Family Feud

Kentucky learned its NCAA destination last night after suffering an extremely deflating rout at the hands of the hated Florida Gators and their lead dogs, Matt Walsh and David Lee. Anyone claiming to have any sure idea of how the Cats will fare in the NCAAs is lying. If this team has proven anything this year, it is that it is capable of performing at either end of the spectrum without notice.

While the talent disparity between Kentucky and their 1st round opponent from right down I-75, the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, is unquestionably significant in favor of Kentucky, the psychological welfare of the respective teams must be equally if not moreso in favor of the Colonels. Fresh of winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, Travis Ford's squad gets to live out a dream by taking on the darlings of the Bluegrass, without any expectations or pressure. On the other hand, the Wildcats have the burden of the previous years' disappointing early exits, the current bad taste of a butt-kicking in Atlanta, and the requisite lofty hopes of an entire state on their shoulders.

Though I have yet to read anything about lineup changes, one has to wonder how long Tubby will go with the same old standbys on Thursday afternoon. He has had an increasingly shorter leash on the starting five recently, and with the improved play of Joe Crawford, Bobby Perry, Ravi Moss, Ramel Bradley, Lukas Obrzut and Sheray Thomas, one suspects (or shall I say "one prays in the name of all things holy") that Tubby demands a sense of urgency from his team throughout the week of practice and into Thursday's game and does not wait until his team finds itself down double-digits to "send a message" to his starters. At this point, the bench's quality play ought to be utilized for its quality, not as a motivational tool.

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Nickels and Dimes

- Granted, the absence of Travis Diener has left Marquette's offense virtually punchless, but I still suggest that the way Western Michigan has come out and taken it right to the Golden Eagles on their own home court is illustrative of why the Mid-American Conference was shafted as a whole more than any individual team. MAC tourney runner-up Buffalo and regular-season champ Miami of Ohio both deserved to be invited. For once, Dick Vitale dropped his incessant and uninvited campaigning for Coach K to be named as the 2008 Olympic coach long enough to make a rational and worthwhile comment regarding a team that does not feature a sharp-shooting, pot-smoking poet as a star player by trumpeting last night on ESPN the idea that the MAC got robbed.

- Along the same lines, one of the plotlines that I am most looking forward to involves the Florida-Ohio game. Will Billy the Kid be able to shake the early-round blues that have haunted him of late? If David Lee's tough attitude has truly inspired his teammates (as their recent play suggests), then they are capable of a late run. However, Ohio will give the Gators all they want, and if Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh resort to their historical habits of launching ill-advised bombs and trying to win the game by themselves, Walsh need not pack a change of headbands. My lean is towards the Bobcats.

- The lower-half of the Austin bracket is by no means for the faint of heart. Although somewhat less violent thanks to the absence of Pierre Pierce, the physicality that Oklahoma, Cincinnati and Kentucky bring to the table will likely make for a symphony of whistle bursts and a parade of free throws. That being the case, Kentucky's depth should prove advantageous.

- If I had my pick, I would not miss a game of the Albequerque bracket. With Wake Forest, Gonzaga, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Washington and George Washington, whoever's operating the scoreboard had better have a policy that covers Carpal-Tunnel. And aside from the sheer volume of offense, the West (errr, Albequerque) regional also offers Bobby Knight, a 3-point shooutout between Creighton and West Virginia, and a sensational bi-coastal pairing of Pacific v. Pitt.

- I'm fully aware that many consider me a contrarian, but when's the last time that the clear favorites waltzed through to the finals. Illinois has impressed me, but I don't think they'll survive Oklahoma State's well-balanced attack. As for North Carolina, Roy Williams melodramatic personality is certainly an ideal match for Rashad McCants' theatrics, and I really like Jay Wright's steady Villanova Wildcats' chances of knocking off the Heels.