Getting Ready for March

It still feels like it was yesterday. The floor pulsating. Vibrations, picked up by my feet, riding up my spine. Bands battling. The audience humming. Basketballs bouncing. All grew louder as I made my way down the tunnel toward the main event. I felt like a tree branch floating along in a tributary that spit you out into a vast ocean. When I entered the Palace at Auburn Hills, my life was forever changed. I was overwhelmed with so many emotions.

It was the first time I'd ever covered an NCAA Tournament. To this day, that moment stands as the happiest I've ever been in my life.

So you can see why I'm amped up for March 2010. Just like every year since my childhood, March is my favorite month. The frenzied pace at which college basketball's regular season ends and spills into the postseason just fills me with joy. You know what else makes me happy? Bracketology.

If the Tournament was today, this is how I think it would look ...

1 seeds: Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, Duke

2s: Kansas State, West Virginia, Villanova, Purdue

3s: Ohio State, New Mexico, Michigan State, Pitt

4s: Wisconsin, Temple, Vanderbilt, Tennessee

5s: Gonzaga, Texas A&M, Butler, Xavier

6s: Baylor, BYU, Texas, Georgetown

7s: Maryland, Northern Iowa, Missouri, Richmond

8s: Wake Forest, Clemson, Oklahoma State, California

9s: Florida State, Louisville, Marquette, Georgia Tech

10s: Notre Dame, Illinois, UNLV, Florida

11s: UConn, Old Dominion, UTEP, Utah State

12s: Mississippi State, UAB, Minnesota, Saint Mary's

13s: Kent State, Murray State, Siena, Cornell

14s: Weber State, UC-Santa Barbara, College of Charleston, Oakland

15s: Stony Brook, Coastal Carolina, Morgan State, Sam Houston State

16s: Lipscomb, Robert Morris, Lehigh, Jackson State, Troy

What Makes a Coach of the Year?

It's been a while. Too long, even. But nothing gets you thinking about blogging like a Chipotle burrito for lunch, coffee for dinner and a burning question that eats away at your mind: What makes a coach of the year? (I understand that normal people don't fret about these things.)

There are so many stances to take. You can be a numbers guy or gal -- the coach of the best team should be the coach of the year (Bill Self). You can go by the most miraculous -- see: Martin, Frank. You can side with the How Do They Do It? folks who love to see coaches win and win again despite losing huge numbers of impact players -- looking at you, Jim Boeheim and Jamie Dixon. Or you can even saddle up on a feel-good pony, like someone who might like BYU's Dave Rose or New Mexico's Steve Alford.

Or you can go the John Calipari route. It's hard to argue with these folks -- because they're in your camp, whichever tent you sleep in. He's a numbers guy -- 25-1 through Friday night. He's a miracle worker -- the man basically infused Kentucky's roster with a veritable McDonald's All-America team and turned an NIT team into a national title contender in a matter of months. (Seriously, say NIT in Kentucky and they think it's a new government stimulus program.) He's a How Do They Do It guy with an asterisk, but not because he juiced up like Big Bad Barry Bonds, more because he has done the whole reloading-not-rebuilding thing at every program he's coached. He's the feel-good pony for roughly 3 million people, which, for those counting at home, is about 3/4 of the estimated population of the state of Kentucky. (The other quarter roots for Louisville, Western or Eastern Kentucky, Murray State and/or some kind of miracle.)

Now I think I just argued that Calipari should be coach of the year. It's not decided -- I think Boeheim is right there with him, along with Martin -- but how can he not win it? Dude left a cushy job for a high-intensity one, a relatively relaxed, if-he-wins-it's-great-if-he-loses-whatever atmosphere for a he-better-win-every-game-or-we'll-run-him-out-of-town one. Lots of pressure. And he has done nothing short of blow it out of the water.

On a side note: Imagine the expectations for Calipari after this season, regardless of how far the Cats go. If they win a title, Cal will never sleep again. Call it the reverse championship bonus, like winning the presidency or a lifetime supply of Popeye's. Normally when you win (or eat, if you're still tagging along with the Popeye's joke), you pass out from celebrating. But at Kentucky, you wake up the next day, put your title ring on and go recruit the next class of champs. At least that's what the section under "job responsibilities" said when Cal saw the opening on coachingjobs.com (not a real site, people). But that's a topic for for another time.

Anyway, I'm not saying pressure -- or handling the pressure -- only affects Coach Cal. It's a pretty intense hoops community in Syracuse and Lawrence, too. But the coaches there are established, comfortable in their seats. Boeheim would have to lose like 100 recruiting battles to Tim O'Shea, Bryant's intrepid coach who inexplicably left Ohio to coach a transitional D-I school that is a whopping 0-8,000 this year (they're actually 1-28). And Bill Self would probably have to tell the local paper that he loves K-State or Missouri to get the locals to even think about heating up his seat.

Throw in Cal's incredible recruiting job and his handling of the 37 egos crammed into the 13 heads that look at the coach during film sessions and it's hard to not give him the coach of the year award.

The point is this, you can be in any camp you want, observe any coach-of-the-year mantra you want, but if one guy plays to every crowd, it's hard to deny him that honor.

Now watch Kentucky become the first-ever No. 1 seed to lose to a 16.