While I was wrong about predicting them to not reach the final four, my reason for doing so was, in the end, the reason they finished second - “Memphis’ bricks at the line will bring them down.”

I thought Kansas might have trouble lasting 40 minutes after the emotional game with UNC. And it appeared in the final minutes that they weren’t going to be able to finish this one like they did Saturday night. Memphis had the game in hand, but then missed four out of five free throws in the final minute, and Kansas sends it to overtime.

And now, Kansas has their third national championship, joining UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina and Duke as the only schools with three or more titles. (I believe that’s the full list, but it’s late, so don’t hold me to that.)

I saw Rick Pitino on PTI a month or so ago and they asked him about Memphis. He said their only possible weakness was at the line. Others have said the same. Unfortunately, despite having shot the ball quite well from the line during the tournament, it proved to be their downfall anyway.

I didn’t really care who won at this point, and just wanted a close, exciting game that went down to the end.

That’s what we got. A tremendous shot by Mario Chalmers to tie the game with two seconds left in regulation. When Kansas scored the first four points in overtime, I thought Memphis had to score the next trip down or it was over. They didn’t. It was.

I feel bad for Memphis. Anytime you lose a lead late in a game it’s unfortunate, but being up by nine with just over two minutes remaining and then missing four straight free throws to let Kansas back in it has to be devastating.

I’ve never been a Memphis fan, and have never really cared for Calipari, but I was sort of pulling for both teams tonight. I hated to see either team lose, and I would have felt bad for Memphis regardless of how they lost. But I really hated to see it happen the way it did.

Nevertheless, a great game to end the season.

Now, the long wait until November . . .

God bless Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks.

Danny Green isn’t dancing tonight.

Travel Hansblow is going home.

And Ol’ Roy may have changed his mind five years ago, but Kansas fans could still give a s*** about North Carolina. It had to be especially sweet for them to reach the title game by sending ol’ traitor Roy home.

An 18-0 run in the first half sealed Carolina’s fate, despite a furious comeback. I was almost certain that Bill Self’s team had self-destructed like so many Kansas teams - coached both by Self and ol’ Roy - had done in years past. I thought it was only a matter of time before UNC completed their comeback and was hailed as the greatest team to ever set foot on a basketball court and Travel Hansblow proclaimed to be the god of all living things.

When it was 40-12, I was thrilled. It was happening. Not only was Carolina going to lose, but they were being embarrassed. Far better. But when it was 54-50, my joy had fled and deep concern that Kansas was about to complete the biggest fold up by a team in final four history (which, with Kansas’ win, is still held by Maryland, who lost to Duke in 2001 after leading by 22 in the first half.)

Fortunately, Billy Packer - who with about 7:30 to go in the first half proclaimed on air that the game was over - proved to be a prophet after all. Kansas pulls out the win and sends UNC packing 84-66.

My day was made.

GTHC!

I wasn’t going to be surprised by anything in the final four, considering the caliber of teams playing. And despite picking UCLA, it wasn’t at all shocking to see Memphis take them out.

In Memphis’ last three games, they’ve looked as good as anyone has during the whole tournament, so I might be slightly shocked if they don’t win Monday night. Free throw shooting was supposed to be their only weakness, but I noticed in their win over Mississippi State in the 2nd round that they were hitting them down the stretch, and they did so again as Texas attempted a comeback. If they hit their free throws, they may not have any other weakness to exploit. They’ve been playing the “no respect” card, and seem intent on making sure everyone respects them by late Monday night. As of now, it looks like they just might get that respect after all.

I just hope it’s a good one, but for now, I think I’ll go with Memphis.

Okay, one more time: GTHC!

Well, the NCAA tournament has come to this - what I like to call the “Digger Phelps bracket.” For many years, Digger would inevitably pick all four #1 seeds into the final four on selection Sunday. I haven’t checked to see what Digger’s picks were this year, but if he went with chalk once again, he was finally right.

I’ll tell you who was right, though. My man Jay Bilas. He picked all four teams to reach the final four. Except that he didn’t do it two weeks ago when the bracket was revealed. He did it in October. That’s pretty impressive. Probably that Duke education.

So, for the first time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, all four #1 seeds have survived the regionals. Now it’s being called the greatest final four ever. Perhaps the lineup is the greatest as far as teams go. There are 143 wins between these teams. That’s amazing. Memphis has tied the single-season win record, currently with 37 wins, also held by Duke (1986, 1999), UNLV (1987), and Illinois (2005). One more win and they break the record. Along with Memphis’ 37 are UNC with 36, and UCLA and Kansas with 35 each. That’s unprecedented as well, I believe, and awfully impressive.

Odds are still against Memphis. People started questioning them after they lost to Tennessee at home. They play in a weaker conference than most other highly ranked teams, and so a home loss to a quality opponent seemed to increase the doubts. After a difficult game with Mississippi State in the second round, everyone expected them to fall before now. I was one of those people.

However, they seem to be playing with the proverbial chip on their shoulder, suggesting that nobody respects them. The last team I remember vocalizing that regularly throughout the tournament was the 1995 Arkansas team. The defending champions struggled during some of their SEC play, and then, as a #2 seed, won their first round game by only 1 and had lost their second round game with only seconds left before Syracuse’s Lawrence Moten took a cue from Chris Webber and called a timeout he didn’t have. Arkansas sent the game to overtime and eventually won. They reached the final game that year, singing the same “no respect” song Memphis is singing. Unfortunately, they did finally lose. To UCLA. Who, this year, plays… Memphis.

The other thing going against Memphis is that no team has won the national championship with less than 2 losses since Indiana’s undefeated season in 1976. Memphis has only one loss. In 1979, Larry Bird and Indiana State were undefeated before losing the championship game. UNLV was undefeated in 1991 before losing in the final four. Duke had just one loss before losing in the title game in 1999, and likewise, one loss Illinois fell in the 2005 title game. For some reason, it’s hard to finish without a couple of losses.

I picked UCLA to win it all. While I only picked two of the final four this year, my finals is still intact (UCLA over Kansas) for the moment. I’ve said before that if UCLA returns to the final four for the third straight year, they will win it. They have had to battle in some of their games, but that’s not uncommon for national champions. I was a little nervous yesterday after Memphis won. That was three #1 seeds, with Kansas playing red hot Davidson in the final game. With four #1’s reaching the final four being unprecedented, and Bill Self coaching the fourth, odds were stacked against Kansas. But they pulled it out, and I’ve heard several people say in the past week that they looked like the best team. Perhaps Self and the team getting that monkey off of their back will allow them to relax and just play this weekend. .

Whoever wins it all has their work cut out for them, because obviously they’re playing two of the best teams in the country to do it. After a number of blowouts in the sweet 16 and even the regional finals, the last three games should all be quite good. I’ll be surprised if any of them are decided until after the final TV timeout.

Thing I’ve loved about the tournament: since UNC hasn’t lost yet - and for the love of God will somebody please beat them? - Davidson is the obvious next best thing. That was a great run. They proved early on this season that they could play with anyone, losing close games to UNC, Duke and UCLA (despite leading UCLA by 12 in the second half). They weren’t the Cinderella that GMU was two years ago. Everyone knew (or should have known) they could play coming in. And they were one final shot away from the final four. I’ll be anxious to see what they do next year.

Thing I won’t miss about the tournament: listening to the likes of Clark Kellogg, Digger Phelps and, most of all, Bill Raftery, who makes my ears bleed. I didn’t even mention Billy Packer, which astonishes even myself, but these three are just unbearable.

My final four prediction will remain. As I said, I picked UCLA over Kansas in the final, which almost certainly means Memphis and UNC will be playing Monday night. But I’m going to stick to my guns.

All you need is [Kevin] Love. UCLA over Kansas on Monday night.

GTHC, GTH! And I agree with Roy…

I thought I’d try to get in an update post here before I’m gone for a few days. My kids are on spring break this week, and I’m only working through noon today. I’m taking off the rest of the week, starting with taking my daughter to lunch. She’s asked for just the two of us to go out to lunch, so we’re doing that today. The rest of the week is not completely planned, but mostly just some time to spend together as a family, and for me, not working!

We all went to see Horton Hears A Who this weekend. It was pretty good. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did several Pixar movies, but it was still fun. I usually find Jim Carrey to be annoying to some degree, but he wasn’t too bad here. I’ve had Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (HBO) on my DVR for months now, and I’m hoping to find time to watch it this week during my time off.

My eMusic downloads refreshed this past weekend. I’ve not decided what else I’ll be getting yet, but I finally pulled the trigger on John Fogerty’s double-live album The Long Road Home - In Concert, which I’ve had on my list for many months now. It’s part solo, part CCR, and it’s all good. It includes one song I was unfamiliar with, apparently from an album of his a few years ago. It’s called “Déjà Vu (All Over Again)”, where Fogerty expresses his opinion of the Iraq war, suggesting it’s another Vietnam. Check it out.

I finished A.J. Jacob’s book The Year of Living Biblically yesterday. I enjoyed it a lot. First, it was hilarious. Jacobs is pretty funny. But, I also found it thought provoking at times. How seriously do I take the Bible? How do I, at times, interpret it to fit what I want it to say instead of taking it for what it says? My one complaint is that it probably could have been a bit shorter. He tended to include plenty of accounts that really didn’t add anything to the story. But still, I’d definitely recommend it.

I’m currently reading Erwin McManus’ The Barbarian Way. I read this about two and a half years ago, but as I think I mentioned before, I’m a part of a book club with a couple of ministers from my church, and that’s our book for March. I’m about halfway through.

In other books, I’ll start reading Lewis’ Mere Christianity over the next few days. Our small group at church is beginning a study of it this week. I’ve had this book for probably 15 years, and have yet to read it. So, finally, I will. Also, I picked up Shane Claiborne’s new book, Jesus For President, a couple of days ago. I plan to start it next week, after I’m finished with McManus.

I was somewhat sad to see the series finale of Jericho last night. I guess we won’t get to see America’s next civil war, although I understand the producers are still hoping to land it somewhere else after CBS showed them the door. A fair amount of it was beyond belief, but I still enjoyed it while it lasted.

If you don’t read Greg Boyd’s blog, go check it out. He’s had some great stuff over the last month. Start with his Feburary 28th post and read up to the present.

I’ll probably have a tournament update next week, but until then, here’s #3:

I felt a lot of pressure trying to make my picks after last year. Last year, for the first time, I managed to pick all four of the Final Four teams (Florida, UCLA, Ohio State & Georgetown.) Unfortunately, I picked the two finalists incorrectly (I picked Georgetown over UCLA), but still, I was pretty proud of picking all four. My overall picks were 49 of 64 correct, I believe. So, I’m shooting for at least 76% again this year.

Also, in 2004, I picked three of the final four (UConn, Duke, Georgia Tech) as well as the final game correctly (UConn over Georgia Tech). So at least a couple of times in recent years, I’ve not done too bad picking the final weekend.

But it is with little confidence that I post my rushed picks this year. My lack of time has caused me to pick many games with less information than I’d like, so I don’t feel very comfortable about many of my picks. Nevertheless, here they are.

My final four picks are:

• East: Louisville - because I simply could not bring myself to pick UNC
• MidWest: Kansas - because I don’t think anyone there can beat them
• South: Texas - because Memphis’ bricks at the line will bring them down
• West: UCLA - because next year is Duke’s year

My championship game has UCLA beating Kansas. I said earlier this year that if UCLA returns to the Final Four for a third straight year, they will win it. Of course, the trick is going to be getting there again. UConn could prove to be difficult if that game happens, but I don’t think anyone out of the bottom - Duke, Xavier or anyone else - can take them out. So, I’m sticking with UCLA.

You can see my full bracket of picks here (pdf).

Tip-off is about two hours away.

Let the madness begin.

And, I almost forgot . . . #2

The madness technically began last night, but I still don’t care for the play-in game. For me, it still doesn’t really begin until late Thursday morning.

Normally, I’d have already started posting about the tournament before now. Last year I did a post for each region with my thoughts and picks. This year, as of this morning, I’ve barely looked at the bracket. In fact, I haven’t really looked at it since Sunday night. And at this point I’m just hoping to fill out my picks before Thursday around 11am. (I did go ahead and side with - against my better judgment - Coppin State in the game last night, which turned out to be the wrong pick, so I’m already 0-1.)

I’ve had a pretty busy last week or so. I actually saw only one game on Saturday (Arkansas-Tennessee, although I did see part of both Georgia games), and none on Sunday. That’s unprecedented. Things are starting to slow down today, so I hope to have my bracket filled out by tonight, or at least early tomorrow.

Donovan

In the meantime, I like Billy Donovan, but someone needs to settle him down a little. He’s going nuts. And speaking of Florida, I heard them referred to as “defending champions” on ESPN Monday night. But Florida didn’t make it into the tournament this year, so can you really call them “defending” champions now? At this point, they’re not defending anything.

We’re #98!

What the hell is this? The College Basketball Invitational? Do we really need another post-season tournament? I’m not even sure there should be an NIT. If you don’t make the field of 64+1, then you probably should just shut it down until next year. But this? If you’re not good enough to make the NIT, you might want to consider shutting your program down, not playing more games against other underachievers. Instead, we now have the college basketball equivalent to college football’s December bowl games - crappy teams playing meaningless games. Hooray!

Picks by tomorrow. Until then, the first of three . . .

More later . . .

It all comes down to Saturday night.

Duke and Carolina will face off in the final regular season game, both sitting at the top of the ACC tied with 13-2 records. The winner of the game at Cameron Saturday will win the ACC regular season outright.

I can’t recall the last time that happened. The closest I can recall was In 2001, when Duke went to Chapel Hill one game behind and won the game to take a share of the regular season along with UNC. But I can’t recall an occasion in recent history where the regular season was decided by a final “winner take all” game. Usually it’s already been decided by then. And to add to the drama this year, a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament for both teams may be on the line as well.

The good thing for Carolina is that they come into the game playing well again and Ty Lawson - who missed the first Duke game, among many others - will be back on the floor (albeit still not at 100% yet.) I believe they’ve adjusted to Lawson not being there, so they shouldn’t have some of the struggles they had in the first game, which was shortly after his injury. Carolina shot the ball poorly from outside in Duke’s win as well, so if they shoot the ball well from outside (particularly Ellington and Green), they will be tough to beat unless Duke can slow down Hansbrough this time around. Brian Zoubek - who missed the previous game for Duke - is not going to stop Hansbrough, but if he can provide a few minutes here and there and help slow him down, that will be beneficial for Duke. It would be particularly nice if Duke could manage to get Hansbrough into early foul trouble (in either or both halves), but that’s extremely unlikely since ACC officials tend to give Hansbrough carte blanche to impose his will inside the lane (yeah, Duke gets all the calls. Right…)

The good thing for Duke is that it seems they’ve moved past their recent shooting woes. During a three-game stretch - which included their two ACC losses - they managed only 33% from 3-point range, and it would have been worse were it not for them catching fire late against Miami. Once they got their 3-point shot back, they went cold inside the arc against NC State, shooting only 9-29 (31%) and missing a lot of shots inside of 8 feet. They shot much better against Virginia two nights ago (51% overall, 44% 3-point) and they needed that coming into this game. You don’t want to come in to the biggest game of the year throwing up a lot of bricks. The key to their first win was their shooting, especially from behind the arc, and if they are to have a chance to win tomorrow, they’ll have do it again.

Home court seems to have been more of an edge for Duke than UNC during this decade. Since 2000, Duke has won 6 of 9 at Chapel Hill, while UNC has won 3 of 8 at Cameron. Four times they’ve split the regular season, and 2 of those 4 times they’ve both lost at home. Duke has thrice swept the regular season, to Carolina’s once (last year.) However, of the 3 wins in Carmeron for UNC, two have come the past two seasons. If Duke wants to avoid losing 3 in a row at home to Carolina, they need to hold serve again tomorrow night.

Duke has already exceeded my expectations this year. After what was clearly a “down year” last season (by Duke standards), I had great faith that they would easily improve on last season. I am a little surprised, however, that the improvement has been as significant as it has, particularly with so little help inside. I wouldn’t have expected a 26-3 record at this point in the season. I predicted a couple of months ago that they would finish 12-4 and second place in the ACC. They have guaranteed at least second place and exceeded my record prediction with 13 wins. And, they can finish at 14-2 and 1st place with a win tomorrow night.

I thought they were a year away from doing any damage in the NCAA tournament, and I do believe next year will be their year to be a favorite. Still being a very young team may or may not be a factor in their success for the remainder of the season, but if they play to their ability and shoot the ball well, they can play with just about anyone. Hopefully, they’ll play their best tomorrow night, and continue that path deeper into March.

I think it’s time for another classic. There have been plenty in this rivalry, but this game means more than usual this time around. The ACC regular season, and possibly a #1 seed in two weeks, will be decided by 40 minutes in Cameron tomorrow night.

Tennessee/Memphis had nothing on this game. This is what college basketball is all about.

ACC.

Duke.

Carolina.

Cameron Crazies.

March.

I love it.

Go Duke!

At least for tonight…

The day has arrived. February 6, 2008. The most anticipated day of every year for Duke and North Carolina fans. The day, this year, that #2 and #3 will face off. The day as glorious as any other day of the year, and more so then most. The first meeting between the Devils (19-1, 7-0) and the Heels (21-1, 6-1).

Why the first Wednesday in February - normally the day this game takes place - is not a national holiday remains incomprehensible to me.

In preparation for this game and the second half of the ACC season, I began reading Will Blythe’s book To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever : A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry last week. I bought this book nearly two years ago, but have just now gotten around to reading it. I always read at least one book on college basketball during January and/or February, and this is mine for this year.

Blythe is a UNC alum and, of course, hates Duke (thus the title.) Despite this character flaw :), this has been a very entertaining read thus far. Not only about basketball, but also family, society, and more, he writes with a lot of humor that has prompted me to laugh out loud on several occasions in the first few chapters. I look forward to finishing and expect it to be well worth my time.

Here’s a sample:

From time to time I have felt silly about this devotion to a college team and the concomitant hatred of its rival. Here I am, a grown man, huddled in front of a TV, hiding out from the world from November to April, watching students battle each other in games that shouldn’t mean more to me than to them. Right?

Not long ago, as I watched Carolina endure a particularly ugly sequence against Duke, I scared my girlfriend’s nine-year-old son, Harry. (I had already terrified the dog, the beloved Gracie, who had fled into the bathroom to avoid my raving.) Duke’s Dahntay Jones had just driven home a particularly obnoxious dunk and was now flexing his muscles like an insane bodybuilder. Was there no justice in the universe? Where was God?

I pounded my hand on the coffee table, stomped my feet on the floor, and exclaimed, with extreme eloquence, “Shit, hell, piss, damn it! And don’t say what I just said, Harry!” Indeed, I felt proud of myself that I had limited my profanity to just these few words. A virtual Zen master of self-control.

Harry, who had been watching me watch the game, asked, “Why do you have to get so mad?” Normally, he would have delighted in an adult’s swearing. But now he was edging backward across the room, the way people will when you have a gun pointed at them. His eyes were wide.

“Because I hate Duke,” I explained.

“Why do you hate them?” he asked.

Here I hesitated. A young boy had asked me a guileless question, and he needed an adult response. “Well, that’s an interesting question,” I told him, channeling Mister Rogers, “and it deserves an honest answer.” I paused for a moment, as I had seen his mother do when addressing an earnest inquiry by her son. Children are our future. We must teach them well, even when it is hard.

“The truth is they are terrible people,” I told him. “Detestable.”

“All of them?” he asked.

“Every last one of them,” I said. “Especially the coach.”

“I hate them, too,” Harry said, settling in next to me on the couch. And thus was born another soldier in the war. On the door of his room hung a chalkboard for self-expression, and I was pleased to note that now, scrawled in his child’s hand (with no assistance or prodding from me) was the unimpeachable sentiment, NO DUKE FANS ALLOWED IN HERE.

Blythe can likely make a long list of “detestable” players from Duke, no doubt (and has already named several so far.) Likewise, there are many UNC names I could list - like J.R. Reid, Rick Fox, Jeff McInnis and Rashad McCants, to name a few. And it’s beyond me how anyone could get behind a team which once included Rasheed Wallace, one of the biggest <bleep>s ever to step on a basketball court.

Clearly, I can relate to Blythe’s feelings here, albeit from the opposite perspective. I’m often overcome with such anxiety before a Duke game, especially a big game like Carolina, you’d think I was actually playing in it. Since the acquisition of my first DVR a few years ago, I now find it difficult to watch the games live, in real time. I usually record the game and start watching (from the beginning) later during the game so that I can watch it without all of the delays of timeouts, dead balls, free throws, etc. I can watch the game in about 45 minutes. The game still lasts around two hours, so the anxiety is still there while I’m waiting to start watching, but somehow starting it later and viewing it quickly makes me feel better. Sometimes, I just wait until it’s over and check the score online, then watch it in a much more relaxed state.

Yes, I’m pathetic.

Nevertheless, I look forward to the annual early-February meeting of Duke and Carolina tonight. Since it’s in Chapel Hill this year, the likely result is that Duke will suffer their first ACC loss. Carolina will be tough to beat at home, even if Ty Lawson isn’t playing (and I’ll believe that when I don’t see him on the floor.) Duke’s primary weakness is lack of inside players, of course, and while they’ve gone into Chapel Hill undermanned inside before and won (see 2001 when Carlos Boozer was injured), hope seems a bit more distant this time around. This time they’re not facing Brendan Haywood in there, but Tyler Hansbrough. But hey, the Giants weren’t supposed to win Sunday, either, right?

I will likely watch the game as I described above, starting from the beginning at about halftime. My wife and kids will probably already be in bed when I start, and it’s entirely possible that I’ll let a few things slip as Blythe describes above - probably at one or more of the many times Hansbrough lowers his head and bulls through a Duke player as the officials whistle remains silent or when Greg Paulus flops to the floor after someone breathes on him.

But regardless of outcome, there’s nothing else quite like the first Duke/Carolina game every year. It’s almost always just after the Super Bowl and seems to signal that the college basketball season has finally begun for real. And this year, it will also usher in the return of Dick Vitale and feature two of top three ranked teams. It just doesn’t get any better.

It’s often called the greatest rivalry in college sports for one simple reason: it is.

Go Duke!