Arizona's year

Come on...this has got to be the year of the Arizona Wildcats. Salim Staudamire's the best shooter in the country. He tied his career-high 37 points over the weekend in Arizona's loss to Washington (more on them in a moment). When he and Channing Frye are both on, the Wildcats are the best team in the country. And, from the self-centered perspective, this is the last year where the Wildcats still have players (Frye and Staudamire, that is) from when I was at AZ. My last nostalgic/televised connection to grad school days, the last March Madness before I break out the geezer-talk ("wayyyy back when I was in Tucson, Gil Arenas was in my English 100 class and bla bla bla"..."I remember the championship game loss to Duke"). Go 'Cats. My prediction: Arizona's victory over Illinois in the elite eight match-up is the most talked-about game of the tourney.

Alright, the Washington Huskies. Let me join the choir and say that no way should they be seeded number one. Look for them to lose in the 3rd round to Louisville. Duke also was a prime contender for a number two or three seed...no surprise they were given a one-seed on a silver platter emblazoned with the words: "You may play your first two rounds in your home state, almighty Blue Devils" Look for Duke to also bow out in third round play (to Syracuse).

My picks for first-round upsets: UW-Milwaukee over Alabama (didya see UW-M beat up on the poor Detroit Titans? They're rough!). Creighton over West Virginia. Iowa State over Minnesota. NC-State over Charlotte. Miss State over Stanford (I'm down on non-Arizona Pac-10-ers this year). Iowa over Cinci (sorry my fellow southern Ohioans but Cinci is way inconsistent).

My final four: Arizona (3 seed), Louisville (4 seed), North Carolina (1 seed), Oklahoma (3 seed). The championship will see AZ triumph over Oklahoma in the battle of the seriously talented three seeds.