Well, I butchered my bracket contests by not taking the local squad, Tennessee, to beat Kentucky. I was in third place in YouWager (2K or thereabouts) and then got blown out of the water. I never anticipated, after Kentucky beat Tennessee twice in the season, that the Vols would be -5 in that game.
Really bad error on my part, fucking dumb as a rock really, which my compadres here in Tennessee are more than happy to explain to me. What annoys me is that I love the way Tennessee plays and hate the way Kentucky plays (they think a box out is a to go order at Dunkin' Donuts), but I took Kentucky anyway. Also had Kentucky at 70-1 to win the whole thing, although I hedged that out so no actual loss on that.
I will say this -- I like the way most of the teams that have made it to this point play. I like their structure, their discipline, their priorities on the court. I like Houston, Tennessee, Florida, Duke, and Auburn. They all play "the right way."
I have some local color stories regarding Bruce Pearl, coach of the top-ranked Auburn Tigers. My friends were able to sit and talk with him in one of the local dive bars when he was banned from coaching for a year or two. I've sat with his ex-assistant and current Wake head coach, Steve Forbes, on a couple of occasions. I'll go into these conversations on my blog sometime.
Anyway, I'm glad that college hoops is orienting back to a more Bobby Knight kind of gestalt. The days of the Caliparis and such seem to be done. One-and-done under-the-table teams have been overtaken since payments are now above board and allowed.
God, I missed a real opportunity to make money in these bracket contests. My superior half is banned from most such contests, which is a shame because she would not have had Kentucky in that game. She'd be in contention for everything.
