Choose your destructor…

Read it, don’t read it, I don’t care…just needed to get some things off my chest.

In no particular order of chronology or importance…

Not on the clock.  This would be a started rant while I am left home for a while by myself staring at bracket breakdowns and rosters and typing in my thoughts here and there.  Let’s turn and burn.

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1)       Greetings and salutations, people.  Thanks for joining my final pre-tourney thoughts before we dance.  I had a couple non NCAA things on my blog list…but who cares.  This is all tourney hooks.

2)      I think you can be happy with your bracket, read another expert’s opinion, and then think you should change everything five minutes later.

3)      I don’t like that the President and I have the same winner.  I don’t like in GENERAL that Michigan State has become a trendy pick…BUT then I stop myself and say “this is the first time this year they are healthy and these are very, very smart basketball people like me.”  Good job, Mr. Obama.  We have three of the Final Four the same.  You are a Chicago baller.  Nice.  You know your stuff.  I ALSO don’t like that other teams I have sold you on in my blog all year either have hard draws (St. Louis) or are a billboard hit (Wichita State).

4)      Not to ruin the finality, but although I might change a couple things over the next two hours with Final Four picks, I am sticking with Michigan State.  Hate to give you the end before the breakdown, but it is what it is.

5)      Let me take a break and do my knockout pool picks, which are SO much cleaner and more fun than picking the whole bracket.  Be back in a bit.

6)      Hold on.  Do you realize that Cal Poly needs to WIN the entire thing to have a WINNING record?  That is scary.  Now the break.

7)      I am back.  After 45 minutes of going through the bracket with my best bud, Scott, I have my “knockout” pool picks.  Better than the bracket thing, although it doesn’t pay $1 billion.  Pick one winner each round.  You can’t reuse the same team, and get knocked out by losing your game…or running out of teams.  I am in for three entries, and although I will post my final bracket shortly on here, I prefer to keep my knockout picks to myself so I can be in pain by myself.  I would say the most stressful part of this pool is that I have decided to roll with Scott with one of my picks as long as I have multiple entries left.  Scott tends to try to outsmart the pool, as I sometimes do also.  United we fall.

8)      I am staring at my bracket and thinking about making changes.  Then, I think of how MAD I would be for changing a reach or first thought or gut feeling that actually happened.  I am actually content with my bracket aside from three areas.  My pick of New Mexico over KU in St. Louis, figuring out who the HELL will come out of the OU/ SD State area, and the mess that is the Wichita State/ UK/ St. Louis/ UL second round.  That is just absurd.  So, rather than overthink everything, I need to trust I did a good scouting last night and roll with it.

9)      Lindsey picked a bracket in 7 minutes and hasn’t looked back.  I would say the only odd thing is that we have the same winner.  Smart girl.

10)   I can’t stop staring at the New Mexico-KU part of the draw.

11)   If you think I am rambling, I am.  I am stressing out.

12)   I am trying to take off work on Friday.  By “trying,” I mean that my job dictates when I can ignore my computer.  But, I am trying to do the Friday “guy at the bar at 10am through the first round of games” thing.  I have to even though all games are now on TV.  It is the experience.  I HAVE to have a conversation with the idiot who has EIGHT sheets in front of him, and then tells me that he had Eastern Kentucky over Kansas on sheet #6.  Those guys are funny.

13)   Ok.  I am past the point of adjusting everything.  In the morning I am the sharpest, so after sleeping with my bracket under my pillow (that is not a joke sadly), I can make any adjustments at the crack of dawn when I am up.

14)   Speed help.  Here we go.  Don’t get scared about the Florida bandwagon.  Donovan has won two titles, his kids are mature, his interior is better and more experienced than his previously guard reliant teams, and they have an acceptable draw.  Don’t get crazy with a Pitt over them second round.  Take a DEEP breath.

15)   Scott reminded me of this.  When you think of UCLA, and the fact that they have winner Steve Alford in their corner, remember that Danny from the Miracles is on the other sideline.  UCLA is bipolar.  I picked them, but wouldn’t bet on the game.

16)   When the Cuse faces the Buckeyes, it will be an ugly, ugly offensive game.  Think 51-49 with lots of turnovers.

17)   Michigan State will win.  They were preseason #2 behind a too young UK team, and they are HEALTHY.  They won the Big Ten tourney in STYLE.

18)   There will be one 1/16 or 2/15 upset this year.  Book it.

19)   I am keeping New Mexico and Oklahoma advancing a few rounds because of my “non sexy teams make noise,” and those are non sexy teams.  Maybe I have something against Midwest or desert teams.

20)   Gonzaga and Oklahoma State might not be the fancy buzzer beater game of the first round, but it will be the highest quality on both sides.

21)   I am impressed with how Arizona adjusted to losing Brandon Ashley and kept winning, but it doesn’t stop me from picking their destructor.  My gut tells me Oklahoma State, but my mind and body wrote down Wisconsin.  NO guts, dammit.

22)   I am watching the Iowa game.  It doesn’t matter who wins, although I think it will be Iowa.  I have the Iowa/ Tennessee to win another round, dammit.  Go, slash team.

23)   I have watched Creighton play at least 5 times this year.  It is an exciting, made for TV story, but too much outside/ one guy for me to advance them past a three NBA player pissed off team playing a couple hours from their crib in Texas.

24)   LOOK AT WHERE THEY PLAY, TOO, PEOPLE.

25)   In case you care, and you should, Indianapolis is less than TWO hours from Louisville.

26)   In case you care, Tom Izzo hasn’t had a player graduate without a Final Four appearance in about 75,000 years.  This year he has to make it to keep the streak alive.

27)   In case you care, I think that IF Duke survives Mercer, they have a cakewalk to the Elite 8.

28)   In case you care, although I didn’t pick them, I wouldn’t be surprised if that kid from North Dakota goes crazy on OU in the first round.

29)   In case you care, Wisconsin plays in their local area and then just has to win one game against Arizona to get to the Final Four.  Bo Ryan doesn’t have a Final Four.  He will this year.

30)   I could go on forever.  That is it.  Good luck, everyone.  Remember, if you have your Final Four intact and 6 of your Elite 8 intact after the first weekend, you either did chalk and there are no upsets, or you are doing very, very well.  There will be NO blog tomorrow, so no clown questions.  There will be one from the bar on Friday, which should be fun. Peace.

On the record if you can read it.  I am still not good with my site.