I've settled down, I've thought about it and I'm ready to discuss this tournament in a rational manner.  I can't say I'm overly thrilled with the actions of the committee in some areas, but I think the parity and "Who knows what will happen?" of this college hoops season mixed with some really dominant teams to leave some rather crappy brackets.

My mind is clear, my pen is ready (real men, of course, fill their brackets and crosswords out in pen) and it is time to discuss the tournament at large, with region-specific breakdowns coming in the days ahead.

The one thing I want to make very clear about this year's bracket, and while I realize this applies to every year, this season is the craziest I can remember: Do not let someone tell you your pick is stupid.  Right now, it seems really wise to take three number ones and a number two to the Final Four, but you know that's not right.  Now it's just the matter of guessing who exactly is the sleeper and that, my friends, is a total crapshoot.  If you're putting money down on this as a test of skill, I'm laughing at you, because you might as well be playing roulette, and if you think otherwise, you're on a "Kirk Herbstreit adamantly stating the Michigan would kill Florida on a neutral field because he watched them, dammit" line of bullshit.

On the Irish's place in the tournament: Some friends have talked me down off the ledge, but I'm still infuriated about the six seed.  I realize that the non-conference wasn't strong and we had a rather light waltz through the Big East, but if that three falls on Friday night, I can't imagine we're anything less than a five, and probably a four.  That's the way the bracket breaks, and at this point in time, it's just about winning games.

"Spokane?  Against Winthrop!?  I'm sorry, perhaps you didn't notice our stellar play down the stretch."

(I think what I'm most disappointed about is that I was prepared to desperately make e-mails and phone calls to get tickets to the Buffalo or Columbus pods, and then to try and finangle my way into East Rutherford should we slip into the Sweet Sixteen.  Now it's Spokane and St. Louis, which are a far cry from Pittsburgh and DC.)

Winthrop is not an easy match-up, as they're a tournament tested team with big guards and some size inside, but I'm not sure they've faced an offense quite as balanced as the Jackson/Carter/Harangody/Falls monster the Irish are morphing into.  I'm still not happy about facing everyone's presumed sleeper team, but they're still from the Big South and we still just came within a hair of beating Georgetown, now a Final Four and national championship favorite from the national pundits en masse.

Let's say we get by Winthrop, then I'm presuming we're playing Oregon.  In Spokane.  Not exactly an Irish stronghold, but while the Ducks looked fantastic in the PAC-10 tournament, they did that against the likes of Arizona, Cal and Southern Cal, who aren't exactly the cream of the national crop.  Aaron Brooks, going back to school to get another degree after failing miserably as a NFL quarterback, is an obvious bad-ass, but this team wants to play up-tempo and they're not that much bigger or quicker than the Irish.

I'm not going to move on past that, simply because it seems to be a damning way of approaching things.

On the two easiest paths: To me, there are two ridiculously easy paths to the Elite Eight that the committee just sort of handed out, and those would be to Florida and Georgetown.  I realize that Maryland and Butler are capable of beating anybody on a given night, but do you think Joakim Noah is staying up at night in fear of them?  While Florida's is a little bit easy, Georgetown's part of the bracket might as well be called the Hoya Invitational.  Is Vanderbilt/George Washington/Washington State/Oral Roberts the least enthralling pod of all time?  How terrible is Boston College's offense against Bob Knight in the 7-10?  Who the hell challenges Georgetown out of that group?  I say no one, and I'm the least sold person on JT3's group in the country.  

The Hoyas celebrate their easy path to the Elite Eight.

On the most exciting potential second round match-ups: Remember, most of these don't even end up happening.  Remember everyone's collective hard-on for Arizona/Gonzaga in 2002, only it didn't happen because Wyoming dropped the hammer on the Zags?  (It did happen the next year, and goodness, was it sweet)  I think last year's much-anticipated game was North Carolina and Michigan State, but some silly team from Fairfax screwed that all up.  However, allow me to go out on a limp and say if they happen, these games will be the sweetest:

Louisville vs. Texas A&M: My friend Jeff, a massive Cardinals fan, is already writing them into the Sweet Sixteen since they're playing in Lexington, but as I told them, Acie Law's broken a few hearts on the road before.  I really hope this happens.

Pick against him.  Go ahead.  It's in Rupp, after all...

Notre Dame vs. Oregon: I remember before Drew Gooden played the Ducks in 2002 he said he was going to clip his toe nails because they were going to be running so much.  You would not want to miss this dandy.

Wisconsin vs. UNLV/Ga Tech: The Badgers just seem to be in a funk without Brian Butch, and both the Rebels and Yellow Jackets are quick, pressing and able to get up and down.  Excitement.

Kansas vs. Villanova: If you'll remember correctly, Scottie Reynolds was the best freshman on the floor when the Wildcats took on the Longhorns earlier in the season.  If Mike Nardi's healthy and the threes are falling - aw hell, all I have to do to qualify this is to say "Bill Self is coaching".

Rocky Top vs. Virginia: According to Greg Gumbel, James Lofton is one of the best shooters in the country.  Man, somebody should tell Bruce Pearl so he can get him into the line-up next to Chris Lofton, because they could really do some damage.  Up and down game with Lofton, J. R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary?  Thank you, muchly.

Memphis vs. Nevada/Creighton: Simply because everyone assumes Memphis is going down early - just like last year, allow me to remind you - and Nevada's played well all year while Creighton survived the MVC tournament.

On conferences being coddled: Some will complain that the PAC-10 got too much love with Stanford getting in, and they may be right, but can someone explain to me six berths for the Big Ten, a league that didn't field a Sweet Sixteen team last year?  Purdue, Michigan State and Indiana safely in, while Illinois gets in over Drexel?  I'll just let you go look up their resumes yourself - they're not too hot - and when you throw in the facts that the bottom of the conference was terrible and if you just watched most Big Ten games you'd think this group of teams had just discovered Dr. Naismith's game.

The other set of seeding I don't understand is the ACC, which got Maryland and Virginia at 4's and Duke at a 6, apparently just because Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale love them all so much.  The other seeding that drives me crazy is Tennessee at 5 when they were far from impressive all season long, but so it goes.

(My PAC-10 pet peeve?  People stating Stanford "had ten conference wins" like it was a big deal.  They played eighteen games, and counting the conference tournament, they went 10-9, one game over .500 in league play.  Toot your stat-bending horn elsewhere, Cardinal.)

Ten wins!  Nine losses, but hey, ten wins...

On potential Sweet Sixteen sweetness: If looking ahead to the second round is bad, looking at the Sweet Sixteen is just asking for a jinx, but since I'm not discussing a certain team from South Bend, let's consider the following...

North Carolina vs. Texas: So much young talent on the floor here, especially with Damion James' evolution into a James Thomas/Shelden Williams caliber of inside rock, but Carolina would have a slew of bodies to throw at Durant in an attempt to wear him down.  These are two teams that can put up big offensive numbers while forgetting about that whole "defense" thing from time to time, so this would be a fun showdown.

UCLA vs. Pitt: Ben Howland versus his old team in this round would be interesting, because Howland could never get those highly-touted, tough, Knight and Page-led Pitt teams past the Sweet Sixteen because the offense always bogged down (sound familiar, Bruin fans?).  This would also mean we get to see Aaron Gray, who moved at the same speed as my septuagenarian in "guarding" Roy Hibbert Saturday night.  Good luck in the NBA, Aaron, because it's not like the pace is picking up or anything...

Julius Page actually played his entire senior season with an invisible panther on his back, which explains why he couldn't hit a shot to save his life.

Ohio State vs. Virginia/Rocky Top: As discussed on ESPN this evening, this would be an interesting match-up for the Buckeyes because the Vols wouldn't even mess around with trying to go into the post.  They'd spread things out, lure Oden out and run n' gun their way into contention.  Virginia would do pretty much the same thing, and since it remains to be seen if Ohio State's defense is really that good or a product of playing in a league where offense went the way of the Dodo this season.

On the biggest committee screw-up: Arkansas getting in.  Just completely inexcusable.  Under .500 in a shitty division of a shitty league, and just because you string together a nice run at the end of the season against a bunch of bad teams before getting pummeled by Florida - I know, they couldn't shoot today; whatever - doesn't mean you're NCAA worthy.  I think how you're playing at the end of the season is important, but it's not this important.

On potential Final Four teams: As I said, there doesn't seem to be that hot 3 through 6 seed - save for the Law - everyone wants to pin their hopes to this year.  The general consensus seems to be Florida, Kansas, Georgetown and Texas A&M.  Sure, some people will take UNC, Texas, Ohio State or UCLA, but I'd imagine a combination of those eight teams will be in 99% of everyone's Final Fours.  This season started off very top heavy, took a dip when Florida and UNC looked vulnerable during February, but now has locked back into a very top-heavy tournament.

Those predictions, of course, will be terribly, terribly wrong.  Florida's going down to Arizona, Georgetown will get by Washington State and Bill Self will make it a trifecta of fun with a loss to the play-in game winner, but if we weren't here spouting off predictions, what good would we be doing the world?

Bring it on, Eagles.  We do not fear you.  

(In a very, very respectful way.)