The Final Four is set. Heading into the Sweet Sixteen, it looked like we might end up with three or four Big East teams heading to Detroit, but Syracuse was blown out by Oklahoma on Friday and Louisville was upended by Michigan State yesterday. So while the Big East has two teams (UConn and Villanova), both the Big Ten (MSU) and the ACC (North Carolina) are represented.

What do these four teams have in common?

They all have a good point guard — North Carolina’s Ty Lawson, Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds, UConn’s A.J. Price and Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas.

It’s often said that guard play is a key component to NCAA success, and this year’s Final Four supports that thinking. Louisville, Missouri and Oklahoma all had some backcourt issues throughout the season (and the tournament) and it’s no coincidence that they ultimately lost to teams with a great point guard.

Let’s take a closer look at each of Saturday’s games…

Tip-Off: 6:07 PM
Sagarin Ratings: UConn (94.40), Michigan State (89.39)
Line: UConn -4

With Hasheem Thabeet, Jeff Adrien and Stanley Robinson, UConn might have the most imposing front line in the country. Thabeet averages 4.3 blocks per game, while Adrien and Robinson are two strong forwards who can score inside and rebound like crazy. A.J. Price anchors the backcourt, but the lightning-quick freshman Kemba Walker is the reason the Huskies survived a scare against Missouri. The Huskies are deep and talented, and other than a few minutes against Purdue and Mizzou, they have looked dominant and focused.

The wild card with this UConn team is how they handle the recruiting scandal of Nate Miles. It’s going to be interesting to see if the media presses the issue or if Jim Calhoun is successful in pushing off any further inquiry until after the tournament. Will the press take “no comment” as an answer? When a program is under attack, there is usually a “circle the wagons” mentality within a locker room, and depending on the makeup of the roster, it can bring a group of players even closer together.

On the flip side, the NCAA tournament has been a pleasure for the Michigan State Spartans. I didn’t think they had the firepower to make it to the Elite Eight, much less the Final Four, but this team has something that many others don’t — chemistry. Every player knows his role but doesn’t shy away when he is asked to make a play. They have the Big Ten POY in Kalin Lucas and group of guys willing to the little things like defend and rebound. The Spartans are an interesting matchup for UConn because of 6’10″ center Goran Suton. Since he can hit the long ball, he should be able to pull Hasheem Thabeet out away from the basket, limiting his shot blocking. UConn may counter by putting Robinson or Adrien on Suton and letting Thabeet defend one of Michigan State’s forwards that isn’t a good shooter like Raymar Morgan or Draymond Green.

The Spartans are particularly adept at pulling up in the lane and hitting the 8- to 15-foot jumper which will be crucial if they hope to score consistently on the Huskies. It’s nearly impossible to take it to the rim when Thabeet is in the game, but the middle of the lane is usually pretty open since the Husky defenders are taught to feed their man to Thabeet. Defensively, the Spartans have shown the grit and effort necessary to stay with more talented foes, so Michigan State should be able to keep this one close. I don’t like the line, and I think UConn will ultimately triumph, but this has a good chance to be a game that is nip and tuck down the stretch. It doesn’t hurt that the Spartans will be playing about 75 miles from East Lansing. I’d expect a decent home crowd, though it’s tough to get any kind of home court advantage at the Final Four.

Tip-Off: 8:47 PM
Sagarin Ratings: North Carolina (95.05), Villanova (89.82)
Line: -7.5

The big story heading into the tournament was the health of Ty Lawson’s toe, but barring any unforeseen complications this week, this is pretty much a non-story at this point. Lawson has been outstanding in three tournament games, averaging 20.3 points and 6.7 assists, while shooting a blistering 20 of 35 from the field and 7 of 11 from long range. No one but those that bleed Carolina Blue thought that he’d be able to play at this level on an injured toe, so he has exceeded all reasonable expectations. Had Lawson been healthy from the start, UNC would have been (and still were in some circles) the tournament favorite, and there’s no reason to think they aren’t the favorite heading into this weekend. Danny Green is shooting the ball well (5-10 from long range in the last two games) and Wayne Ellington is averaging 19.0 ppg in the tournament. Oh, and the Tar Heels have Tyler Hansbrough (17.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and the steady Deon Thompson down low. Roy Williams has been using Bobby Frasor and Ed Davis as his main reserves, though he can go a bit deeper if he has to. As a program, North Carolina has a tendency to get distracted at times during the NCAA tournament, but these Tar Heels have looked focused from the start.

Likewise, Villanova is also playing its best ball of the season. The Wildcats have to be brimming with confidence after upending Pittsburgh in probably the best game of the tournament. They out-poised the Panthers in the clutch, and that’s hard to do. ‘Nova is led by guard Scottie Reynolds and big man Dante Cunningham, who both average better than 15 points per game, but there are four other Wildcats that average between 6.9 and 10.7 points per game, so this is a balanced attack. Unfortunately, Cunningham is the Wildcats’ only true big man (though Antonio Pena does get some work off the bench), so if there’s a weakness with this team, it’s inside. Villanova likes to spread the defense out and attack with the drive. This is something that North Carolina has struggled with in the past, but the Tar Heels are doing a better job of stopping dribble penetration in the tournament.

In the Regional Final, ‘Nova beat a team in Pitt that was trying to get back to playing great basketball. The Panthers struggled the entire tournament and were ripe for an upset. On Saturday, the Wildcats will face a team that is as hot as they are. I’ll be rooting for the underdog, but I think the Tar Heels are going to be able to grind out a win. I don’t like the line in this game, but if I had to choose I’d take Villanova and the points.

When I filled out my bracket, I felt that North Carolina’s chances were tied to the health of Ty Lawson’s toe. And I still think so.

The ACC POY had to sit out the ACC tournament to allow the swelling to go down. And this wasn’t just any swelling; Dick Vitale said that the toe was “cartoonishly” swollen (and I think he just made that word up). This is obviously a huge concern for North Carolina.

He injured the toe on March 6 and played two days later against Duke, scoring 13 points (on 2 of 7 shooting) and dishing out nine assists. He sat out both of North Carolina’s ACC tournament games, and the Tar Heels lost to Florida State. They aren’t the same team without him.

I think that UNC can get past the first two rounds even if Ty Lawson isn’t 100%. But I’m not sure that they can get by Gonzaga without him playing at a high level. This is probably the biggest “IF” of the entire tournament. If Lawson can play at 90-95%, then the Tar Heels are probably the tournament favorite. If he can’t, then they could easily lose before the Final Four.

So how do we handle this? Well, for the purposes of a single bracket, I’m going to wager that a “cartoonishly” swollen toe isn’t going to be 90-95% healed in time for the tournament. I don’t particularly like Oklahoma or Syracuse to beat them unless Lawson is out or very limited, so I am going to put the Tar Heels through to the Final Four. If I were in two or more brackets, I’d have one where North Carolina loses in the Final Four semis, and one where they lose to Gonzaga in the Sweet Sixteen. The bottom line is that I’m betting that Lawson’s toe is not good enough for him to play at a high level for six games over the next three weeks.

If Lawson had been healthy heading into the tournament, I would have picked the Tar Heels over Connecticut for the title. I haven’t seen a guy play this well on a bum toe, so either it wasn’t ever as bad as it seemed, or Lawson has a tremendous ability to play with pain. I’m bummed about my bracket blowing up in my face (thanks, Pitt), but I feel like my original take sans health issues — UNC & UConn — was spot on, but I couldn’t in good conscience pick a team whose best player was gimpy with a bum toe. Simply stated, I guessed wrong on Lawson’s toe.

I think we’ll see a UNC-UConn final, but Michigan State and Villanova are both playing their best basketball of the season. It should be an interesting Final Four.

It’s all right there in the title — my bracket is f*#kd.

The Pittsburgh Panthers played with fire for the entire tournament and they finally got burned. In the first three games, they showed tremendous poise in the clutch. But when they had a chance to put this game away, they blew it.

Up four with the ball and 2:56 remaining, Pitt brought the ball up against Villanova’s full court pressure. If Pitt converts there and goes up six or seven, it would be a tough road to hoe for Villanova. But Jermaine Dixon made a bad decision at half court, which led to a steal and eventually to a three-point play for Villanova. On Pitt’s next possession, Sam Young turned the ball over in the lane. And just like that, the Panthers’ four point lead turned into a one-point deficit.

Down four with 0:12 to play, it looked like all was lost, but DeJuan Blair slipped to the hoop for a bucket and the Wildcats turned the ball over going for the home run. Levance Fields was fouled and knocked down two free throws to tie the game with 5.5 seconds to play. One more stop and Pitt was going to force an overtime when they had absolutely no business doing so. But they made a mistake on the inbound play, allowing ‘Nova to catch the ball near halfcourt, where it was flipped to Scottie Reynolds who was streaking down the sideline. The long pass covered a lot of ground when Pitt should have forced Villanova to dribble the entire length of the court. Make them catch it in front of you!

Reynolds drove into the lane and hit a tough game-winner.

Argh!

Give credit to Villanova for playing a great game. As a team, the Wildcats shot 22 of 23 from the free throw line, which is outstanding given the pressure of an Elite Eight game. It’s going to be fun to see them play in the Final Four.

In the other Saturday game, UConn fended off a feisty Missouri team with a 12-5 run over the last two minutes. UConn looked a little out of sorts in the second half, but freshman Kemba Walker scored 23 points off the bench to put the Huskies over the top.

#2-seed Michigan State vs. #1-seed Louisville
Tip-Off: 2:20 PM ET
Sagarin Ratings: Louisville (92.53), Michigan State (88.53)
Line: Louisville -6.5
The Spartans exceeded my expectations when they beat Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen, but anytime a team has a great point guard (Big 10 POY Kalin Lucas) and a lot of grit, they have a shot. Tom Izzo’s team isn’t going to give up, which makes the dog an interesting play in this game. There’s no doubt in my mind that Louisville is the better team, but they looked flat against Siena before blowing out Arizona. The Sagarin numbers say that the line is off by 2.5 points, but Raymar Morgan has a broken nose and has to wear a mask for the first time, so I’d stay away from this one. I think Louisville will win, but it might be tight if the Cardinals put it into cruise control too early or if they don’t bring their A-game.

#2-seed Oklahoma vs. #1-seed North Carolina
Tip-Off: 5:05 PM
Sagarin Ratings: UNC (94.64), Oklahoma (89.96)
Line: North Carolina -7
The big question heading into the tournament was the health of Ty Lawson’s toe. I think that question was answered with his solid play against LSU and Gonzaga. North Carolina should have enough firepower to beat the Sooners, but seven points is a lot to give a good Oklahoma team. In addition to POY candidate Blake Griffin, Willie Warren is one of the best freshman in the country, and Tony Crocker is capable of stepping up and hitting a bunch of threes. Still, the way the Tar Heels playing, I wouldn’t be comfortable taking the Sooners and the points.

I’m watching the games with LaRusso and his co-worker/buddy Kevin, who is from Foxboro, so he’s a big Patriots, Celtics and Red Sox fan. We got into a minor spat last year over whether or not the Celtics would have beat the Lakers had Andrew Bynum been healthy – he thought a Boston win would have been a sure thing while I thought it would have thrown the series on its ear, but we’re way past that now.

5:14 PM: Louisville is spanking Arizona (not a huge surprise) and Oklahoma is up eight or ten on Syracuse (a bit of a surprise). I think the Orangemen have a shot at pulling this one out, though it’s not looking particularly good right now.

5:20 PM: What is the deal with these Howie Long commercials where he mocks anyone who has a truck that’s not a Chevy? This probably brings back memories of high school for Howie. Is there any chance that he wasn’t stuffing freshman in lockers on a regular basis? He reminds me of a meaner “Big John” from “Can’t Buy Me Love.” He was the one who stuck his butt out the window of a house party and farted in the face of a young Seth Green. For those that haven’t seen the flick, it’s one of my favorites from the ’80s — McDreamy plays a McLoser who pays a girl to date him so he can be popular. Hilarity (and surprisingly touching social commentary) ensues. Anyway, I’m waiting for one of these guys in these commercials to tell Howie to go f*ck himself. Do we really need a washed up NFLer mocking a fellow truck owner because it has a convenient “man step” or gets two fewer miles to the gallon? Give me a break.

5:42 PM: So much for Syracuse. They’re down 20 early in the second half and are looking like they’ve never played basketball before. Oklahoma is doing a nice job of passing on the interior to negate the Orangemen’s zone. I bet the three days of preparation helped. This isn’t a bracket killer, but it sure doesn’t help. I have Gonzaga coming out of this region, so the Bulldogs’ game against UNC is a lot more important to me. It’s tough when there are only two games on and both are blowouts. I just told Jessie that I was blogging and she thought that I was saying that I was “black.” (I’m white.) It was a weird moment. Apparently, I need to enunciate better.

6:01 PM: The Sandbox’s self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Happy Hour” consists of $1 off overpriced bottles of beer, $3 well drinks and 1/2 off selected appetizers. This is the “World’s Greatest Happy Hour”? Really? Shouldn’t there be a Happy Hour Committee that can fine or sue restaurants when they make ridonkulous claims like this?

6:35 PM: Man, Oklahoma looked strong. The Big 12 is on a roll and if Kansas beats Michigan State, they’ll have three teams in the Elite Eight. Jonny Flynn injured his back in the middle of the game and that sort of limited Syracuse’s comeback ability. They made a little run, but never really got it close. After their strong run in the Big East Championship, I bet a lot of people had Syracuse in the Elite Eight (and maybe even the Final Four). Unfortunately, Jessie has left the building, but here’s a picture I took of her and Christy…

Christy and Jessie, BFFs.

6:56 PM: I asked LaRusso and Kevin what the average age is of the other patrons in the bar – it’s definitely an older crowd early in the evening. LaRusso said 42 and Kevin said 44. LaRusso says is skews MUCH younger around 10 PM. By then, most of these silver foxes are probably getting ready for bed.

7:28 PM: Gonzaga is not off to a good start. Down 10 with eight minutes to play in the first half. Ty Lawson looks great (of course, since my whole bracket depends on him being injured), and Carolina is making EVERYTHING. Well, not everything but they’re 15 of 23 from the field right now. Gonzaga has blown a couple of layups…not a good start.

7:44 PM: I give up. (Well, not quite yet, but I’m really getting frustrated.) North Carolina has 48 points (up 16) with four minutes to play in the first half. They are shooting out of their minds, and the Bulldogs are getting rattled. Gonzaga is starting to throw the ball all over the arena and it’s leading to easy UNC points. The Zags seriously need to get this lead down to 10 by halftime. And that starts with making a bucket and getting a stop.

Meanwhile, Kansas is up seven on Michigan State. I wasn’t impressed with the Spartans the three or four times I saw them play, but one thing’s for sure — Tom Izzo’s team is not going to give up. We’ll see if the Jayhawks can hold on in the second half.

THE NEXT MORNING: Well, the battery died on my laptop and the two Sandbox power outlets I tried to use didn’t work. I was running on four hours of sleep (special thanks to my son, Max, for waking full of piss and vinegar at 5:45 AM) and I just didn’t have the wherewithal to finish the diary when I got home. Truthfully, I was a little depressed. My Elite Eight picks went 1-2 on the night (1-3 if you count the one pool where I had Kansas instead of WVU), so I think it’s safe to say that watching the games at Sandbox was a bust. I am probably too superstitious to go back.

Amazingly, my pools are not dead yet, but I have no margin for error. Pittsburgh has to beat UConn in the final, and Oklahoma has to make the Final Four. (It actually doesn’t matter if Louisville makes it.) Of the two Yahoo pools (that utilize the Scenario Generator), I can still win one outright, and could finish in the money in another. I won’t be sure if I’m still alive in the 104-bracket pool, but something tells me that I’m not. Needless to say, I’m not in as good of a position as I was entering the Elite Eight the last two years.

The Sagarin 2+ point favorites only went 3-3 in the Elite Eight, so the overall record of this system is 36-11 (or 77%) this year. The last two seasons, this method has hit at an 85% clip, so it’s definitely disappointing. What’s worse, the team that would have picked to win it all had they been healthy (UNC) is starting to look really healthy. For as much as we hear how important the big toes are to a player’s performance, I just didn’t think Lawson could lead the Tar Heels to the Final Four on a bum toe. I am beginning to regret this decision.

On a more qualitative level, save for the Michigan State/Kansas game, this was a pretty boring night of action. Oklahoma, North Carolina and Louisville won by a combined 73 points. There’s obviously a lot on the line (a.k.a. a trip to the Final Four) in today’s action, so be sure to check out my preview of Saturday’s games.

#3-seed Missouri vs. #1-seed UConn
Tip-Off: 4:40 PM ET
Sagarin Ratings: UConn (94.21), Mizzou (91.04)
Line: UConn -5.5
Missouri’s strength is their forward duo of Leo Lyons and DeMarre Carroll, but guard J.T. Tiller scored a season-high 23 points against Memphis. Mizzou got Memphis to play at its pace, but I don’t think that the Tigers are going to find the Huskies as willing to run with them. UConn plays its best defense when Hasheem Thabeet is planted firmly in the lane. They don’t foul (Memphis sent Mizzou to the line 45 times on Thursday) and they are pretty efficient offensively, which one of the flaws of John Calipari’s team. If UConn gets into an up-and-down affair, Thabeet is far more likely to find himself in sitting on the bench in foul trouble. I’d expect UConn to push when they have the advantage but otherwise slow the tempo down. Mizzou’s run has been great, but UConn is playing as well as anyone in the tournament and given the Huskies’ balance of talent, that’s a pretty scary proposition. But 5.5 points is a lot to give the Tigers, who are playing the best basketball of their season right now. I think I’d stay away from this one wager-wise, but UConn is my pick to win it.

#3-seed Villanova vs. #1-seed Pittsburgh
Tip-Off: 7:05 PM ET
Sagarin Ratings: Pittsburgh (91.97), Villanova (89.59)
Line: Pittsburgh -2
I picked Pitt to win the whole thing and every game they love to scare the ever-loving crap out of me. Needless to say, I’m not as optimistic about the Panthers making it to the Final Four much less win the whole thing. The one thing that they’re doing better than anyone else this in this tournament is keeping their poise in the clutch. They have three of the best players in the college game in Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields, but they aren’t getting much offensive help from any of their other players. In each of the three tournament games, they’ve kept it in about second or third gear for much of the game before flipping a switch in the waning minutes. This is a dangerous game to be playing, especially against a Villanova squad that looks so good right now. The Wildcats have blown out two pretty good teams (UCLA and Duke) and they beat Pitt by 10 at home in the two teams’ only meeting this season. In that game, Blair was saddled with foul trouble, so Pitt should fare better if he’s able to play his usual minutes. So with the Panthers favored by two, we have a team that isn’t playing very well (but is winning) favored by a bucket over a team that is as hot as a pistol and already won the previous meeting. If I were a betting man and you put a gun to my head, I think I’d take the Wildcats and the points, though if the game is tied or within one with two minutes to play, Pitt probably covers (if that makes any sense). The thing that really worries me about laying any money on Nova is the fact that Panthers have already lost to the Wildcats and they know they have to take them seriously. I’d stay away from this one too. My brain is saying Nova and my gut is saying Pitt, but my pick is Pitt. I think they play better and win a tight one.

Since there are still games on at the same time, I feel the need to watch them in a sports bar, and I wore out Rudy’s last Thursday, so Hooters seemed like the next logical choice. Besides, it was sort of a compromise for my buddy Tom and I. He lives a ways away, so it’s tough to ask him to drive the extra twenty minutes to get to Newport Beach.

Tom and I used to play basketball on Sunday, and afterward we’d always go to The Black Watch, which is a dive bar in Huntington Beach. The Black Watch is the kind of place where there’s always a heavy ratio of guys to girls (sometimes 10 or 15 to 1) and most of the women (save for the bartenders) were usually a minimum of 50 pounds overweight. No knock on them, but the point is that The Black Watch is a place to drink beer. They didn’t even have a liquor license. The team made an agreement about ten years ago for $5 pitchers and they were still honoring it when the team fell apart. Anyway, I found out early on that Tom was from Indiana, so we’re both Midwestern boys — I’m from Wisconsin — and we hit it off quickly.

The toughest part about watching a couple of games at Hooters is picking the right table. In my experience, there are three groups of girls who waitress at Hooters: a) the super-friendly girls that eventually tell you their entire life’s story, b) the bitchy girls who see their time at Hooters as a stepping stone to their ultimate goal of being an actress/model/whatever, and c) the normal ones that would be waitressing somewhere else if they weren’t semi-hot and willing to wear the uniform for some extra tips. Every Hooters has a couple of duds — maybe they got the job through a friend or have packed on thirty pounds since they were hired — but they’re usually aware of how they’re holding on for dear life and usually act as sweet as can be to make up for it.

The key to picking the right table at Hooters comes down to a few factors: 1) if you’re watching a game, you want to pick a table that has a good view of a TV (or two), 2) you want a waitress that’s cute, but not too hot that they fall into the Bitchy Group, and 3) you want a table that it’s in the middle of all the action. Clearly, being able to watch the game that you came to Hooters to watch is the most important, but the others are vital as well. You’re stuck with your waitress ALL NIGHT, so if she doesn’t want to be there, she’s going to make you feel the same way. Sure, nine or ten girls will come by and sign a piece of paper that’s sitting on your table — I have no idea why they do this — but you’re pretty much stuck with your waitress for the night, unless there’s a shift change. Lastly, if you have a table in the middle of the restaurant, you’ll have a nice vantage point of everyone coming and going.

In Hooters (establishments) that aren’t very big, it can pay to evaluate the layout before choosing your table. Maybe the restaurant only has six or eight girls working, so you can find one that you like (and that looks friendly) and see what section she’s working. This method can be daunting in the larger Hooters (establishments) where there are 25 or 30 girls buzzing about. In such cases, it’s best to grab a table in the middle with a good view of a television and hope for the best.

If your waitress doesn’t greet you with a smile, you’re in trouble. Just say that you need a minute before ordering and she’ll usually be gone before you finish your sentence. Use this time to survey the rest of the restaurant and try to find a table with a nicer waitress. Believe me, it’s worth it. The #1 job of a Hooters waitress is to make you feel like less of an a-hole for being at a Hooters.

On to the diary…

4:45 PM: I’m on Facebook now and a few days ago, one of Tom’s high school friends posted a picture of him hitting the game-winning free throw sometime in the early 1980s. He was sporting some seriously long hair and some seriously short shorts. I graduated in ’91 and our unis were leftover from Tom’s era. I was 6’7″ and it felt like my shorts were 13 inches long. It was a weird time in the world of high school hoops, because longer shorts were already popular in the NBA and college, and high schools were starting to get them. But my school was behind the curve, so you’d have the other team running around in sweet unis while we were wearing a bunch of nuthuggers. In high school, I averaged 24.5 points per game — I’ve got that number memorized, obviously — and I swear I could have pushed that to 28 or 29 points per game if I hadn’t been worried about how short my shorts were. We’d be playing a team with new, long unis and, during warmups, I’d be admiring the size of their shorts instead of working on my jumper. You know how there are certain things you’d go back and do if you had access to a time machine? I think I’d go back to 1990 and buy my team some new uniforms. Maybe I would have gone Division I, who knows?

5:07 PM: I’m sitting with Tom and LaRusso (college buddy) in the dead center of the restaurant. At first, we struck out big time on the quality of waitress (she looked like a meth addict), but there was a shift change, so we were saved from a very rough night. It’s halftime of the UConn/Purdue game. UConn jumped out quick, but the Boilermakers won’t quit. Pitt and Xavier are in a nip and tuck affair – I thought the Musketeers would be able to keep it close.

Our first Hooters Girl did not look like this.

5:19 PM: I just saw a 50-something Asian man order a “white zin.” I hope to hell that he was ordering it for his wife (or boyfriend).

5:20 PM: We changed tables. We now have seats with back rests and Sweet Jen as our waitress. We hit a home run. Starting out with the meth addict and ending up with Jen is like hitting an inside straight on the river when you’re “all in.” Joyous.

5:46 PM: Uh-oh, my bracket is on the line. Pittsburgh trailed Xavier by eight, but the Panthers have whittled it down to two early in the second half. If they lose, I’m screwed. In the other game, Tom is a Purdue alum, and the Boilermakers are down eight, so I can tell he’s feeling a little anxious. He just told me to stop writing about him, so I will respect his wishes.

5:51 PM: It’s getting on 6 PM so happy hour is ending. I feel like a real winner explaining the specials to our waitress. “What specials?” “Um, y’know, happy hour…”

5:54 PM: Jen just told us that she’s flying to Costa Rica in four days. Awesome. Pittsburgh and Xavier are a combined 6 of 33 from the field in the second half. Pitt down one. If you’re the Panthers and you’ve held your opponent to four points in 10 minutes, don’t you think you’d be leading by now? This is like watching a monkey hump a football. There’s a lot going on, but nothing good is happening. This is starting to look a lot like a Pitt upset….UConn up 13 in the closing minutes. Tom is pissed that CBS switched feeds to the Pitt/Xavier game. Oops, I just blogged about him. Sorry, Tom.

6:11 PM: I love the Hooters Girls P.A. announcements. The last one tried to coax us to buy a t-shirt so all the Hooters Girls can sign it. She actually said that our shirt would be the “talk of the town.” I guarantee you that announcement was written sometime in the early ‘90s. No one in their early 20’s would be caught dead using that phrase.

6:37 PM: Wow, Pitt pulled another win out. I wonder if that’ll be the game of the night. Part of the reason I picked the Panthers to win it all was because of their poise, but I wasn’t expecting them to need so much of it through the first three games. Levance Fields made a really tough three to give Pitt a one point lead with less than a minute and then DeJuan Blair poked the ball away (leading to a Fields layup). Pittsburgh really put the clamps down defensively in the second half, as the Musketeers only scored 18 points in the final 20 minutes. I still don’t feel good about picking them to win the whole thing, but they just keep winning, so I’m still alive.

7:23 PM: Of all the teams in the country, Duke is LaRusso’s least favorite team. In other words, he hates Duke more than any other team/program. He’s a Florida football fan (born in Jacksonville), and even prefers Florida State to Duke. When asked to explain why he hates the Blue Devils so much, he responds, “they get all the calls, everyone loves them, Dick Vitale, I f*cking hate him, and he’s a big homer.” He goes on to compare them to the Yankees, saying that Duke is polarizing, “you either love them or you hate them.” When asked, does Duke play the “right way,” he answers emphatically…”yes.” He hates it when I compare him to Jon Scheyer so I do it as often as possible.

7:46 PM: Mizzou just hit a 65-footer to go up 13 at halftime. Memphis is in a little trouble, though with the pace that Missouri plays at, a 13-point lead is far from insurmountable. For anyone that has UConn going to the Final Four, a Memphis loss is probably a good thing in all but the biggest of brackets. The refs are letting Duke and Villanova play, which is a good thing for the Wildcats. I’m thinking about asking our waitress, Jen, for a photo for the blog, we’ll see what she says.

7:52 PM: She said yes! Here you go…

Jackpot.

She’s sweet as hell and is a genuinely nice person. I hope she has a great time in Costa Rica. God bless Jen.

8:00 PM: After Lance Thomas got called for a (ridiculous) elbow clear-out offensive foul, LaRusso has admitted that the refs are not pro-Duke. He is wondering if we are living in a bizarro universe.

8:20 PM: Mizzou is up 22 at the under-16 timeout. Things are looking bad for John Calipari and Co. Memphis is the top defensive team in the nation, and just above average offensively, so overcoming a 22-point deficit is a long shot. This is good news for those with UConn going to the Final Four. I don’t think Mizzou matches up well with the Huskies.

8:46 PM: Just one of those nights for Duke. 33 points almost thirty minutes into the game. They can’t get any good deep looks and they aren’t getting to the line when they go to the hole. Conversely, most of their perimeter players are already in foul trouble. Mizzou is up 13 with six minutes to go and I still don’t feel comfortable. Ideally, it would be good to have UConn beat Memphis in the Elite 8, but I don’t want to take the chance that the Tigers upend the Huskies. That would really hurt bracket-wise.

8:50 PM: Mizzou was wise to take a page from the CS-Northridge book and utilize a zone. Other than Sallie, the Tigers don’t have anyone that can shoot the three.

9:04 PM: Up eight with 2:30 to play and Mizzou gets a new shot clock. Instead of winding it down, Leo Lyons takes it to the hole and misses a layup. Taggert dunks on the other end. Not a smart play.

9:08 PM: Offense trumped defense in the Mizzou/Memphis game. Memphis can defend, but they can’t shoot the three and they struggle scoring at times. Missouri shot 53% from the field and 38% from long range against what was supposedly the best defense in the nation. How much of that comes from Memphis playing in C-USA? I wish they’d join another conference, but their location is such that it would be tough to put them anywhere. Big East? Maybe the best fit, but they’re not really in the East (though neither is Marquette, DePaul, Notre Dame or Louisville). Maybe the Big East should break up into two divisions, or eight or ten teams should split off into the “Big Central” or the “Big Midwest.” Throw Memphis in with those four I mentioned plus Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. Then that would leave UConn, Syracuse, Villanova, Providence, Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John’s, South Florida and Rutgers. I’d love to see how Memphis would do in a good conference year in and year out.

Duke down 18 with under four to play. Ouch. 19% from three point land. Double ouch. Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer combined to go 9 for 46 (19.6%) from the field. Triple ouch.

11:24 PM: Back home and feeling about as good as I can after a 2-2 bracket night. My two final picks (Pitt and UConn) both won, while two Elite Eight picks (Duke and Memphis) are dead, though the Tigers loss probably helps me since UConn should have an “easier” time with Mizzou (though I’m not so sure). ‘Nova over Duke? Meh. Villanova beat Pitt by 10 the only time the two teams played (at ‘Nova). DeJuan Blair only played 20 minutes, finishing with seven points, eight rebounds and four fouls. With the loss, you’d think the Pitt would come out fired up and focused to get some revenge. We’ll see…they’ve been toying with teams the entire tournament and then flipping the switch at the end. Meanwhile, Villanova has looked terrific in back-to-back wins against UCLA and Duke.