Bracket time

I wouldn't bother if the semi-secret forum where my buddies hang out wasn't on the fritz, but I gotta get on the record with my picks before games tip off in a couple of hours.

(Like I posted this time last year, I have a terrible time with my priorities every March. The NCAA tourney! And my fantasy baseball draft! And yet the powers that be at my job have contrived a really busy month of actual urgent work for me.)

Anyway, without further ado:

ATLANTA REGION

1. Duke, George Washington, Texas A&M, LSU, Southern Illinois, Iowa, Cal, Texas

2. Duke, LSU, Iowa, Texas

3. Duke, Iowa.

4. Duke

OAKLAND REGION

1. Memphis, Arkansas, Pitt, Bradley, Indiana, Gonzaga, Alabama, UCLA

2. Memphis, Pitt, Gonzaga, UCLA

3. Pitt, Gonzaga

4. Pitt

WASHINGTON D.C. REGION

1. UConn, UAB, Washington, Illinois, George Mason, UNC, Seton Hall, Tennessee

2. UConn, Illinois, UNC, Tennessee

3. UConn, Tennesee

4. UConn

MINNEAPOLIS REGION

1. Villanova, Wisconsin, Nevada, BC, Oklahoma, Florida, Northern Iowa, Ohio State

2. Villanova, Nevada, Florida, Northern Iowa

3. Villanova, Northern Iowa

4. VIllanova

TITLE GAME: UConn over Gonzaga, 78-72.

See, I have three sentimental favorites in the tourney: Davidson, NC State, and West Virginia. I am going against sentiment and picking all of them to lose their first game. (Davidson doesn't really have a chance, NCSU has stunk horribly the last two weeks or more, and WVU is just in that 6/11 slot that is ripe for an upset, plus they had a miraculous run last year and I think the karmic wheel is going to turn against them.) But then I am compensating psychologically by having all three of their vanquishers getting vanquished themselves in the next game. I can live with this.

Then three No. 1 seeds going to the Final Four--that's pretty conservative. And a No. 3, Gonzaga getting through (I like Gonzaga's name and overall gestalt), and No. 1 Memphis getting knocked out (I have an ancient grudge against Memphis from years ago -- I picked them to win the national title one year as a real longshot, and they didn't even come close.)

Fantasy baseball draft on March 28.