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Mine is f’ed up man f’ed up!!!!!! Sorry I got a little upset, but thanks for asking. At the beginning of March Madness I had a few picks that drew the high eyebrow look from a chosen few of my associates. I said to myself I’ll show them with picks such as Butler over Tennessee, Mississippi State over Memphis, and Clemson reaching the Elite Eight. Needless to say none of those picks panned out. My Midwest region is done. Georgetown, a team I had playing in the final game, lost a 17-point lead and the game to Davidson. Player of the tournament so far is Stephen Curry. This young man has a combined 70 points in the first two games. His 40 against Gonzaga and his 30 against Georgetown included a combined 55 points in the second half when his team needed them the most. What maybe the most impressive thing about this young man is the fact that he shoots 90% from the free throw line ( more on that late). Memphis, a team that has steamrolled to a 34-1 record, showed they have toughness as well. Joey Dorsey blocked six shots before fouling out but he and Robert Dozier that the Memphis Tigers have braun down low. Now to the bad side of the Tigers. After holding an eight point lead with less than a minute to play free throw shooting nearly did the Tigers in. Chris Douglas-Roberts and super freshman Derrick Rose both missed free throws late to allow the Bulldogs a chance at the end when Jamont Gordon’s 23 footer hit off the back iron for a Memphis 77-74 win and a trip to the Sweet 16. Speaking of Bulldogs the remarkable run of Georgia came to an end against the Xavier Musketeers 73-61. To the end the Dogs kept fighting leading by 11 early in the second half before Xavier put on the pressure winning 73-61. The Musketeers continued their good play in the second round outlasting Purdue, another team I had going deep in the tournament, 85-78  with good defense and timely free throw shooting. Stanley Burrell and Drew Lavender headline this team as they take on another surprise team in West Virginia. After Duke escaped Belmont 71-70 in the first round the Devils couldn’t get past the Mountaineers in the second round losing 73-67. What was Duke’s demise? Rebounding and get this 3-point shooting. The Blue Devils for the two games shot five for 37 from the three point arc. Without a true low post threat that proved to be too much to overcome. West Virginia led by outstanding sophomore Joe Alexander move on to the Sweet Sixteen.  A team that I have going to the Final Four, Stanford, played what maybe the most exciting game overcame 30 points from Jerel McNeal to beat Marquette 82-81 in overtime. The “Twins” Brook and Robin Lopez combined for 48 points and 20 rebounds. Brook scored 26 of his 30 in the second half and overtime. Including 8 of Stanford’s 11 points in the extra session. Of the 8 he scored it included the winning basket with only 1.2 seconds left. Head Coach Trent Johnson had been ejected in the first half due to arguing with officials. Marquette continued to control the game. After halftime Brook Lopez asserted himself after his coach asked the team to “bail him out” of this situation. Bail him out is what they did as Mitch Johnson had a career high 16 assists. Now Stanford takes on Texas in Houston. The Longhorns got past Miami 75-72 after nearly blowing a 15 point lead in the second half. Led by AJ Abrams’ 26 points and yet another steady performance from DJ Augustine to lead the way. Again free throw shooting nearly did in the Longhorns as Miami began their assault on the Texas lead. Jack McClinton led the way for the Hurricanes with 18. He had a chance to tie the game after Augustine stepped to the line for two free throws air balling the first and hitting the second to give the Horns a three point lead. The last second attempt missed the mark. Kansas and North Carolina looked to be the real deal as they have had little trouble in getting to the round of 16. The Jayhawks face the Villanova Wildcats who ended the run of Siena 84-72. Scottie Reynolds continued his great play with 25 points and stifling defense that the Wildcats will need to control the Jayhawks very fast backcourt.The Heels face off with the stingy defense of Washington State. The Cougars held off sharp shooting Notre Dame 61-41 showing an uncanny ability to score the basketballl while limiting their opponents. Derrick Low scored 18 points to lead the way. Louisville looked like the Rick Pitino Kentucky Wildcats of the mid 90’s by suffocating the Oklahoma Sooners 78-48. The margin of victory matched the largest since 1968.  Next up for the Cardinal are the Vols of Tennessee. JaJaun Smith hit four free throws ,for a team that normally shoots them in the low 60%, to hold off the Butler Buldogs 76-71 in overtime. The Vols overcame anothe subpar performance from Chris Lofton to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the second year in a row. Now to the team I picked to win it all the UCLA Bruins. At the 18:49 mark of the second half the Bruins trailed by 10 36-26. From that point till the end of the game the Texas A&M Aggies would score only 13 more points including five in the last 10 minutes of the game. Kevin Love had 7 blocks to go along with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Darren Collison led the way with 21 points including back to back layups each one put the Bruins ahead by two in the final minute of the game. What the Bruins are going to need the rest of the way is for the rest of the team to step up and score. Collison and Love combined for 40 and rest of the squad combined for 13. That won’t cut it. Next up for the Bruins are the HillToppers of Western Kentucky. The 12th seeded team from the Sun Belt Conference took out the cinderella San Diego 72-63. Western Kentucky will need to play their best game of the year against the Bruin D. The Sweet Sixteen is set and three of my Final Four teams are still in it. What a first four days of this crazy tournament. It is only going to get better. Enjoy I know I will. Rip…. That is the sound of me tearing up my bracket.