My promised March Madness "analysis."

Some thoughts on the NCAA tournament, courtesy of a guy who's watched maybe six games all year:

Midwest: I think this is the weakest of the four regions, and I can see only very few scenarios in which Florida doesn't advance to the Final Four out of this region ... With the injury to Wisconsin's Brian Butch, the Badgers aren't nearly as solid as their 2 seed indicates, and I see them getting taken out by UNLV in the second round ... 11th-seeded Winthrop is the preordained darling of the tournament, which should sufficiently honk off Notre Dame to the point where the Irish play up to their seeding and eliminate the Eagles in the first round ... Butler's not been nearly as impressive down the stretch as they were in the early part of the season, but I still see them getting to the Sweet 16 before falling to Florida. Sweet 16 picks: Florida over Butler, UNLV over Oregon. Elite 8 pick: Florida over UNLV.

West: It's kind of funny how close we were to an Indiana-Texas Tech first-round matchup, since both Texas Tech and Gonzaga were 10 seeds. Still, IU-Gonzaga is intriguing. I had planned a blog post earlier this year about how this season would be the end of Gonzaga as a player on the national scene - this was after watching an average Virginia team destroy the 'Zags by what should have been about 40 shortly after the New Year. Glad I held off on that post, since they've seemed to pull it together somewhat ... I'm picking the yearly 5-12 upset to happen in this bracket, with Illinois knocking off Virginia Tech ... A lot of people are pegging this to be the year that Duke's streak of Sweet 16 runs ends, with either VCU or Pittsburgh knocking them out. I concur, and picked VCU to eliminate Duke in the first round. Sweet 16 picks: Southern Illinois over Kansas, Pittsburgh over Gonzaga. Elite 8 pick: Pittsburgh over Southern Illinois.

East: A lot of folks are pegging Texas' freshman phenom Kevin Durant as the Player of the Year. OK, fine. I still don't have them making it to the Sweet 16, because as I've said - I watched about six games this year ... Texas Tech is in this bracket, and while I picked them to beat Boston College, I don't see them getting past Georgetown - if Bob Knight had a week to prepare for the Hoyas instead of two days, I'd like the Red Raiders' chances a lot better ... "Upsets" I picked in this bracket include Michigan State over Marquette, New Mexico State over Texas and George Washington over Vanderbilt ... Sweet 16 picks: North Carolina over New Mexico State, Georgetown over Washington State. Elite 8 pick: Georgetown over North Carolina.

South: This bracket will play out mostly to form in the first round, with 9 seed Xavier being the lowest seed to win. Long Beach State is kind of a glamour pick to pull out an upset in the first round (especially with their game being the of the 5-12 variety), but I went with Tennessee ... The second round will be a little more topsy-turvy - I like Nevada to defeat Memphis, who nevertheless will have a chip on their shoulder thanks to the fact that many folks think they're in too high at a 2 ... All told, Ohio State shouldn't have too much of a problem advancing out of this region. Sweet 16 picks: Ohio State over Tennessee, Texas A&M over Nevada. Elite 8 pick: Ohio State over Texas A&M.

Final Four: Florida over Pittsburgh, Ohio State over Georgetown.

National Championship: Ohio State 80, Florida 71.