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Well, despite the fact that they're shooting about 20% from the field, Xavier's got a four point lead on Gonzaga. I knew that prick Morrison would fold when March started.

Xavier's not looking very sharp on the offensive end. They just kind of pass it around aimlessly until the shot clock runs down and then they jack something up. I'm starting to think that they weren't such a good upset pick after all.

Well, in most of my pools, I changed my Alabama pick to Marquette, and I bet on Marquette, so I certainly didn't want to see them lose, but I forgot to change my pick in the TSM pool, so I'm actually 7-0 there. Whoo me.

I'm glad to see Montana doing well, but it looks like Alabama might fuck up my bets today. I've got Marquette in two parlays and a teaser in addition to a straight bet.

Montana's my 5/12 upset. They're looking good early, up 12-8 on Nevada.

Those were some real clutch free throws from Craig Smith to tie it. This has turned into a really good basketball game.

Gray's singlehandedly keeping Pacific in this game. Now they just need one more stop to take it down.

Wow, I'm sure glad I don't have BC going deep. I had them in the Elite 8, but then I switched it to Nova at the last minute.

Wow, Pacific and BC are going to OT. I guess this gives the "jet lag" theory a little more credence.

Oops, didn't mean to jinx the Panthers. They need to play some defense down low, or they could blow this one.

OK, I'm calling the OU/UWM game now. That puts me at 3-0 for the tourney, and puts me up $56 gambling (I had UWM for $40 on the moneyline.) So far, so good.

Wichita State's playing really strong. They're looking like the Sweet 16 team that I thought they'd be. I'm kind of worried about UW-Milwaukee though. It seems like everything's been going their way in terms of shots and traveling calls, and they're still only up two. They just can't compete with OU on the interior, and they're getting outrebounded badly. Also, they have absolutely no answer for Bookout inside if the Sooners would just get him the ball.

Exactly, Pitt's got a game that's tailor-made for march, and they're not losing until they run into a great shooting team. They're way better than Kansas or Indiana, and the experience of playing Nova/UConn type teams week in and week out is going to serve them well against Memphis who hasn't played a Top 30 team since December. (I mentioned Indiana because they're going to blow through those shitty Western teams in Davis's last season and reach the Elite Eight.) Kansas is the token team that gets hot for their conference tournament, wears themselves out, and then is shocked when they make an early exit. I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose to Bradley. And as for an eventual Duke/UConn game, yes of course I think Williams would do well against Boone and Armstrong inside. It's not like UConn's got an Okafor-type shot blocker around to shut him down. They've got a bunch of scrappy power forward types who get a lot of rebounds and play solid position defense. Shelden won't go off against them, but he should get his 15 and 10. I just don't see who UConn has that's going to hit that big shot when they need it at the end of the game. Anderson's a good shooter, but he can't really create his own shot, and Gay's been practically invisible in crunch time this year. If the Devils are down by 2 with 5 seconds left, I'd feel about 90% confident that Redick's going to make the big 3, and there's no one I'd even feel 40% confident about from UConn in that situation.

I love Bill Simmons, but that wasn't funny at all. Ooh, some women don't understand basketball very well. Big fucking deal. And you can all forget about LSU. They're losing to Iona, bank on it. The MAAC always represents in the NCAA tournament. Oh, and one more thing. NO ONE'S BEATING DUKE AS LONG AS JESUS CHRIST REDICK'S AROUND. He'll score 50 against UConn if he has to.

You're the least loyal fan ever. You're picking a 6/11 upset against your own team!?! I don't even go to Montana, but just because I'm living in the same town right now, I'm picking them for the 5/12 upset over Nevada. The most disloyal thing I ever did was pick Texas over WSU in my bowl pool when I was going there. The result? It completely ruined the game, and I ended up losing anyway when the Cougs stomped the Longhorns. For the record, I was shocked that Montana even got a 12 seed. I don't know if it's "western bias" as Leena said, but no one around here expected them to get better than a 14, with a 15 being considered a distinct possibility. As for my other 1st round upsets, I've got: Xavier over Gonzaga Iona over LSU UWM over Oklahoma 7/10 games don't count as upsets, so I'm not going to bother to mention them.

OK, two things pissed me off tonight. 1) Jack shouldn't be hugging Tony while the fucking terrorist runs off. That just pissed me off royally. He's Mr. Practical, always gets the job done, no matter what. I can't believe he didn't chase down Henderson. And stupid fucking Tony should have said something about it. I mean Henderson could have easily plugged Jack in the back of the head while Tony's whining about Michelle. 2) In the preview, we have fucking Desmond from Lost as a terrorist. Can't 24 just cast unknowns anymore? Why does everyone have to be instantly recognizable to the audience. Maybe after Logan's out, they can cast Bill Clinton as the next president. Oh, and Tony's not dead. He's just going to go into a coma for another three or four hours until he becomes useful again.

To be fair, Tennessee did go 3-1 against teams ranked in the Top 10 of the Sagarin ratings. The only other team that can boast that is Duke. When Tennessee's playing at their peak, I think they can beat anyone and are legitimately one of the top eight teams in the country. The problem is they tend to get cocky and dick off when they think they have an easy opponent. That's why I've got them losing to Wichita State in the second round.

GW didn't get an 8 seed because of the RPI. They got an 8 seed because Mensah-Bonsu hasn't played in a month and a half, and the committee doesn't really believe he'll be 100% by the tournament. Without him, they're just a relatively good mid-major team in the same vein as Bucknell or UNC-Wilmington. Remember, if Bucknell hadn't decided to play Duke and Villanova, they could be a two-loss team too.

I couldn't find a double digit seed that fit in the Sweet 16 this year. The best I could do in terms of second round upsets was Wichita State over Tennessee. I almost went with Arkansas over Memphis but I couldn't quite pull the trigger. I also thought about Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but that kind of team doesn't usually make a deep run two years in a row, and if they make the second round, they'll likely have to play Florida in Jacksonville.

All right. Here's my early Elite Eight/Final Four picks. Duke over Texas Pitt over Indiana UConn over UNC Ohio State over BC Duke over Pitt UConn over Ohio State Duke over UConn And I have to agree on the Gonzaga/Xavier game. Looking at the Sagarin rankings, there are seven teams in the A-10 that are better than the second best team in the WCC.

Replace Texas with Villanova and this is my ideal Final 4. (Dependant on Gray, of course.) My Realistic Final 4 is. UConn, Duke, Villanova and Memphis. I really doubt that this will be the first year that four 1 seeds make the Final Four. The only really sure team is UConn. After that, I wouldn't be surprised at all if we end up with something like a 5 seed, a 6 seed, and an 8 seed.

Oh, and I definitely like Syracuse's chances of making a deep run when the NCAAs start. It all depends on the brackets of course, but right now, my Final Four is Duke, UConn, Texas, and Syracuse.

I'm thinking a 5 seed for Syracuse. Remember, they did win the "best conference in history".

HHH gets lazy sometimes, but when he puts his working boots on, he's capable of having a very good to great match. He understands psychology well and his only real downfall is that he sets up his matches to let the face get too much offense. Cena, meanwhile, is downright terrible in the ring. He's held the title for a year with only a small hiatus, and at a time when he should have been stepping it up and having the best matches he's capable of, pretty much everything he's done has been terrible. His climactic Royal Rumble match to regain the title was like a cookie-cutter Superstars match from 15 years ago. Also, Cena has an extremely stale character that's held the belt for 11 of the last 12 months, and gets pushed consistently as the top baby face despite the fact that he's been getting booed for close to half of that time. So Cena's worse; it's not even close. I get disappointed in Hunter sometimes, and I wish he'd improve, but I don't detest seeing him on the television screen or tune out when he's in the main event like I do with Cena. I'd cheer my ass off to see HHH pedigree Cena right back to the midcard.

I've got such a huge man-crush on Gerry McNamara. I'd have his babies if it ws physically possible.