why, brackets, of course!!!
(if you are a subscriber to this blog and do not follow ncaa men's basketball, this week's posts may not be up your alley. sorry.)
(not really. you should be swept up in march madness just like the rest of us.)


over the next three days, i am going to try and make several, short posts concerning the tournament leading up to wednesday evening when i fill out my bracket. it will kind of be my way of thinking out loud to you, the reader, and myself in order to document the trivial process that is filling out a ncaa bracket. mind you, i take this matter very seriously. unlike a lot of people out there (hopefully, not YOU), i fill out one bracket. not multiple brackets with multiple results so that somehow, some way you can claim a winning entry. one bracket. selection sunday is now in the books. the brackets are set. the favorites are in place. here we go.

i'll start this little experiment this morning with my initial observations of the brackets, themselves, and the analysis (or outrage) of my boys on espn. i have yet to cull the blogosphere this morning to see what everyone else is talking about. my sole influences as of this morning come from the worldwide leader. and so, here's what's been on my mind since last evening...

* damn. is it just me, or does ohio st. have a really easy road to the elite 8? kansas was placed in the bracket as the overall number one, but they are going to have to go through a tough second round game against maybe kentucky and then a sweet sixteen matchup with virginia tech, a poor man's kansas. even though i'll be rooting for tennessee in the top half of the south, i don't see anyone giving ohio st. a decent game until they play texas a&m in the quarterfinals.

* speaking of number one's, north carolina got screwed. marquette is a really good 8 seed and possible second round game. and then kevin durant in the sweet sixteen. (dick vitale voice screams...) are you kidding me???

* kevin durant got screwed. i won't waste an entire post on him. you already know how good he is. and i want to think he could be this year's carmelo. but as of this morning, i have not convinced myself that he could beat north carolina.

* strongest region? east. by faaaaaaaaarrrrrrr. weakest? south.

* great first round games? notre dame/winthrop. kentucky/villanova. indiana/gonzaga. bc/texas tech. louisville/stanford.

* second round games i am salivating over? florida/'zona. usc/texas. unc/marquette.

* lowest seed i could see myself picking to make the final four? kevin durant.

* lowest seed i could see myself picking to make the sweet sixteen? 10. georgia tech or texas tech (what can i say? i am a sucker for bob knight.), although i know for a fact at least one 11 or 12 will make it.

* arkansas made it in??? really? syracuse isn't in??? really?

* i was listening to a radio guy driving in to work yesterday and he summed up my feelings on the first weekend quite nicely. the first two days are great for one reason. to see which little team knocks off a big team. or more appropriately, which big team chokes it away to a little team. after the first two days, though, i start rooting hard for the big teams. i don't want teams in the sweet sixteen that have no chance of winning the tourney. i don't care about feel-good stories. i want good games. with the best players. the biggest stars. don't give me george mason. uconn choked last year. i hate "cinderallas".

* and one nit note. from number 4 in the nation to a number 5 seed in the nit? roll tide.