Oh, so much to talk about today.
Last Night's Games....
I can't speak with too much authority about three of the games, though I did see a chunk of the Marquette/Pitt game in addition to all of KU/Duke. Marquette is, in my opinion, a pretty impressive team, and I wish I'd picked them to go further in my bracket. I think Kentucky is going to be in big trouble if Bogans is out--while Kentucky doesn't per se rely upon any one player, he is indisputably their leader. Marquette is playing very, very well, and has two badass threats in Travis Wiener Diener and Dwayne Wade. I'm not saying Marquette will win for sure. But I think they've got a heck of a shot. And depending upon Bogans' health report, I'd pick 'em.
As predicted, Arizona beat the holy hell out of Notre Dame, in the inevitable "bounce back from the narrow victory" game. Now what?
KU's win is pretty impressive, given that Hinrich was absolutely without worth for the whole game, Graves was on the bench a lot, and Duke is deeper. But KU played stunningly good defense on J.J., and my halftime prediction was really dead on--a cold spell kills the Dukies. Collison was a beast.
If I had to bet the big bucks, I suppose I'd bet on Arizona--they've proven they can beat KU, and in Lawrence no less. But I have to repeat that I think something is slightly wrong with this Arizona team. KU will have to play well. But they can do it, for sure. It will be neither a surprise nor an upset if they win, but they're certainly the underdogs. KU's advantage is, again, Collison, as I don't know if Arizona really has anyone with the defensive presence to deal with him. Walton, maybe, but I think he gives up several inches. In height, too. I suppose I give a marginal edge to Arizona, but it ain't much.
Tonight's Games....
I won't see any of these games, unfortunately, but no one but KU will get me out of bed at 4 AM.
Texas-UConn--Should be a good game. Count me in as the "Not Sold On Texas" crowd, though TJ Ford is obviously a stud. The South is crazy--in the bracket that I'm running, every team from the one seed to the seven seed was chosen by someone. Wild. UConn impressed me a lot against Stanford, and I think this will be the best game of the night.
Maryland-MSU--Experience versus no experience. Both teams played tremendously well in the second round, with Maryland's win over Xavier a little more impressive than MSU's blowout of a sickeningly overrated Florida squad. Maryland has, in my mind, a big edge here. A bunch of that team has been to the Final Four twice.
OU-Butler--Love Butler, but whatever. Excluding Gonzaga 1999, these Cinderella's absolutely never get to the Elite Eight.
Syracuse-Auburn--Another whatever. But I'll use this opportunity to bash the committee for putting Syracuse--the 3 seed--in Albany. What a sham. How can the committee be so stupid? OU-Syracuse should still be good.
We'll know by the end of the weekend, but my predicted Final Four is Kentucky, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma.
1:43:23 PM 
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