I was very sad to see Kanas go. My bracket was already busted because I picked Syracuse to go to the championship game against Illinois. So I'm probably tuning the Tournament out until the Sweet 16.

In women's news though, I'm planning on studiously following the Baylor Lady Bears. My newspaper even has a blog set up to track their progress to Indy.

My women's bracket has them winning the whole enchilada, so I will be blogging about them more than the men's side.

This is the first year I haven't done a bracket since I started participating in a pool in 1996. It seems strange to not have a bracket to obssess over, but I've certainly been more productive because of it. The guy who runs the pool I participate in had to take the year off, sadly.

How I pick my brackets, though, is definitely a result of how he runs his pool -- he gives points based on the round plus points for the seed, which encourages picking upsets. And it means I never would have picked Illinois to win the tournament this year because they're the favorite.

I'm happy to see a couple of good upsets early, but disappointed to see Penn lose so early. Not doing a bracket this year means I get to root for teams I like, though, so go Gonazaga and Duke! And I'll root for Nevada, just because they're from the WAC (Wolfpack Pride: Catch It! And Go Nevada!).

Nate, I'm like you with my men's bracket busted to hell and LSU laying a big ole egg in theer game against UAB, the fun now is watching the Bucknell, Nevada and Vermonts of the tourney whack some of the big boys.

As an aforementioned LSU fan, I've turned my attention to the women's bracket and I will tell you right now, there is no team that I worry more about than Baylor. They have great post play, solid guards and I think the world of Kim Mulkey Robertson. I watched her play at La Tech several times and she was the epitome of a floor general. She could run a halfcourt offense or press a fast break with equal skill. And as a point guard, I don't know if I've seen a better passer, man or woman, than her. Bullet passes off the dribble, bounce passes in traffic, lobs to the post...she was John Stockton with a French braid.

Good luck to the Lady Bears. I hope my Lady Tigers meet up with them in Indy.

Leave it to me to pick the wrong Pennsylvanian university to pull off an upset (I picked Penn over BC) and then proceed to predict a minimum of upsets throughout the tournament.

My bracket is shot.

Nate has got to be happy at the moment as Baylor's women are destroying Illinois State right now and Rice is just now tipping off.

But this is why I love the NCAA tournament. This is an excerpt from Dennis Dodd's column on CBS Sportsline.

Lacking a pep band, a Bucknell assistant AD approached Northern Iowa's band and "rented" it for the Kansas game. The Panthers band received free T-shirts and $150 to spend on pizza. The Bison fight song was faxed in Friday morning.

You've gotta love it when the little guys stick together. Of course with Northern Iowa out Bucknell's got find another mercenary pep band.

I'm with Sue. Go Wolfpack! Our local sports guys made much of the St. Mary's - SIU game, since Hawai'i had beaten both of them this year. I call that specious reasoning, but what the heck, homerism.

Well, apparently I cursed Nevada and Gonzaga. Anybody have a team you'd like to see out of the tournament? I'll root for them.