Xavier throwing up his end-of-regulation prayer with 1.6 seconds still on the clock? There were more pathetic late-game possessions than I’ve ever seen during these past four days. Some teams, like Xavier, were shooting with more-than-enough time still remaining, others were in-bounding the ball short with little time on the clock instead of trying to pass to half-court. Red Auerbach always said that the mark of a great coach is how his team performs on their final possession. If that’s the case, there’s a lot of crappy coaching going on around college basketball.

* A terrible charging call on D.J. Strawberry sealed Maryland’s fate against Butler, but to blame that, admittedly, horrendous foul on the Terps’ loss is to miss the bigger picture. Maryland was scoring at ease in the paint all game. Yet they were settling for 16-foot spot jumpers all afternoon instead of getting the ball inside. It seemed that Maryland got pulled into Butler’s slow-down, ball-control game and couldn’t force their tempo. (Another ACC school, Duke, also was forced to play their opponents game when they lost to VCU. Coach K let his team get drawn into a 94-foot battle instead of establishing his team’s half-court sets.)

* My buddy Antzo, talking to himself, as CBS showed a blimp shot of Columbus during his alma mater’s game against Southern Illinois: “I didn’t know Columbus was that big. Well, yes I did. They have an MLS soccer team.”

* Someone on ESPN just asked Digger Phelps if the lack of upsets in this Tournament signifies that the era of parity in college basketball is over. Good grief, as Charlie Brown might say. George Mason goes to the Final Four last year, and it’s a sign that the talent-gap has narrowed and the mid-majors are a force to be reckoned with in college basketball. Now, we go through a rare upset-less year and it’s supposed to be indicative of a larger trend. Well, it’s not. Weird things happen, as George Mason proved last year. Usually, they are the exceptions, not the rule. The statistical outliers, if you will. Just because VCU and Xavier didn’t hit one more free throw or Texas A&M-CC ran out of gas or Davidson couldn’t hit their threes doesn’t mean anything for the college basketball world, at-large. Don’t forget, there are highly-seeded teams from the Horizon League and Missouri Valley Conference still playing. The fact that nobody is surprised by this is actually the biggest surprise of all.

* I’ve stated this theory before but don’t revisit it often because I’m not sure if it’s counter-intuitive (like I initially thought), totally-intuitive or completely nonsensical. Here goes: When conventional wisdom says that there are only two or three teams that can win the Tournament, the Tournament is wide-open. When conventional wisdom says that the Tournament is wide-open, there are really only seven or eight teams that can win. This hypothesis is based on the theory that, with something as flukey as the NCAA Tournament, the likelihood of a small number of favorites slipping is qute high, whereas in a year of parity (like this one), the higher number of contenders favors the likelihood that one of them will emerge from the pack. Again, I’m not sure if this makes all that much sense, but there it is.
Some examples: In 2006 Duke, Connecticut and, maybe, Villanova were the only teams that were given realistic shots of cutting down the nets in Indy. None of them made the Final Four. In 2003, Kentucky and Arizona were, far and away, the biggest favorites going into the Tournament; so much so that the NCAA changed seeding rules because everyone was complaining about how the Wildcats (plural) would have met in the Final Four and not the National Championship. It was a moot point, as neither won their Regional Final.
Conversely, in 2004 there was a large group of teams that were expected to contend. Among them, the eventual champion Connecticut. Same as in 2002 when Maryland was a pre-Tournament favorite along with Kansas, Duke, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Arizona and Cincinnati.
The 2005 Tournament completely contradicts my point (as Illinois and UNC were the extreme favorites and ended up playing in the Final), so I’ll conveniently ignore it.

Xanadu

It's Like - Tsssssssst - Out.

After sitting throught the umpteenth showing of the newest Mellancamp "Our Country" ad for Chevy, I began hankering for the ghost of great Tournament commercials past; and my cousin Peter reminded me of one of my favorite commercials of all-time that happened to be in heavy rotation during the 2000 Tourney. I loved these ads so much I wrote an email to my uncle (who works at Marriott headquarters) and told him he needed to find a job with Holiday Inn.

The Tears of Unfathomable Sadness

NCAA Tournament Preview

The greatest day of the year is upon us. Enjoy.

Midwest
#1 Florida vs. #16 Jackson State
If Samuel L. Jackson was good enough to lend his name and money to a state university, you'd think he could have at least convinced Coach Carter to come in and run the show.
Pick: Florida

#8 Arizona vs. #9 Purdue
Purdue University was founded in 1869, thus making the school two years older than Lute Olsen.
Pick: Arizona

#5 Butler vs. #12 Old Dominion
The state title game in Hoosiers was filmed in Butler's home arena. Old Dominion's court recently hosted the Entrepreneurs Forum of Hampton Roads.
Pick: Butler

#4 Maryland vs. #13 Davidson
At Davidson, the university provides a free laundry service for all residents. At Maryland, students have to wash their own clothes, but I'm pretty sure John Gilchrist would do it for a nominal fee.
Pick: Davidson

#6 Notre Dame vs. #11 Winthrop
If Winthrop ends up winning this one, does that mean guard Torrell Martin moves ahead of Brady Quinn on everyone's draft board?
Pick: Notre Dame

#3 Oregon vs. #14 Miami (OH)
In an attempt to replicate the success Tennessee had against Florida after hearing a pre-game pep talk from Peyton Manning, Miami (OH) coach Charlie Coles will get alum Ben Roethlisberger to talk to his players before this contest. The RedHawk players will promptly get fat, complacent and go joyriding with Jay Williams and Kellen Winslow prior to tip-off.
Pick: Oregon

#7 UNLV vs. #10 Georgia Tech
In honor of these two teams' Final Four match-up from 1990, the Rebels and Jackets will wear short-shorts and cut their hair into hi-top fades. Richie The Fixer will serve as honorary captain.
Pick: Georgia Tech

#2 Wisconsin vs. #15 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
With an ampersand and hyphen already prominent, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will attempt to get even more non-letter characters into its name by calling itself:T èxäs @&M-Cørpu$-C#r1sti.
Pick: Wisconsin

Second Round
#1 Florida over #8 Arizona
#5 Butler over #13 Davidson
#3 Oregon over #6 Notre Dame
#10 Georgia Tech over #2 Wisconsin

Regional Semifinal
#1 Florida over #5 Butler
#3 Oregon over #10 Georgia Tech

Midwest Regional Final
#3 Oregon over #1 Florida

If I had to bet my life on which team will make it out of the Midwest, Florida would be the easy choice. But since nearly 80% of people are picking the Gators to make the Final Four (according to ESPN.com "National Bracket"), Oregon is a nice little risk-reward play. My skepticism of Florida has been well-documented on this site, however, they are still the team to beat. The warning signs are all there - they weren't that good last year, they've only played three ranked teams all season, they start slow and they're way too overconfident. You'll notice that none of those had to do with fundamental basketball, which is why the committee bestowed Billy Donovan's crew with the #1 overall seed.
I have a few early upsets in this region, highlighted by Davidson over Maryland.
Gary Williams is good at many things, but getting his team up for games against inferior opponents is not one of them. Everyone remembers 2002 when it took a Drew Nicholas buzzer beater for the Terps to avoid becoming the first defending champ to get knocked off in the first round, but only slightly less well-known is this: Never get involved in a land war in Asia. And that in 2001, Maryland's first Final Four run was nearly derailed before it started. As a #3 seed that year, the Terps were the trendy pick to win the West. Yet they needed some late Juan Dixon-heroics to knock off #14 George Mason, a team led by a 30-year old Gulf War vet named George Evans. These Terps are talented enough to make some noise in this region, but they need to handle Dell Curry's son and Davidson first.
The toughest pick of my entire bracket was Georgia Tech/Oregon. As much as I wanted to pick the Yellow Jackets, the thought of having my entire pool decimated by midday tomorrow (if UNLV beats Tech) was too great a fear. I also gave a lot of thought to moving Notre Dame far out in the bracket. Well, not a lot.

West
#1 Kansas vs. #16 Niagara
Former Kansas player Wilt Chamberlin claimed he slept with 20,000 women during his life. And former Niagra player Calvin Murphy slept with all their daughters.
Pick: Kansas

#8 Kentucky vs. #9 Villanova
Villanova won their famous 1985 National Championship on Kentucky's home court, Rupp Arena. Legend has it that after the lights go down and everyone leaves, you can still hear Gary McLain blowing lines off of the bathroom sink.
Pick: Villanova

#5 Virginia Tech vs. #12 Illinois
In an attempt to get as much alumni viewership as possible, Virginia Tech officials asked the NCAA to schedule this game for Friday evening, as all state prisons in the state only grant television privileges on weekend nights.
Pick: Virginia Tech

#4 Southern Illinois vs. #13 Holy Cross
This Michael J. Fox shot from Teen Wolf works on two levels. 1) The Wolfman once picked Southern Illinois to go to the Elite Eight. 2) Holy Cross beat Bucknell in the Patriot League Finals and a Bucknell grad sent me an angry email yesterday asking why I put a shot of MJF from Back to the Future on the site to accompany a sentence about Teen Wolf. OK, maybe it worked on no levels.
Pick: Southern Illinois

#6 Duke vs. #11 VCU
I tried hard to justify picking against Duke, but it's tough when they're playing a team whose preferred university acronym sounds like something J.J. Redick contracted during his last visit to Thailand.
Pick: Duke

#3 Pittsburgh vs. #14 Wright State
The five most-likely states where Wright State is located: 1) Indiana, 2) Iowa, 3) Ohio, 4) Missouri, 5) New South Wales. I suppose this information would be easy to ascertain, but that would assume I actually cared.
Pick: Pittsburgh

#7 Indiana vs. #10 Gonzaga
There's some bad blood in this game, as after Gonzaga F Josh Heytvelt was suspended for marijuana and mushroom possession, Kelvin Sampson immediately began recruiting him.
Pick: Gonzaga

#2 UCLA vs. #15 Weber State
Haorld Arceneaux isn't walking through that door.
Pick: UCLA

Second Round
#1 Kansas over #9 Villanova
#4 Southern Illinois over #5 Virginia Tech
#6 Duke over #3 Pittsburgh
#2 UCLA over #10 Gonzaga

Regional Semifinal
#1 Kansas over #4 Southern Illinois
#2 UCLA over #6 Duke

West Regional Final
#1 Kansas over #2 UCLA

If Bill Self doesn't lead Kansas to the Final Four, the whispers will begin about whether he has the chops to get it done in Lawrence. KU has been upset in the first round the past two seasons under Self. Anything short of Atlanta will be considered a major disappointment. Kansas seems like as close to a sure thing as there is, which is amazing considering how poorly they've performed in the Tournament under Self. Of course, people (OK, me) were knocking Billy Donovan for the same thing last year.
The Jayhawks' biggest obstacle could come in the second game against Villanova, a solid team with veteran leadership (Mike Nardi and a finally-healthy Curtis Sumpter) and exciting young scorers (Scottie Reynolds and Dante Cunningham).
Virginia Tech is one of the more maddening teams to predict in this Tournament. They lost three times this season to N.C. State, yet swept North Carolina. Illinois probably doesn't deserve to be in the NCAAs, so the Hokies should have an easy time there. A rematch with Southern Illinois in the second round would be one of the more interesting battles of the weekend, with VaTech hoping to avenge an early-season loss.
On the lower end of the bracket; who cares. Duke isn't going any further than the Sweet 16 (if they make it that far), Pitt wet the bed in the Big East Final and might not recover and Indiana is coached by Kelvin Sampson. UCLA should breeze, even if they aren't as good as they were last season.

East
#1 North Carolina vs. #16 Eastern Kentucky
Remember that Curb Your Enthusiasm when Larry saw a bunch of kids with shaved heads at the local school and, when he questioned this, was told they had done so as a sign of solidarity with their friend who had cancer? UNC's basketball team should do the same thing for Tyler Hansbrough and show up at this game all looking like ostriches.
Pick: North Carolina

#8 Marquette vs. #9 Michigan State
This is a definite contender for "Game I'll Be Watching And Will Automatically Assume I Picked Whichever Team Is Winning, Then Be Surprised Later When I Realize I Picked The Losing Team."
Pick: Marquette

#5 USC vs. #12 Arkansas
So far this year, prep star and USC-bound O.J. Mayo has made contact with an official and been arrested for marijuana possession. Dude named O.J.. Southern California. Rage problem. Criminal record. Yeah, this is going to turn out well.
Pick: USC

#4 Texas vs. #13 New Mexico State
If Kevin Durant's NBA career doesn't pan out, I'm sure Reggie Theus can get him a gig as an extra in the long-awaited feature-film adaptation of Hang Time.

Pick: Texas

#6 Vanderbilt vs. #11 George Washington
George Washington recently became the first college in the country to top $50,000 in yearly tuition. This means the only people who can afford to go there are the privileged and basketball players recruited by Kelvin Sampson.
Pick: Vanderbilt

#3 Washington State vs. #14 Oral Roberts
This week, an elderly Oral Roberts received a good-luck phone call from a person identifying himself as God. Turns out it was just Ryan Leaf though.
Pick: Oral Roberts

#7 Boston College vs. #10 Texas Tech
Boston College's season has been on life support longer than Britney Spears' career.
Pick: Texas Tech

#2 Georgetown vs. #15 Belmont
Over/under on when Seth Davis first breaks out the phrase "Hoya Paranoia": Thursday, 4:42 p.m.
Pick: Georgetown

Second Round
#1 North Carolina over #8 Marquette
#4 Texas over #5 USC
#6 Vanderbilt over #14 Oral Roberts
#2 Georgetown over #10 Texas Tech

Regional Semifinal
#1 North Carolina over #4 Texas
#2 Georgetown over #10 Texas Tech

East Regional Final
#2 Georgetown over #1 North Carolina

UNC will breeze into a Sweet 16 super-showdown with Texas after two de-facto home games in Winston-Salem. Kevin Durant has been good enough to counteract Rick Barnes this year, but he'll have to step up his already-transcendent game in the Tournament, as Barnes will doubtlessly be ramping up his mediocrity for the big stage. It's been fashionable to pick against UNC in that potential match-up, but one can never underestimate the sheer lacklusterness that is Rick Barnes.
Georgetown breezes through to the Meadowlands, wins a game against a team other than Washington State and then knocks off UNC if Roy Hibbert can stay out of early foul trouble. Everyone expects Kevin Durant to be the star of this region, but the Hoyas' Jeff Green will burst onto the national scene and steal the show.

South
#1 Ohio State vs. #16 Central Connecticut State
In terms of land area, Greg Oden is 35% larger than Central Connecticut.
Pick: Ohio State

#8 BYU vs. #9 Xavier
Fathers, lock up your daughters: The Mormons and Jesuits are coming to town.
Pick: Xavier

#5 Tennessee vs. #12 Long Beach State
A battle of the hometown universities of Al Gore and Snoop Dogg, respectively. No matter the result, at least they'll be able to agree on one thing: Going green.
Pick: Tennessee

#4 Virginia vs. #13 Albany
Albany's school motto is Sapientia et sua et docendi causa. Roughly translated, it means, "give the points".
Pick: Virginia

#6 Louisville vs. #11 Stanford
Rick Pitino's hair has an MBA from the Stanford School of Business.
Pick: Louisville

#3 Texas A&M vs. #14 Penn
I have a weird feeling about this game, but that could just be the clams casino I had for lunch.
Pick: Texas A&M

#7 Nevada vs. #10 Creighton
It seems like Nick Fazekas has been playing college basketball for ten years, which would make him just slightly older than Greg Oden's beard.
Pick: Nevada

#2 Memphis vs. #15 North Texas
I preferred Memphis when it went by Memphis State and North Texas when it was called Mexico.
Pick: Memphis

Second Round
#1 Ohio State over #9 Xavier
#5 Tennessee over #4 Virginia
#6 Louisville over #3 Texas A&M
#7 Nevada over #2 Memphis

Regional Semifinal
#1 Ohio State over #5 Tennessee
#6 Louisville over #7 Nevada

South Regional Final
#6 Louisville over #1 Ohio State

If this bracket were any more boring, it'd have subtitles.

Final Four
#1 Kansas over #3 Oregon
#2 Georgetown over #6 Louisville

2007 National Final
#1 Kansas vs. #2 Georgetown
Let's go back to what I wrote on November 16:
Take a look at the Final Four predictions made by the "experts" at ESPN.com. Notice anything interesting? (Besides Dick Vitale's picture, which looks oddly like an icon from Biblical times.) Perhaps that none of the 36 predicted teams come from outside the preseason top 13? (And without Fran Fraschilla's sort-of-ballsy pick of Texas A&M, it would have been top 11.) Way to go out on a limb, [insert pop-culture reference of somebody cautious].
Essentially, these guys were listing their top-four teams, which is a whole lot different than picking a Final Four. I'm not going to argue that Florida, UNC and Kansas are the top three teams in the nation right now (even with the Jayhawks' shocking loss to Oral Roberts last night.) But wha