The Ides Of March: Madness!

The tournament is here. All the chatter gives way to Cinderella going to the dance, the top seeds showing their stuff, and four days that will eviscerate brackets across the land. Here is what my main bracket (Like everyone, I play different brackets in different competitions) looks like:

The Sweet 16:
Florida v. Maryland: Maryland will be feisty, but Florida is too talented.
Oregon v. Wisconsin: Oregon can shoot, but Wisconsin is tough and will have the best player on the court in Alando Tucker.
Kansas v. Southern Illinois: I really like SIU, and their team D is spectacular, but let's be serious. Kansas will run them out of the gym, but even if they can't, they will out-strong the Salukis.
Duke v. UCLA: I know everyone thinks Duke is going out early. Don't kid yourselves, Duke haters -- Duke may not be what they have been, but they will make it this far. Then they will lose to a UCLA team that got more rest than it wanted after their early loss to Cal in the Pac 10 tournament.
UNC-Chapel Hill v. Texas: The Tar Heels play a lot of good freshmen. Texas plays the best freshman. UNC-CH is soft. They are going to lose this one and it will not be that close.
Washington State v. Boston College: Hey, most of this will probably be wrong anyway, so I may as well be loyal. But I also think that if BC can pull it all together, they can play better than people realize. Dudley will have a monster game, especially down the stretch, even if he does look like Webster stricken by giantism.
Ohio State v. Virginia: I hate Ohio State. And I had a too-brief affiliation with UVA for a few months in 2004, so I want to tell you that Wahoo magic is about to bloom. But Oden will be too much, Virginia too little.
Texas A&M v. Nevada: In a good year for Texas college hoops (Texas Tech, North Texas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi all made the big ho-down as well) A&M will be the second in the Elite 8, though Nevada is going to put up a fight.

Elite Eight:
Florida v. Wisconsin (Midwest Regional Final): I want to pick Wisconsin. But once Butch went down so too did their realistic national title hopes. they will punch Florida in the mouth, but the defending champs will prove to be too deep and too talented.
Kansas v. UCLA (West Regional Final): This will be the best game of all of the regional finals. Kansas is really, really good. UCLA is only really good. That one "really" will make the difference.
Texas v. BC (East Regional Final): I am loyal. But I am not a fool. Texas will pummel BC, but a Boston audience will get to see Kevin Durant and dream of him resplendant in green. Now if only Paul Pierce would get a five week "stomach virus" because he has chosen a hell of a bad time to prove that he is one of the ten best players in the NBA.
Ohio State v. Texas A&M (South Regional Final): Is it absurd that I am going to have three Big 12 teams in the Final Four? Probably. i tend to avoid cliches that people invoke to pick the national champion, but I'm going to pull one out now: When in doubt, look at the guards. I really like Conley for Ohio State, largely because his dad was a world class long and triple jumper back in the day. But Acie Law III is spectacular, he has enormous huevos, and he will take this game over in the last tem ninutes. Oden's going to be great, but the story in this one will be how Ohio State fought the Law (and Law won).

The Final Four:
Florida v Kansas: I have said all year that Florida would not repeat this year. They are a good team, but I just think that Kansas is better. Kansas has great balance and can play any sort of game. This could be a fantastic matchup, but Kansas will pull it off.
Texas v. Texas A&M: OK, so this matchup is farfetched. But this state will go absolutely insane if it comes to pass. My friend Brian will probably explode with his man-love for the Longhorns and his loathing of everything Aggie. A&M has the almost embarrassing coaching advantage with Gillespie over barnes in a walkover. But the Longhorns will have almost everything else, including, again, Kevin Durant, who will go for 30-15. Texas wins.

The National Championship:
Texas v. Kansas: These two teams have played two of the best college basketball games in 2007. In the Big 12 championship the Horns ran out of steam after three games in three days and could not forestall a Kansas comeback victory in overtime. There will be plenty of rest in between games this time around. The national title will reside deep in the heart of Texas for the next year.

Or none of this may come to pass. That is what makes March so glorious.