TicketsPeople continue to ask me to help them with their brackets. First of all, no, I won't. It's not because I don't want to see you succeed and talk trash to the jerk in the cubicle next to you who has been bragging about his college basketball knowledge since he watched his first game in February. Or he could be one of these seven people in every office pool.
It's that you don't want my help and I don't want that pressure. My mother beats me in my bracket selection every year. If we conducted a contest on almost any other area of knowledge she would be expected to wipe the floor with me, but hoops isn't her deal, it's mine. It means little. That's what makes March so great, logic and perspective make upsets difficult to predict.
Plus, if I succeed at picking a winning bracket, people laugh and say, 'Yeah, well, that's your job, you should be the best.' If I fail, people assume I am terrible at my job.
If I sent you out to a coin-flipping contest and if you lost, all your friends would assume you are a terrible accountant, would you participate? Would you help others learn about flipping coins?
Probably not, so please don't ask. If you need me, I'll be at the bottom of my cousins office pool.
Let's eat...
--- The team flies to DC today. Tommy G, Dan Hoard and Chuck Machock will be bringing you updates every day at GoBearcats.com, so make sure to keep checking back. I'll be holding down the fort here, but still posting the Breakfast every morning.
--- Bill Koch wrote the definitive piece on the anatomy of the rebuilding process at UC. Most of this information is known, but seeing it all compiled again reminds you of how difficult this journey has been.
Bill touches on what I think is constantly overlooked in this entire progress and that is the exponential improvement in the classroom and off the court by the program. That was a big part of the deal when Cronin arrived and he tackled the problem promptly.
(Knocking on wood vigorously) When is the last time you heard of a UC player in trouble off the court?
--- Mizzou coach Mike Anderson is fighting to nip distractions in the bud about his possible departure to the vacated Arkansas position.
--- The Tigers fast pace can give unaccustomed teams trouble, this from the KC Star.
--- Pat Forde is a Missouri alum, but he doesn't think his alma mater will make it out of the first round. That must be tough for the fan base to take. You can bet if Nipsey Russell were alive today, he wouldn't be picking against his Bearcats.
--- Tom Rinaldi must have left his string quartet in the dust of his limo as he breaks out an entertaining piece on The Bracket.
--- Jeff Eisenberg at The Dagger says the committee made a blunder allowing the two possible second-round matchups between Big East schools (Cuse-Marquette being the other).
He suggested moving UC to Temple's No. 7 seed in the West. Personally, I think a possible first-round game with Penn State and second-rounder against San Diego State would have been a significant upgrade despite being downgraded. Yet, we all need to move on.
--- Not to look past this year, but ESPN put together a nice feature looking at what all the teams in the tournament lose this offseason and what they gain with recruits. UC is in great shape to be right back in the NCAA tournament next year when you combine the top four scorers returning along with a class that has some immediate contributors with Shaquille Thomas and Jermaine Sanders heading that list.
--- Former Bearcats standout Haruki Nakamura had many family and friends affected by the tragedy in Japan and wrote an open letter addressing them yesterday. Tough stuff to swallow and sending a donation through the Red Cross would be one of the easiest things you could do today.
--- On the topic of proud UC alumni, Connor Barwin took advantage of his spring break from classes at UC to take a trip to Nigeria with a group of NFL players headed by Amobi Okoye. You couldn't ask for a better representative of the institution than Connor.
--- Brian Bennett has been ranking the 25 best players of the 2010 football season by performance and impact. Armon Binns deservedly came in at No. 5.
Also, in news that I should have linked to you earlier, he had Isaiah Pead at No. 18 and Zach Collaros at No. 7.
--- On to some randomness...
--- Can you fire Gilbert Gottfried for being insensitive? Isn't that like firing John Goodman for being overweight? It's kind of his thing.
Sidenote: Gottfried was fired as the voice of the Aflac duck. That position will be hard to fill when only EVERYONE IN AMERICA insists on imitating that stupid thing.
--- Did you really need to conduct a report to find out people are getting their news online?
--- Bengals fans rarely are afforded opportunities to point and laugh at Steelers fans. So, take advantage.
--- A new Beastie Boys album on the way in May. Yes, please.
--- Got to respect this site that compiled all the One Shining Moments from the last 15 years.
Here's the 2002 version featuring Drew Gooden pre-duck tail and a Dan Dickau sighting!