Its the most Wonderful time of the year!

 The NCAA tournament starts tomorrow and if you are like me the first two days of the tournaent are two of the best days of the year. When I was in junior high and high school I used to save up my “sick days” to act sick on these two days so I could catch all the afternoon games. Whether you are skipping work or school, its a must. If you cant get out of work early you can always watch the games online http://ncaasports.com/mmod/welcome which is equipped with a boss botton that acts like a spread sheet. Tomorrow I will be skipping and I will have the ultimate NCAA tournament set up (which Ill take a picture of and post it). This includes a TV for one game, my laptop for another game and my girlfriends laptop for game three, in between all of those will be homemade buffalo wings, bacon and chive dip and a tall glass of gatorade. I cant wait!!

With all that being said here are my picks:

FINAL FOUR PICKS

East Region: Louisville- everyone is on UNC but they can not defend. Louisville has the coach, the defense and the big man to make the final four

Midwest- Kansas- Best all around team, great guards, bench, defense and adequate big men

South- Texas- THey have beat UCLA, Kansas, and Tennesee. Great defense and Augustine and Abrams are one of the best backcourts in the nation. Plus their region is played in Texas

West – UCLA- Have the easiest out of the four regions. Have experience, a big man and a lethal back court. Ben Howland stresses defense and their defense is oustanding

Championship – Kansas over Texas- rematch of Big 12 championship game.

Here are a few upsets (must be at least a 11 seed) that I like in the first round:

#11 St Joes over #6 Oklahoma

St Joes is a gritty team from Philly who does take shit from anyone. They are lead by Pat Cathletis and Ahmad Nives. Oklahoma has two key players hurting (Longar Longar and Blake Griffin). St Joes Recently beat Xavier twice and arent going to be afraid of Oklahoma, they also beat Nova by 22 points.

#13 Winthrop over #4 Wash State

Wintrop is a senior heavy team and is in its 4th straight trip to the big dance so they wont be scared of the lights. Both teams have a similar style of intense defense (both rank in top 25 in defense). Winthrop shocked Notre Dame last year and will do the same to WSU this year. They have the experience and guard play to upset the Cougars.

Other teams to watch out for posible runs in the tournament

Butler- Got screwed with a 7 seed while being ranked inn the top 10.  Aj Graves and Mike Green are a dynamic backcourt and they arent afraid of anyone. Could see a possible upset over Tennesee in the second round and a long run in the tourney

Davidson- Led by Stephen Curry this team can play, They have a 23 game winning streak and i see a win over gonzaga with an outside chance of beating Gtown

Hell No we Wont Go!: Sox to boycott Japan

Update!: Pay Dispute Settled, Sox to go to Japan…….good for the sox players sticking up for thier coaching and training staff!

According to multiple clubhouse sources, the Red Sox will be holding a players-only meeting later this morning concerning the issue regarding the coaches potentially not being paid the $40,000 allocated the players. The sources indicated that the players will be issuing a mandate to Major League Baseball that if the coaches aren’t paid, then the team will not be getting on the plane later today for Japan.” – 3.19.08, The Bradford Files

updated

Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell confirmed to the Boston Globe’s Jackie MacMullan that the team voted unanimously this morning not to make the scheduled trip to Japan or play its final exhibition game against the Blue Jays this afternoon unless the coaches, training staff, and equipment staff were going to be compensated for making the trip to Japan.- bostondirtdogs.com

Good for them sticking up for their coaches and other personal. Could be a team bonding moment.