See it here. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Yes, it is.

First, my thoughts on the weekend…

Well, it is March, and the madness began early in the conference tournaments. Teams expected to be in their finals - like UCLA and Texas A&M - lost early, and the SEC and ACC were pretty mixed up as well, although the #1 seeds prevailed as expected.

In the SEC, the much-maligned SEC West showed up to compensate for their mediocre regular season. I would have assumed an all-East final four, but instead only Florida from the East made it to Saturday. Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Arkansas joined them, as Tennessee lost on day one, and Kentucky and Vanderbilt went down on Friday. In a rematch of sorts of the SEC football championship, Florida once again defeated Arkansas, who were somewhat hampered by Charles Thomas’ injury as well as playing their fourth game in four days. Florida looked good in the tournament, but it’s hard to gauge if they’re really “back” since they avoided potential opponents Tennessee and Vanderbilt, which were the only teams I thought might be able to beat them.

The ACC tournament was turned upside down on day one, when the three bottom teams in the conference (#12 Miami, #11 Wake Forest and #10 NC State) all pulled upsets. Miami, after upsetting Maryland, was close to the semi’s with a late lead on Boston College, but eventually lost in overtime. NC State, of course, ended up in the finals after knocking out Duke, Virginia, and Virginia Tech. But, their legs seemed heavy at times and couldn’t quite finish the job, falling to UNC in the finals.

However, perhaps the most surprising thing that happened during the tournament is that UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough was actually called for traveling once. It only took two full seasons for the officials to notice it. (I’m sure it was the mask’s fault.)

Did anyone see the Miami-Akron game Saturday night? The Mid-American final ended with a bizarre finish. After Miami had seemingly won the game after banking in a 3-pointer as time expired, the officials put 0.6 seconds back on the clock. Why? Because the clock started late on the previous end. After a missed free thrown with 6.6 left, the clock didn’t start for nearly a second. Miami banked in the shot, which went through the next as the clock hit 0.0 and the game was over. But after watching the monitors, the officials put more time back on because the clock started late. Wait, doesn’t a late start mean there should be less time on the clock, not more? It made no sense, and I’ve yet to see anyone question why Akron got more time (which didn’t make a difference, as they threw the ball away.) If the clock starts late, that means more time should have expired. Since there was 0.0 on the clock, the only question should have been whether or not the player truly got the shot off before time should have expired. Replays showed he clearly did, with over 1 second remaining. Sometimes I wonder if officials have a clue.

A word here about Bill Simmons. Simmons is a writer on ESPN.com who writes about college basketball and regularly displays his lack of knowledge on the subject. Besides pissing me off by actually writing “God, I hate Duke” last week (which seems quite unprofessional for a national writer), he actually wrote about how he wanted to see more of Florida State’s Al Thornton, who he was apparently unaware of until last week. Al Thornton is one of the best players in the ACC, which is one of the best conferences in the country. How is it possible that a guy who’s writing about college basketball for a major sports media outlet like ESPN is unaware of one of the best players in the country? In other words, how does this guy still have a job??

Initial tournament thoughts

Easiest path to the Final Four for #1 seed: Ohio State (South)
Hardest path to the Final Four for #1 seed: North Carolina (East)

Most competetive region: tie - East and West
Least competetive region: South

Interesting potential Sweet 16 matchups:

Midwest: Florida vs Maryland - Maryland has played well in the last part of the season (9-1 last 10 games). They are a veteran team with both inside and outside play, and might be able to hang with Florida. But many believe Davidson could cause Maryland to stumble in the first round, although I’d be surprised if they lost that one.

West: UCLA vs Duke - one of those “a lot of tradition” games, although it would likely be a relatively easy win for UCLA. However, Duke has a LOT of work to do to get there. And a potential UCLA-Gonzaga matchup in round 2 would be interesting as well considering how last year’s tournament game played out.

East: UNC vs Texas - Kevin Durant is being compared to Carmello Anthony in 2003 - the guy who could possibly carry the team all the way. I don’t know if they can do that, but I’d like to see how the best freshman in the country would play against one of the best freshmen classes in the country. That could be a great game.

South: Louisville vs Memphis - It’s probably not that interesting to many, and I don’t think both teams will get there (and probably neither team will), but I still remember when this was a heated rivalry in the old Metro conference, during the 80’s when Louisville was wining titles and Memphis reached the Final Four in 1985. It wouldn’t be a marquee game, but it was the closest thing to interesting in South.

Initial Final Four picks - This is just my feeling initially, and is subject to change countless times over the next three days, but here goes:

Midwest - Oregon
West - UCLA
East - Georgetown
South - Ohio State

For now, I’m picking OSU and UCLA, with OSU winning it all. Again, this will likely all change before Thursday.

More later…