Final 4

Butler, Michigan State, Duke, West Virginia.....those are the participants in the Final 4 not chosen by President Obama or myself. My Final 4 picks Kansas State, Kansas, Villanova, Kentucky have gone fishin' until November. Sherron Collins, The Wildcats starting 5, Scottie Reynolds, will not return next year but Jacob Pullen will return to be one of the top point guards in the country along with Kalin Lucus, Demetri McCamey, Kemba Walker.

What have I learned from this weekend:

• I enjoyed Evan Turner from the St. Joseph to Ohio State days and will follow him to the pros as the #2 overall pick. 
• John Wall will be the first to shake David Stern's hand come June 2010.
• The rest of the Kentucky Wildcats will be drafted in round one 2010.
• Head coached from Cornell, Butler, Baylor and hot assistant coaches will leave for a better coaching job.
• The New Jersey Nets will win at least 10 games and will not win the 2010 NBA Lottery.
• The Chicago Bull will miss the playoffs and win the 2010 NBA Lottery.
• Sherron Collins will be drafted in the 2010 NBA 1st round.
• Nolan Smith has elevated his draft stock......to a Euroleage player
• Butler has a lot of pressure this week have home advantage. 

On to the Sweet 16

With the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament complete what have we learned from Thursday to Sunday:

• To my Chi-Town PGs....thank you Jerome Randle & Sherron Collins for 4 solid years in a major conference. Good luck in the NBA.
• Kansas - Just because you're #1 you have to play like the nation's top team at all time (see UNC 2009)
• Cornell & Northern Iowa head coaches phone are ringing off the hook from high major programs...Seton Hall, Iowa, Oregon, Auburn, St. Johns job all became available last week
• Korie Lucious will become a household name after nailing the game winner 3 to send Maryland home
• The torched was past: while Sherron Collins was walking back to the dressing room, Jacob Pullen reached out to him and showed the senior much love. Nothing but west side Chi-Town love....made me smile
• Kentucky Wildcats are now the front runner to cut down the nets
• A team that knows their roles always dances much longer...Northern Iowa, Cornell, BYU, St. Mary's
• Washington Huskies deserve more credit
• The Big East was overrated
• New Mexico got exposed once they faced some real competition
• Jimmer Fredette & Ali Farokhmanesh have great pro careers ahead of them.......overseas
• Derick Favors & Greg Monroe will not return to school
• I am tall enough to play center for the Marquette Warriors (I'm only 5'8)
• EVERYBODY'S BRACKET IS RUINED

That's it for now..Congrats to Simeon for winning the Class 4A state title over the weekend. 

Time 2 Dance

Today & tomorrow is the least productive work day across the US. Folks are rooting for their school or if you're like me you're just a fan of college basketball. Office pools are going on across the country even the President Obama filled out his bracket for the second year in a row. Currently I'm at work but expect an update on the games this weekend.

ILLINI Snubbed - Dance Begins Thursday

Now that the brackets have been revealed topled Kansas is the top overall seed followed by Kentucky, Syracuse, and Duke. West Virginia and Ohio State made strong cases of landing the final number one seed but they gave it to Coach K.

Why is Illinois playing in the NIT rather than the NCAA? Simple they lost to the Minnesota Golden Gophers (at home) torwards the end of the season followed by losses to Purdue, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. Then defeat the Badgers in the first round of the Big 10 tourney followed by a double overtime loss to the Buckeys. What makes matters worse is that the Gophers reached the finals in Indianapolis doomed Bruce Weber's chances. Good luck against Stony Brook in the Not Invited Tournament

Expect Kansas State, Villanova, Kentucky, and Kansas to reach the final for with Sherron Collins cutting down the nets. He'll finally get a piece of John Wall.

Who's Dancing Tomorrow

Tomorrow 5 PM ET the brackets are released for the 65 teams that will be dancing. This afternoon my Fighting ILLINI loss a double overtime game to Ohio State after leading by as much as 11 points in the second half. With Illinois up by four with less than a minute, Evan Turner proved why he's the a shoe in for the Wooden Award by scoring those four points to force the game into overtime. Turner also scored the tying bucket to force the game into a second overtime before fouling out. With Minnesota advancing to the title game, that puts Illinois back on the bubble watch. Expect Bruce Weber & co. not to sleep for the next 12 hours. FYI....MIKE DAVIS...DUNK THE BALL!!!!!!

If Evan Turner is the Wooden Award winner, John Wall will be the #1 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. Last night Mr. Wall scored the last 7 to secure the win and today with a single isolation play, the future lottery pick wrapped some Tennessee guard then rolled with the right to advance the Kentucky Wildcats to the title game tomorrow night.

Expect only Washington & California to get bids out the Pac-10 and congrats to Kansas for landing the top #1 overall seed come tomorrow. Here's hoping Sherron Collins cuts down the nets come April.

Expect Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, and Ohio State to land to top seeds tomorrow.

Championship Week

I can't lie...these mid-major conference games are boring. Bring on the big boys ACC, Big 12, SEC, Big 10 tournaments!!!!! What are these mid-major conferences playing for? The rights for a 12 to 16 seed but every year one of these mid-major schools have deep tourney run. Gonzaga lost to St. Marys in the WCC Title game which means nothing because the Gonzaga Bulldogs were already in the dance.

Illinois went from a sure fire NCAA tourney team to a bubble team after losing to Minnesota, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. This Friday, the ILLINI have a rematch with the Badgers in the first round of the Big 10 tournament. Wisconsin is only playing for a higher NCAA seed but the ILLINI cannot afford to loose or it's hello NIT.

With conference tournament games being played this week, 4 out of 6 POY in BCS conferences hail from Chicago:

• Jerome Randle - California - Pac 10
• Evan Turner - Ohio State - Big 10
• Sherron Collins - Kansas - Big 12
• John Schyer - Duke - ACC

March Madness - Senior Night

I DON'T CARE IF DELONTE WEST WAS FOULED THE LOB PASS TO LEBRON LAST NIGHT WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST IN GAME DUNKS IN NBA HISTORY.

Madness is everywhere in the hoops world. Today Missouri Zyar Taylor went Tyus Edney against Iowa State for the game winner to silence the crowd. People in Champaign, IL are growing mad because Illinois dropped another game in the Big 10 against Ohio State hindering their tourney chances. With the loss tonight, Ohio State wrapped up the Big 10 regular season title and Evan Turner played his last game in Columbus. Now it's off to Indianapolis for the Big 10 tourney where I hope ILLINI can win a few games and get into the dance.

Congratulations to UTEP for winning the Conference USA title it's the first time in nine years another team other than Memphis wins the title. Memphis will be back as they have the top recruiting class in the nation coming in next year.

Tomorrow tune into ESPN as two Chicago west side point guard Sherron Collins and Jacob Pullen go head to head as Kansas State plays Kansas. That should be a great game and I know Kansas State will play hard tomorrow night.

Good for LeBron switching his number I agree no ball player should ever wear the #23. LeBron James will wear the #6 next season.