Academic

My Pick to Win It All

By Gordon Smith, Christine, Hurt, Vic Fleischer, Fred Tung, Lisa Fairfax, David Zaring

Thanks to those of you who have entered a bracket in our annual NCAA challenge. Christine and I were talking about prizes behind the scenes today, so the winner can expect something really cool. But we don't want you to do it for the goods. We want you to enter for the glory!

In the interest of good fun -- and to show all of you that I am thinking more clearly this year -- I want to announce my pick to win it all: UCLA.

This pains me to no end because it would require UCLA to beat BYU in the second round (if the Cougars managed to get past the Aggies from Texas A&M ... and I realize that's no gimme). Also, it means that Steve Bainbridge would have gloating rights, which he stole briefly last fall, only to relinquish them in the Las Vegas Bowl. Most dangerous of all is that UCLA and BYU play in football again this fall ... though the Bruins have to travel to Provo, which is not called Happy Valley for nothing.

But I digress. In the sport of basketball, UCLA is simply the best team I have seen this year, despite some inconsistency and some questionable officiating. Kevin Love is great, and he deserves the praise he is getting. But the main reasons UCLA rises to the top are Darren Collison, Josh Shipp, and Russell Westbrook. Other teams have good guards, but not this many who are this good. If you don't know Darren Collison, yet, you will in a few weeks. It appears that some UCLA players may be battling the injury bug, which could affect the results, but if they stay healthy, Steve will be doing some gloating.

Full post as published by Conglomerate on March 19, 2008 (boomark / email).