I am back after a short hiatus.  Last weekend was my birthday and the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.  I was too occupied by eating, drinking and basketball to get my ever growing ass in front of the computer to do anything other than check and see how I am doing in the many pools that I entered.  If you’re wondering, I’m not doing horrible.  I was also busy doing some things around the apartment such as putting together some back patio furniture.  I got the thing put together (with a little bit of help from my girlfriend), but not before it took a small chunk of flesh from the tip of my middle finger.  It’s not a terribly interesting story of how it actually happened, but it hurt like hell.  Aside from that it was a pretty solid weekend.  I took Thursday and Friday off so I could sit around and watch games all day.  The fact that my birthday lands during March Madness every year is fantastic.  I am pretty much given free reign to be as lazy as I want and watch basketball without my girlfriend telling me I have to clean something up, go on a walk or do whatever other chore she has in mind.  I have to hand it to her though; she took me out on Thursday night for a fantastic dinner at Nopa.  If you haven’t been there and live in San Francisco you have to try it out.  Great food, great drinks, great atmosphere and the service there is second to none.  Aside from dinner she gave me some very cool sunglasses and a new book about Woody Allen that I am very excited about.  She gave much more than this newly 31 year old deserves, and it’s very much appreciated.  After dinner we went and saw my friend’s band The Cons.  They play around the city every so often and are more than worth a look.  I would listen to them even if they weren’t friends.  Very good band.  The rest of the weekend was nothing to complain about either.  It was capped off by my friends taking me and another friend who happens to have a birthday the day after mine out for steaks at Izzy’s on Saturday night and a day with the family on Sunday.  I haven’t mentioned my thoughts on the tournament so far because I am about to get to that and I want to really lay on the excuses to why the site has been inactive.  So without carrying on any longer about stuff that you probably couldn’t care less about I will move on to what this posting really is about. 

 

The NCAA Tournament really is my favorite event of the year.  There is always a little bit more partying going on than normal and there is an endless supply of first class games to watch.  This tournament has been no exception.  There have been a slew of games that got me off of the couch, yelling and slapping high fives.  That is not what I am talking about here though.  I watched my alma mater, the Arizona Wildcats cap off the worst season they have had since 1984 with a loss in the first round against West Virginia.  They really were pathetic to watch this year, the first without Lute Olson as their coach since that 1984 season.  While we still have the longest current streak of tournament appearances, we probably didn’t deserve to be there this year and the heartless effort against West Virginia was a perfect example.  Lute will be back next year and as long as at least 2 of our 3 stars decide to stay we should be possible title contenders again.  I just can’t help but be nervous that the best years are behind us, at least for now.

 

So while I am here I will give you my Sweet 16 and Elite 8 picks.  In the East I think Washington St. gives North Carolina more than they want but the Tar Heels hold on and win by 7.  They will go on to play Louisville who will squeeze by Tennessee by 3.  I initially thought that Tennessee would win this game, but Pitino has the Cardinals playing their best ball of the season and I just don’t think Bruce Pearl is ready to take the Volunteers to the next level yet.  In the end it will be UNC moving on to the Final 4 after beating Louisville by 11.  Louisville is going to blow their wad on a very deep Tennessee team and be out of gas against Carolina. 

 

I don’t see the Midwest bracket being quite as exciting.  Villanova has played tough and Davidson has been a blast to watch, but the Kansas Jayhawks will pummel ‘Nova by 17 and Wisconsin will end Davidson’s streak by slowing them down and beating them by 7.  Kansas will move on to the Final 4 beating the Badgers by 11. 

 

The South gets a little more interesting.  Michigan State, who I really didn’t think anything of going in, has really impressed me.  I thought they were going to lose to Temple and than I thought they would get destroyed by Pitt.  I was dead wrong in both cases.  I think that Memphis will be the first #1 to go down by blowing a couple of free throws at the end and the Spartans win by 1.  On the other side the Texas guards will run circles around Stanford and win by 12.  This is where Michigan State’s run comes to end.  I think Texas and maybe UCLA have the best backcourts in the country and guards take you to the Final 4.  The Spartans play tough, but lose to Texas by 5. 

 

The first game in the west is a no-brainer; UCLA beats Western Kentucky by 20.  The Hilltoppers have been great and gave us maybe the most exciting game of the tournament with their win over Drake but they are running in to a buzz saw.  UCLA is going to want to come up big after they almost lost to Texas A&M and will come out with guns blazing.  West Virginia has played great and beaten two of the nation’s top programs in Arizona and Duke but the run ends there.    I think Xavier is very good and wins this game by 9.  As good as I think Xavier is; the Bruins are better and move on to the Final 4 winning a really hard fought defensive battle by 6. 

 

I guess I’ll give my Final 4 picks now even though I reserve the right to make changes after this weekend’s set of games.  I do believe that Roy Williams will have UNC fired up to play his old school but Bill Self will have his boys more fired up and Kansas will pull away at the end and win by 7.  I mentioned that I think Texas and UCLA have the two best backcourts in the country; the difference is that UCLA has great size too.  The two teams met back in December and Texas just barely won by 2, but Kevin Love is all grown up now and UCLA will win the rematch by 3.  I have been saying all year that UCLA is the best team in the country and will win it all.  As good as I think Kansas is and think they could easily be them cutting down the nets, I have to stay with UCLA.  They are the 2 most balanced teams in the country and I just think UCLA is a little bit better at more positions and wins the game by 2 in a thriller. 

 

So we’ll see how the games go this weekend and see how I did.  I’m looking forward to it.  I should have a couple more posts this week including my #99 all time movie so stay tuned.  Thanks for stopping by.

 

By the way, I know that was a pretty boring read but since I wasn’t able to get a posting out before the tourney started I needed to give some picks out before the Sweet 16.  I’m glad you understand…