Scintillating

Really though. I'm watching the Suns put on a shooting clinic and, in the process, just obliterate the Clippers right now. I'm experiencing deja vu resetting the hurting DePaul put on Syracuse a few weeks back. Quite frankly, the Suns are miles away the funnest team to watch in the Association.

Tomorrow is like my second Christmas. I can't think of two more days I look forward to in the sporting world more than the opening of the NCAA hoops tournament. Obvs, I participate in some office pools. Here's my pool vitals (final 4's, teams when applicable):

Rich Barnes' BlazeCom Pool:
Final 4 - Duke (ugh), UCLA, UConn and 'Nova
Championship - UConn over Duke

Ken Dodson's "softball fundraiser" Pool:
Final 4 - Duke (ugh), UCLA, UConn and Boston College
Championship - UConn over Duke

Travis' Newsvine Pool:
My teams - Duke (ugh), Boston College, Michigan State, UAB, San Diego State, Northwestern State, Xavier, South Alabama, Penn, Winthrop

Even though I have UConn winning it all in both pools, I'm not really confident about them. For all the talent they have, they sure play flakey sometimes (point guard). And I frequently pick Duke, but honestly, I would have no problem seeing them biting it early against a UNC-Wilmington, GW or LSU. Actually, I would love that.

Overall, I think six teams can lay a solid claim to the title: Duke (ugh), Texas, UCLA, UConn, 'Nova and Boston College. But don't sleep on teams like LSU, Michigan State and Ohio State.

My overrated teams are Gonzaga, Tennessee and Syracuse. Gonzaga plays no D. Tennessee is entering the tourney on a severe slide. And the 'Cuse can rely on Gerry McNamara for only so long.

I always love the underdogs - much luv - so watch out for NWern State, Bucknell, San Diego State (even though I have Indiana beating them in each one of my brackets), Marquette, Winthrop and South Alabama.

It's going to be a whole new tournament experience for me without Cincinnati in the field (thanks Nancy and Littlepage). But the Bearcats have only averaged short tournament stays in recent memory. Still, this year's squad deserved to be there. Denying Eric Hicks is just not right.
Anyway, let the games begin! I'm going to watch as much of them as humanly possible. In addition to the office TV, I'm also a CBS SportsLine VIP. Yay!