It’s been a while since the last update, but typing up this blog has taken longer than I anticipated. But, time aside, I figure that this entry is more indicative of who I am and what I do.

If you know me, you know I enjoy college basketball. I bristle at the term obsessed, but I am close to obsessed with NCAA Hoops. March is the best month; Christmas comes the night of the NCAA Tourney Selection Show. For about a month and a half prior to the pairings being released, I have a notebook used for tracking teams and their performance over the course of the season. Each week, I make a new tourney bracket and play it out, crowning a champion each week. The concept is similar to Joe Lunardi’s BRACKETOLOGY on ESPN.com, but I do things my way. Sometimes these pairings are quite accurate; others turn out to be more than slightly off target. Either way, it is fun and has kept me awake in many a college class.

That being said, to start off the season, I have pre-season rankings, picks for ten major conferences, and a full NCAA tournament. These things excite me, so take it and like it. Without further adieu:

ACC	A-10	Big East	Big Ten
Duke	G. Washington	UCONN	Michigan St
Wake Forest	Xavier	Syracuse	Illinois
Maryland	Charlotte	Villinova	Indiana
NC State	Dayton	Louisville	Iowa
Boston College	St. Joseph's	West Virginia	Wisconsin
N. Carolina	UMASS	Pittsburgh	Michigan
Miami	Temple	Cincinnati	Ohio St
Georgia Tech	LaSalle	Notre Dame	Minnesota
Virginia Tech	Rhode Island	Georgetown	Northwestern
Florida St	Richmond	DePaul	Penn St
Virginia	Fordham	Marquette	Purdue
Clemson	St. Louis	St. John's
	Duquesne	Rutgers
	St. Bonaventure	Providence
		Seton Hall
		South Florida
Big 12	Conference USA	Mountain West	Pac-10
Texas	Memphis	New Mexico	Stanford
Oklahoma	UAB	Utah	Arizona
Oklahoma St	UTEP	San Diego St	Washington
Iowa St	Houston	UNLV	UCLA
Kansas	Central Florida	Air Force	Oregon
Texas Tech	Tulane	BYU	California
Nebraska	Tulsa	TCU	So. California
Texas A&M	Rice	Wyoming	Oregon St
Colorado	SMU	Colorado St	Washington St
Missouri	So Mississippi		Arizona St
Kansas St	E. Carolina
Baylor	Marshall
SEC	WAC	Others to Watch
East:	Nevada	Ohio U
Kentucky	Hawaii	Akron
Florida	Utah St	Kent St
S. Carolina	New Mexico St	No Iowa
Vanderbilt	La. Tech	Creighton
Tennessee	Boise St	So Illinois
Georgia	Fresno St	Gonzaga
West:	San Jose St	Wisc-Milwaukee
Alabama	Idaho	CS Fullerton
LSU		Pacific
Arkansas
Auburn
Mississippi St
Ole Miss

Above are conference predictions. Next, let’s look at a projected NCAA tournament with how things might play out.

Seed	East (Washington DC)	South (Atlanta)	Midwest (Minneapolis)	West (Oakland)
1	Duke	Texas	UCONN	Stanford
2	Oklahoma	Kentucky	Michigan St	Gonzaga
3	Louisville	Arizona	Memphis	Villinova
4	Florida	Syracuse	Wake Forest	Illinois
5	West Virginia	Alabama	Indiana	Maryland
6	UCLA	NC State	Washington	Oklahoma St
7	Nevada	Iowa St	N. Iowa	Iowa
8	Wisconsin	Boston College	LSU	Pittsburgh
9	George Washington	Wisc-Milwaukee	Kansas	Creighton
10	Miami (Fla)	Michigan	N. Carolina	Texas Tech
11	Ohio U	Cincinnati	W. Kentucky	Akron
12	Hawaii	Xavier	Cal St Fullerton	S. Carolina
13	George Mason	Alabama-Birmingham	New Mexico	Iona
14	Davidson	Gardner Webb	Pennsylvania	Winthrop
15	Holy Cross	E. Kentucky	Oral Roberts	Boston U
16	Monmouth	Northwestern St	Delaware St/Alabama St	Montana St
	Just Missed: Oregon, Arkansas, So. Illinois, Ohio St, Vanderbilt, UTEP, Utah

(Teams in Italics are automatic bids from winning their conference championships)

First Round
1 Duke over 16 Monmouth	1 UCONN over 16 Delaware St
8 Wisconsin over 9 GWU	9 Kansas over 8 LSU
5 West VA over 12 Hawaii	5 Indiana over 12 Fullerton
4 Florida over 13 George Mason	4 Wake Forest over 13 New Mexico
6 UCLA over 11 Ohio U	6 Washington over 11 W. Kentucky
3 Louisville over 14 Davidson	3 Memphis over 14 Penn
7 Nevada over 10 Miami (Fla)	10 N Carolina over 7 No Iowa
2 Oklahoma over 15 Holy Cross	2 Michigan St over 15 Oral Roberts
1 Texas over 16 Northwestern St	1 Stanford over 16 Montana St
9 Wisc-Milwaukee over 8 BC	8 Pittsburgh over 9 Creighton
5 Alabama over 12 Xavier	5 Maryland over 12 S Carolina
4 Syracuse over 13 UAB	4 Illinois over 13 Iona
6 NCSU over 11 Cincy	6 Oklahoma St over 11 Akron
3 Arizona over 14 G Webb	3 Villinova over 14 Winthrop
7 Iowa St over 10 Michigan	10 Texas Tech over 7 Iowa
2 Kentucky over 15 E Kentucky	2 Gonzaga over 15 Boston U
Second Round
1 Duke over 8 Wisconsin	1 UCONN over 9 Kansas
4 Florida over 5 West VA	5 Indiana over 4 Wake Forest
3 Louisville over 6 UCLA	3 Memphis over 6 Washington
2 Oklahoma over 7 Nevada	2 Michigan St over 10 N Carolina
1 Texas over 9 Wisc-Mil	1 Stanford over 8 Pittsburgh
4 Syracuse over 5 Alabama	4 Illinois over 5 Maryland
3 Arizona over 6 NC State	3 Villinova over 6 Oklahoma St
2 Kentucky over 7 Iowa St	2 Gonzaga over 10 Texas Tech
Sweet 16
1 Duke over 4 Florida	1 UCONN over 5 Indiana
3 Louisville over 2 Oklahoma	2 Michigan St over 3 Memphis
1 Texas over 4 Syracuse	4 Illinois over 1 Stanford
2 Kentucky over 3 Arizona	2 Gonzaga over 3 Villinova
Elite 8
1 Duke over 3 Louisville	1 UCONN over 2 Michigan St
1 Texas over 2 Kentucky	2 Gonzaga over 4 Illinois
Final Four
Duke over Gonzaga
UCONN over Texas
National Title Game
Duke over UCONN

For the sake of having something else to write about soon, I’ll leave thoughts and comments on the season and teams for another post. Just absorb the data for now.

With that, I love you I love you I love you I looooove you

These words were indeed my own.