Snubblicious!

Yeah, I'm chewing gum; was it that obvious?

- So the NCAA Tournament Bracket has been released. I can't say I'm shocked that the Bruins were dropped to a #2 seed. Sure, they still get to stay in California until the Final Four, but a second-round matchup against Indiana/Gonzaga will be fun. A potential Sweet Sixteen matchup against Duke/Pitt will be fun as well, especially if Pitt advances that far (Howland v. Dixon!). Then, of course, an Elite Eight matchup against Kansas ought to be compelling. Of course, I'm making a bunch of assumptions here. I have UCLA losing in the Elite Eight last year, and we all know how that ended up. I actually have UCLA losing to Pittsburgh this year in the Sweet Sixteen; yeah, I just don't have faith in that team recovering from their last two losses. Of course, all of this is subject to change before the 15th.

- I'm watching ESPN's coverage of the tournament, and Doug Gottlieb, Digger Phelps, and Dickie V have picked UCLA to make the Final Four, both picking them to beat Kansas to get there. Hubert Davis and Jay Bilas have Kansas over UCLA. Dickie V has UCLA beating Florida to get to the championship! That man is crazy, baby! He has them falling to UNC, though.

- To suit the title of this blog entry, let's talk bracket snubs. How the heck does 18-win Stanford get in, especially after coming from ahead to lose to USC in the Pac-10 tourney? How does Arkansas get in (no, a trip to the SEC Finals wasn't enough)? How does Syracuse and Drexel get left out? How does Drexel get left out???

- Prized USC recruit OJ Mayo was cited for possession of marijuana Friday night. Way to go. Can't this guy wait until he reaches the NBA to cause trouble? They say this is his second serious incident--the first was improper contact with an official in a high school basketball game (a ruling that I thought was pretty wrong; I saw the video, and it looked like the "bump" was incidential). Oh well, he'll be one-and-done next year, and probably a top-5 pick in the 2008 NBA draft.

- Every year, a 12-seed beats a 5-seed; it just happens. This year, I'm not so sure any of the 12s (Old Dominion, Illinois, Arkansas, Long Beach State) are going to beat any of the 5s (Butler, Virginia Tech, USC, Tennessee). I sure hope Arkansas gets beat by USC, or I'll look really bad for questioning why they got in to the dance).

- I'll have my final bracket posted here soon; for now, I have all four #1s advancing, so clearly changes need to be made. Right now, I have Florida over Kansas and UNC over OSU in the Final Four, and Florida over UNC in the Championship game.

- More bracketology talk to come! BTW, you're a gambling degenerate if you bet on the play-in game between Florida A&M and Niagara :P