Ohhhh, what a hangover.

And I’ve been up all night warching “Bracketology” reruns on ESPN U in a vain attempt to glean some meaningful dustball of information from all the words spoken by the ESPN NCAA Madness troop – and yet even as this is written I already know I’ll invariably over-think my brackets and end up with 24 wins at best at around 1 a.m. Friday evening.

I haven’t watched an NBA game in like what, since the NCAA conference tournaments began. Three televisions and DirecTV weren’t enough. Games began at noon and ended at 2:15 in the a.m. Damn. What did I notice most? The first thing that jumped out at me is that NCAA refs are frigging horrid; horrid I tell ya! The clutching and grabbing and the bumping off guards trying to get in to the lane; the bulldozers that root out opposing post men with no concern for the law – the horror, the horror! The longest 6.6 seconds in the history of the NCAA men’s game – and the referees added more time to the Miami-Akron MAC conference championship game and cost a 26-7 team an automatic bid!

Then I had to watch as a team I love to hate, Syracuse – yeah, I’m an unabashed Georgetown fan – get jobbed along with Florida State and Drexel.

Friggin’ Illinois lost to Xavier – as bad as the A-10 was this year it didn’t deserve more than one bid – Michigan, Purdue, and Iowa. The bulk of the Illini’s out of conference schedule included Austin Peay, Jackson State, Georgia Southern, Florida A&M, Savannah State, IUPUI, Illinois-Chicago, and Idaho State. That’s eight Krispy-Kreme’s out of 23 wins!

Then there’s Purdue. The Boilermakers pre-Big 10 lineup was made of Northern Colorado, Western Carolina, Delaware State, Wagner, SE Missouri State, Loyola-Chicago; cream puffs are yummy. Oh yeah, and the Boilers got steamed by 19 at Indiana State. In-di-a-na State. And they still got into the Dance. Can you imagine that? Wait, I’m still not finished with Purdue. They lost in-conference to Minnesota – Minnesota! Oh yeah, I forgot without these two bums the Big 10 doesn’t get its requisite six teams in the field of 64.

Next up for the Swiss bank account contribution award to the committee is Old Dominion. The Monarchs lost to such luminaries as Clemson, Marist, Hofstra, and James Madison. Gluck! So what they beat Georgetown in November. The real question is by how much would they lose to Georgetown today? They lost to George Mason In the CAA tournament by 16 points! That’s a big no-show for a team from a mid-minor, I mean mid-major conference.

By the way send all complaints to the NCAA tournament committee. It consists of: Dan Guerrero, UCLA athletic director; Chris Hill, Utah athletic director; Laing Kennedy, Kent State athletic director; Jonathan LeCrone, Horizon League commissioner; Craig Littlepage, Virginia athletic director; Stan Morrison, UC-Riverside athletic director; Thomas O’Connor, George Mason athletic director; Mike Slive, Southeastern Conference commissioner; Gene Smith, Ohio State athletic director, and; Gary Walters, Princeton athletic director (committee chair).

So Boeheim’s boys finish ahead of Villanova, tied with Marquette in the Big East conference and don’t get in? All I can say is Boeheim better get his zone together earlier next season to avoid pre-conference stumbles to patsies and defeat at least one decent out-of-conference team, then there won’t be any question about the Cuse’s tourney status. Do the aforementioned and there will be no “body of work junk,” no resume nonsense, no Gary Walters to shoot a nationally televised low-blow at you and your program describing your critique of the selection committee as made in the name of “self interest,” Jim.

A note to Bruiser Flint and Drexel: Next season schedule Krispy-Kreme’s and vulnerable major teams and save your team for conference play; to hell with that mid-majors must schedule a slew of road games. Then again, I guess if there’s no reward for winning consecutive road games against Villanova, Syracuse, and Temple, then returning home to beat George Mason (the CAA tournament finalist), then I guess there’s not much to do but win your conference tournament every year.

And for Florida State, if Arkansas can get into the Big Dance with a 7-9 conference record in the “SEC Worst,” then the Seminoles have to be in with a 7-9 ACC Conference record. Adding insult to left-outness Florida State defeated tourney overall number one seed Florida, Virginia Tech, and then dusted off Maryland and Duke back to back. Meanwhile Arkansas beat one team that was ranked at regular-season’s end – Vanderbilt. One team Gary Walters and crew, one lousy team.

All right, time to squash the tournament committee beef and move on to the brackets.

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I like to break down the brackets into eight-team sections, four represented by number one seeds and four represented by number two seeds.

Watching all the tournament selection shows tonight alerted me to one glaring fact: the tournament selection show pundits needed to look at the draw like I do to really tell which team has the most difficult road to the Final Four. The general consensus was that the South and the East are the two portions of the bracket loaded with tough teams.

However, I want to respectfully disagree and I’ll break them down three toughest sections and the one easiest draw.

1: Of the number one seeds Florida has the toughest eight-team section. Their potential second-round matchup with Arizona will be a difficult game. The Wildcats are nearly as talented as the Gators and just as athletic. I know ‘Zona must get by Purdue, but if they do, watch out.

Should Florida get by the Wildcats they will more than likely face Maryland. The Terrapins are more experienced than the Gators, more athletic, and defensively they are Florida’s equal. what separates the two teams is that Florida is offensively the much more consistent team. More than any other team in the tournament, and this includes Southern Illinois and Georgetown, Maryland’s offensive production is predicated on the success of their defense. When the Terps get turnovers they can explode for 85 to 90 points. Can Florida match that? I don’t know.

2: The Memphis Tigers are looking at a 2nd-round game against either Creighton or Nevada. I’m picking Nevada to atone for its first round flameout last year and advance against the Bluejays. Nevada has four bonafide scorers on their squad in forward-center Nick Fazekas and guards Marcelus Kemp, Ramon Sessions, and Kyle Shiloh. The Wolfpack plays with three guards on the floor, so the Tigers’ press shouldn’t pose any problems for Nevada. These four also average over 40% collectively from behind the arc, so they’re rarely out of a game. However, Shiloh did injure his hamstring and will be questionable throughout the tourney.

This is not to say Memphis’ road is any easier should Creighton defeat Nevada. The Bluejays play excellent defense, shoot the three well, and are experienced. Memphis is much more athletic overall, but if Creighton can control tempo, the game will be tight.

Should the Tigers escape Nevada or Creighton they have get one of three difficult teams: Texas A&M, Louisville, or Stanford. In the interest of brevity, A&M, along with SIU, is perhaps the most defensively stout team in the tournament and with Acie Law IV, possess a player who can take over a game. Louisville can shift gears offensively. If you want to grind, they can grind, If you want to run, they can run. They’re athletic and they’re defensively sound. Stanford is young, but with the Lopez twins they will pound the glass and protect the paint. The Cardinal also know how to drain the three.

3: Though guard play is key to a deep run in the Big Dance, a good big man is a staple of nearly every national champion. Wisconsin lacks an interior threat to augment Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor. As a result the Badgers don’t score enough points to pose a consistent threat to teams that able to push tempo. Neither UNLV nor Georgia Tech will fear Wisconsin. The Runnin’ Rebels use three guards to defeat any press and cause matchup nightmares for slower teams like the Badgers. If the game is tight the UNLV is also a very good free throw shooting team. The Yellow Jackets are young, but not dumb. They posted a 7-3 record down the stretch with wins at Florida State and consecutive home games against North Carolina and Boston College. The Jackets can play an up-tempo game with the best of them, but they’ve learned to also play a more physical brand of ball. It’s a combination that can be lethal to a one-speed team like Wisconsin.

….and now for the easiest section:

The Georgetown Hoyas are looking real nice. I would be astounded if they slipped up before the regional finals. They get Belmont in the first round and should grind the Bruins to dust. The Hoyas’ second round opponent will be either Boston College or Texas Tech. Unless the Eagles fail to mentally show for the game, BC should have no problem with the Red Raiders. BC doesn’t matchup well at any position with Georgetown save for the Jared Dudley-Jeff Green duel. However, Green unlike Dudley though doesn’t need to score 20 to 25 points to be effective. A 15-point six assist game is enough in the Hoyas offense to make a game-altering difference.

In the Sweet Sixteen Georgetown will probably play either Washington State or Vanderbilt. Vandy can shoot, but can they get off against a Hoyas team that’s among the top teams in defensive efficiency? The Commodores will also have a difficult time against the Hoyas’ size and athletic ability while attempting to defend the Hoyas’ motion offense. Washington State like to grind – Georgetown can grind, just ask Pittsburgh. The Cougars are no better than the Panthers and the Cougars are no match for the Hoyas.

Potential first round upsets will be the topic of the next installment of my prelude to the Big Dance.

Dang it, we’d be a three-seed if I hadn’t switched to a zone on that last KU play in regulation.