Author: John Paulsen (Page 790 of 937)

Tired of getting punked in your brackets each March? While my five tips won’t guarantee you’ll win it all this year, they should help ensure you don’t get beat by your buddy’s girlfriend who picked Kansas to go all the way because she thinks their mascot is cute.

The brackets have been announced, which means it’s time to second-guess the selection committee. In BE’s Bracket Breakdown, I give my initial thoughts about each region, including general analysis of the seeds, upset possibilities, intriguing potential matchups and possible dark horses. I’ll also discuss a few teams that were snubbed and one team that really should be headed for the NIT.

Call me a traditionalist, but there are a few things that bother me about the news that Nike is rolling out a new line of uniforms for four elite college programs – Ohio State, Arizona, Florida and Syracuse – which include tighter jerseys and baggier shorts.

The jerseys are tighter and the shorts are longer and baggier. And players have an option of “personalizing” their look with aerodynamic underlayer tops and leggings.

Nike said players had told the company that they were looking for ways to personalize their look, which some college players already do with tops under their jerseys.

If players want to go all willy nilly and “personalize their look” when they get to the pros, that’s fine with me (if it’s fine with David Stern), but I don’t think it’s good for the game if the five guys playing for a particular team are all wearing a different, customized version of the school’s uniform. It took me a while to get used to the t-shirts that players wear under their unis, but arm-length under armor is another story.

Does anyone remember when NC State switched to a spandex top and baggy shorts? That move went over like a lead balloon.

Also, the new jerseys also include a “LeBron James insignia on Ohio State’s. James has said he would have attended Ohio State if he hadn’t gone directly to the pros.”

So now we’re putting a LeBron insignia on the uniforms for a school that he never even attended? WTF?