You can view it here. And though I haven’t looked into next year’s rosters, and really have no clue who’s going to be good and who isn’t, I find it odd that they put UNC as the No. 3 team under the assumption that Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson return. If that’s the case, Danny Green and Tyler Hansboro will be the only players gone, Marcus Ginyard will be back, and Ed Davis will take over for Tyler Hansboro, and he showed in this tournament that he can definitely handle the load.

Anyway, enjoy the preseason, way too early top 25. It is what I thought it was.

[Rivals]

UNC beat Oklahoma in a game where the Sooner didn’t look like they knew what to do when Blake Griffin didn’t carry them on his shoulders. Michigan State beat a Louisville team that just didn’t look like it knew it was doing, period.

UNC advances to play for in its second Final Four in as many years, where it will meet the feisty Villanova Wildcats, who needed a last second driving basket to sink Pitt in the waning moments.

In the first game this afternoon, Michigan State beatdown Louisville, who couldn’t dribble, couldn’t rebound, and couldn’t shoot. MSU hit big shot after big shot, and when they did happen to miss, one of their guys was there to grab the board.

Don’t be surprised to see UCONN and UNC in the finals. Right now, both teams just look too good to lose.

If you went through the bracket when they were first given, and you said, “You know what, I think I’m going to have the top 16 teams in the Sweet 16,” then you’re probably doing pretty well right now, given that Arizona and Wisconsin (both 12 seeds) are the only two “surprise” teams in there, if you can call them that.

The best game waiting in the flats? Mizzou and Memphis sure looks tasty, and I think watching guards play guards in Duke and Villanova will be fun. My original Final Four was Villanova, Mizzou, Louisville and UNC. If I had to go back and change it, I’d swap Mizzou out and insert Uconn, who’s been beating teams like they’re a high school Texas all girls team (it’s a hundred point reference, people).

The rest should be entertaining. The tournament resumes this Thursday.

…. everyone called in sick to work, even a mouse (yeah, couldn’t think of anything better than rhymed with house).

Tomorrow marks the madness, and it begins at 12:20, sharp, with Butler and LSU, then five minutes later kicks off the beating that will be Memphis and CS Northridge, and then five minutes after that we’ve got BYU and Texas A&M.

At 2:30 Purdue and Northern Iowa tip off, which should prove to be a very good game; UCLA and Virginia Commonwealth, thought to be another good one in the hopper, isn’t until after 9:00 p.m., same with Illinois and Western Kentucky, which might very well finish with an upset (if you can call W. Kentucky winning an upset).

All in all, it’ll be a good day. Call in sick to work, sit back, drink some beers (the doctor’s told me it’s a good way to cure the flu), and enjoy the first couple days of March Madness, which are surely two of the best days of sports. My Final Four: Missouri, Villanova, Louisville, UNC, with UNC beating Louisville in the title game. Enjoy the madness, everybody.

Chris Lofton, my favorite player in the entire nation, who has led my Tennessee Volunteers to where they are today, may be injured. “May.” Nothing certain. Breathe. Don’t panic.

Tennessee guard and leading scorer Chris Lofton has a minor leg injury but is expected to play Thursday against Louisville.

Team spokesman Craig Pinkerton says Lofton wore a walking boot on his foot as a precaution while the Vols rested on Monday and was expected to practice on Tuesday.

Coach Bruce Pearl told The Knoxville News Sentinel that Lofton “tweaked” his ankle in the first half of Tennessee’s 76-71 overtime win against Butler in the NCAA tournament.

The hope? Well, they’re saying it’s tweaked, and they’re saying it happened in the first half (he played the second half, so how bad can it be?). The thing that worries me? Tom Brady did something similar, “tweaking” his ankle, walked around with a boot, and then sucked it up in the Super Bowl.

If Chris Lofton is hurt, he’s got not Randy Moss to pass to.

In progress right now is the UNC/Arkansas game, which is pretty much over (UNC has doubled Arkansas’ score at the half), the Louisville/Oklahoma game, which also can be considered over (Louisville is killing them), and the only game that’s worth watching, the Memphis/MSU game, where Memphis is up eight points with 13 minutes remaning. Here’s scores of the games that went final today.

Siena 72, Villanova 84: Props to Villanova for making the Sweet 16 for the third time in four years, and this year no one really expected it. The ‘Cats shot 53 percent from the field, and held Siena to 35 percent for the game.

Miami 72, Texas 75: If you watched this game, you probably thought the same thing I did: How in the hell is Miami still hanging around? Texas coasted through most the game, went cold in the final four minutes, and before you knew it, there was a ball game to be played. AJ Abrams had 26 points for Texas, and was 6-10 from beyond the arch.

Butler 71, Tennessee 76: It took overtime, and there were moments in the game when UT looked like they were trying to let Butler win, but the Bruce Pearls move on to the next round, where they’ll either play Louisville or Oklahoma; and based on how that game is going right now, probbaly Louisville.

Davidson 74, Georgetown 70: Stephen Curry was quiet most the game, but poured it on in the final 10 minutes, causing arguably the biggest upset thus far in the tournament. Roy Hibbert, in his last collegiate game, fouled out and finished with six points.

San Diego 63, Western Kentucky 72: Hilltoppers to the Final Four!

As everyone suspected the moment UNC beat Clemson, the Tar Heels took over the No. 1 overall seed for this year’s tourney. The other three No. 1 seeds were Memphis, Kansas, and UCLA. To see the entire bracket, go here.

Thoughts on each bracket:

-East

• Carolina’s No. 1, which was the obvious pick. That said, does UT, who was thought to possibly be a No. 1 seed earlier in the day, really deserve to be thrown in the same bracket as UNC and Louisville? It makes for a tough region, and if the Sweet 16 pans out as anticipated, Louisville vs. UT could be a game that reaches 200 combined points.
• It may be a long shot, but don’t be surprised if Winthrop sneaks past Washington State.
• Indiana and Arkansas may be one of the best first round games, and Indiana/UNC could quite possibly be the best second round game.

-Midwest

• After beating Texas, Kansas seemed like the obvious pick. Even as a UT fan, I won’t argue that.
• Siena will upset Vanderbilt.
• Georgetown will make the Final Four.
• It’s crazy, but I think Kansas could lose to Kent State in the second round, doing what Kansas does best, exiting the tournament early.

-South

• Memphis won’t make the Final Four again. While everyone is bent on them playing the best out of conference schedule, their in conference schedule was terrible; and beyond that, their two best out of conference opponents, Tennessee and Georgetown, were both home games, and they only came away with a W in one of them.
• Michigan State will make a nice run, but Texas will win a close one in the Elite 8 to represent the region.
• People love the run Kentucky’s made to close the season, but I don’t see them getting past Marquette in Round 1.

-West

• To me, this is the easiest region. UCLA should be able to run through it. Duke is overrated, Xavier’s an untested, weak No. 3, and Uconn isn’t quick enough to hang with the Bruins.
• Don’t be surprised if West Virginia pulls one out against Duke in Round 2. The Blue Devils are fundamentally sound, but they’re not super athletic.

Conference Tournaments have been kicked off, and some bubble teams are doing their best to punch their way into the tournament, while others have done their best to punch their way out. Here’s what’s going on.

-Villanova: They lost bad to Georgetown, but still have 20 wins, and if you gave them a win in that very controversial game against Georgetown a few weeks back, they’d have 21. They’re on the outside looking in, but depending on how the rest of the tournaments finish up, they may make it.

-Syracuse: Say hello to the NIT for the second consecutive year.

-West Virginia: They were a bubble team, per se, but they were probably more in than out. After beating UCONN today, you can probably stamp them in, barring a miraculous screw up by the selection committee.

Games to watch:

-Pitt vs. Louisville: If Pitt can win this game, they’re in. If Louisville can win the Big East, they’re a two seed. Both have something at stake.

Boston College 60, Georgia Tech 74: Outside of their game with UNC, this was GT’s most complete game of the year (and, like the UNC game, I was there — maybe I’m some sort of good luck charm). Javaris Crittenton played well enough to probably assure his early entry to the NBA, and the rest of the team was right in stride. Thaddeus Young had 10, Jeremis Smith 13 (with two nice alley-oops), Anthony Morrow 11, and our lone senior, Mario West, had 7. Tech fans are probably the only people out there who believe GT can be dangerous in the tournament, and you can count me in that group. They have the right mix of youth and maturity, and if they can get over this fixation they have with playing sloppy on the road, they can make some noise a week-and-a-half from now.

Clemson 75, Virginia Tech 74: This suddenly makes the ACC “teams that were in” list interesting. Zabian Dowdell had 25, but missed a jumper with 19 seconds left that would have given VT the lead. I know they’ve kinda sucked recently, but now Clemson has to be considered as a team to play in March.

Duke 72, UNC 86: The biggest rivalry in all of sports wasn’t much of a rivalry this year. And other than Tyler Hansbrough getting beaten up and bloodied, it really wasn’t that great of a game to watch.

Kentucky 72, Florida 85: I don’t know if this win means Florida’s back on track, but it helps. Kentucky kept it close at moments, but it seemed every time the Gators needed a basket they got one. It was Senior Day in Florida, which only means it was the last game their juniors will ever play there.

Creighton 67, Southern Illinois 61: I hate to sound like the guy who whines and moans about the small teams being ranked so high, but I think this justifies my bitching about the Salukies. And this win by Creighton is going to have a dramatic effect on my bracket: One way or another, the Bluejays always manage a win in March.

Seton Hall 71, Louisville 86: I remember when Louisville was being talked about as a team that had no chance of making the tournament. A month later, they’re in the top 25, and are probably a 5 seed.

Louisville 66, Pitt 53: It was 36-19, Louisville at the half, and Pitt never could fully recover. David Padgett led all Cadinals players with 16 points, in a game that Louisville desperately needed to try and make a case for the tournament (yeah, they have 18 wins, but their resume isn’t very impressive).

West Virginia 53, Georgetown 71: So much for being in the top 25, West Virginia. After climbing in last week with their big win against UCLA, they might have just climbed themselves back out. West Virginia’s leading scorer had ten points, which is never a good sign, especially when the other team has three players who top that total.

Ok. State 54, Texas 83: I watched the first game between these two teams, and I will remember it fondly for quite some time. It was one of the best college basketball games I’d ever seen. Thankfully, I didn’t waste two hours of my life watching the encore. Kevin Durant led Texas in scoring (again) and rebounding (again), and Ok. State was outscored 52-30 in the second half. Mario Bogan did his part, putting in 16 points.