Bracket Update

As we go into the second round, I stand at 23-9. I went 13-3 on Thursday, which was great, except for George Mason. Anyone who's followed the tourney over the years knows that the 5-12 matchup gets weird. I think last year was one of the few where no 12th seed pulled the upset. The Zags have pulled it off a couple of times. So I screwed up and picked Mason, and missed it by not picking Villanova or WKentucky.

A note on some of the matchups...:

Seems that, especially the past two years, the selection committee in a desire to prove their own misguided logic that the so-called mid-major teams don't belong in the tourney because they don't perform well, have again made matchups like Davidson-Gaonzaga, Butler-So Alabama, and Drake-WKentucky. Matchups between two mid majors which do nothing but pad their stats. Last year one of the matchups that really pissed me off was Butler-Old Dominion. Every year fewer and fewer small schools get chosen, because in the eyes of the NCAA, They don't perform well. Fuck 'em...

put the Zags against Baylor, Davidson against Purdue, What the fuck was So Alabama doing as a 10 seed anyway? Put Butler against someone like oh... Arizona, and Drake against Villanova. Mid-major schools against the big league schools. If a St Mary's gets whooped by a Miami, I can live with it. 'nuff widat...

10-6 yesterday wasn't so good, but for some reason it usually works out that I do much better one day than the other, or much better with morning games than late games. Go figure. Still, my brackets aren't severely busted. I didn't lose my championship matchup, or anything like that.

Yet.

Two years ago Mason broke damn near everyone's bracket by making the Final Four, and I think it was the year before, that Marquette went the the FF with Dwayne Wade. I think my entire FF was wiped out in the second round that year. Big worries today are Pitt-MichSt and Wazzou-NotreDame. Most experts are picking Pitt in the first, and I can't get any points no matter who wins the second, since I'd picked Mason to get there and win. Because I "picked the wrong upsets" I'm in the same boat tomorrow with 'Nova-Siena and WKY-San Diego. so...

Who do I like/want in those matchups? Wellll... I gotta root for the Cougs since I can't resist (historic) underdogs. Before the Bennetts arrived, the Cougs would have improved if they'd sucked. They're solid in some ways; they tend to not beat themselves, but I don't think they can match up against ND's big guy, Whatisface. I go with the Irish. 'Nova's tough, obviously. You don't come back from being down 18 other wise. I had a feeling about Siena, backed up by a wee bit of fact, but still, they beat a Vandy team that had lost 7 of their last 10. They believe in themselves though, so I go with them. I'm going to take SD too, for the simple reason that they're coached by Bill Grier who was a 'Zaga assistant for a shitload of years. In his first year he knocks off the Zags in the WCC finals and bumps UConn who was an 11 point favorite.* We could just possibly find out that he was the man behind the man and the one who made that program hum for the past 10 years.

There you have it; My schpiel. Now let the beer flow and the games begin.

Shit...

Gotta go look at houses. Speaking of which, Ms Thang found an apartment. Free, free, We're free at last!!! This'll be the first time the wife and I have lived totally by ourselves since we've been together. Once we get settled that is. And if we don't kill each other in the process.

*reminds me that Kelso is a professional, and I never tried to check to see who he's picking. He seems to know his shit.