Utter Madness

I know next to nothing about college basketball. But that doesn't stop me from filling out a bracket, somewhere, every year. I listen to about a day's worth of "expert analysis" and read a few tips on ESPN and elsewhere, and, that's generally enough to put me on roughly equal ground with fans and experts alike. I've generally finished in the top third or so (even coming in second in my pool a few years ago), which just goes to show -- well, I'm not sure what it shows, except that even a noob like me can still have fun at something he knows nothing about.

Ooh, look at the pretty bracket! So shiny...

East Region
This is where I've got my boldest pick: UNC (1) vs. Butler (7) in the finals. Butler's ranked #10 or #11, depending on what poll you look at. The only other team on their side of the bracket that should give them a problem is Tennessee, so, really, that's the only upset I'm picking on that side. But in the end, I go with North Carolina to take the region.

Midwest Region
Nothing special here -- just Kansas (1) vs. Georgetown (1), with Kansas taking the region. I caught a few minutes of analysis on ESPN, and Bobby Knight liked USC (to win the entire tournament, in fact), so I at least have them going to the sweet 16 but losing to Georgetown.

South Region
Another 1-2 matchup here, Memphis (1) and Texas (2). That said, everyone seems to be down on Memphis and up on Texas, so I go with the Longhorns to take the region. If I really had balls, I'd take Pitt over Memphis in the sweet 16 round, but I'm not sure I'm that down on them. And, for no real good reason, I pick two underdogs: St. Mary's (10) and Kentucky (7) winning in the first round. Why not?

West Region
A lot of the analysts I read seemed to like Xavier (3), so I picked them and UCLA (1) in the finals, and even chose Xavier to win. Sorry, Georgia.

So, my Final Four consists of:

UNC vs. Kansas
Texas vs. Xavier

And, since it's a big pool, I go with one sure bet and one longshot to make the finals:

Kansas vs. Xavier

But I'm not too crazy. My pick for the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Champion: the Kansas Jayhawks. With 113 total points in the final game.

Only three more weeks until I can stop paying attention to college basketball...