Spring Time

Spring Break is here, and oh, is it glorious! So far I've been relaxing, listening to Travis, working at baseball games, and catching up on both sleep and homework. Last night, Brain Gee and Kyle Ruggles came over, and we chilled in the hot-tub as we talked about everything from spiritual leadership to the greatness of Tiger Woods. Tomorrow I leave to go up north to Napa Valley and Bodega Bay to hang out with friends for the rest of the week. Wow, life is rough...

But Spring Break also means something else...March Madness is upon us once again, and I will be even more into March Madness this year because it will be J.J. Redick's last dance. I've had a lot of fun watching him over the last four years; hopefully, I can watch him go out on top.

With the Big Dance starting this week, I took this morning to fill out my bracket, a challenging annual task. So I set up at the computer with a blank bracket, the LA Times Tournament Preview section, and ESPN.com, and here's the Final Four I came up with.

Atlanta: Duke
Oakland: Kansas
Washington D.C.: UConn
Minneapolis: Florida

Duke and Connecticut are easily the two powerhouse teams in College Hoops this year (comparable to Illinois and North Carolina last year,) and they are the only two teams that have been ranked #1 all year. I think the championship will come down to those two, but that very well may not be the case--we're in for a good tournament.

The Oakland and Minneapolis regions were harder for me to decide. I think that Oakland is the weakest bracket. I have very little respect for Conference-USA, and therefore don't have much hope for Memphis, the #1 seed. (Speaking of smaller conferences, how in the world did the Missouri Valley Conference get 4 teams in the Dance? Ridiculous.) And as much as people like Gonzaga and as cool as a Redick-Morrison showdown would be in the Final Four, I just don't think Gonzaga is that good. They are 1-3 this season against other tournament teams, and they have made early exits the last two years. Hopefully, they'll prove me wrong.

The hard part is over. I've filled in the bracket, so now I can put that one away and get a new blank bracket for what really happens. It should be a great tournament. You don't have to look past this first weekend for what should be some great games.

If you did a bracket, let me know who is in your Final Four, or if you think I'm off my rocker, I probably am. It isn't called March Madness for nothing...