TOURNEY AND WEEKEND RACKET UPDATE

- Holy hell. I cannot wait to see Butler play South Alabama. Drake and Western Kentucky? Holy shit. These games are going to be on ESPNU, right?

One of the least exciting NCAA tournaments in recent memory. I took off Friday to watch. Might come into work anyway.

This season should just be called Big East and Pac-10 love. Step up, boys. I went mostly with the chalk in my Final Four picks ... just like most other people. All one and two seeds. Have some sleepers in my final eight though ... including Kansas State and Arizona. Other sleepers in the Sweet 16 ... Clemson, Purdue, Drake and Michigan State. In the final, I have Texas beating Kansas. Other first round upsets? St. Joe's over Oklahoma, Davidson, Kentucky, San Diego and St. Mary's. Three teams from the WCC, four from the ACC. Those two conferences are about equal.

Teams that don't belong in tourney? (Aside from automatic qualifiers) ... Arizona, Oregon, West Virginia, Baylor, Kentucky and Gonzaga.

I watched a fair amount of games this year and Texas and Kansas (to me) have the most overall talent and depth.

- Buckeye cagers open up the NIT tomorrow night against UNC-Asheville. I believe McGinley had them as his sleeper earlier this year.

- Great weekend. Had a lot of fun at the wedding on Saturday. The Carabar on Friday night was OUTSTANDING. Big ups to The 1 for dragging me along ... the Truth and the Hoodie also put in a good word for that place. Saw Bo Bice's (BO BICE!) band Hotel War play for the first time ... I don't know much about local live music but they sounded great and put on an excellent shoe. And an excellent show. The trendy (not mistertrendy) hipsters/styledogs all drink PBR in a can at the bar. But for as much as I make fun of the trendy hipsters/styledogs, they all are very happy people who smile at a bar and engage you in conversation. I believe people only smile at the Slo-Pitch after 1 a.m. and sometimes on Monday nights.

- The wedding had the most attractive field I've ever seen. Of the 10 bridesmaids, I doubt one weighed more than 110 pounds. That's not a joke. It actually was mesmerizing.

- Missed The Godfather on Friday especially. We (The 1 and I) went to the EGG and watched Ohio State's season fall apart. the Truth showed up with two minutes to go in the game as we were leaving. The Mayor also made an appearance with others. The 1 is hilarious.

- Thinking all the way back to Thursday night ... hmm ... watched the Cavs at the Slo-Pitch, had some beers and shots. the Truth (bff) spent most of the night talking to a woman.

- Not sure what's up for tonight. Definitely enjoying a few beers after work somewhere.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

- Art McGregor