CHJ detailed the Golden Lions' brutal road schedule earlier this season. It didn't play a home game until mid-January. That kind of ambitious and pay-your-dues scheduling was karmic, as Arkansas-Pine Bluff defeated Winthrop, 61-44. Full confession: I watched not three minutes of last night's play-in (never opening round! Never!) game. Confession No. 2: My car died on the highway as I was driving home. It's time to move on from the 1995 ... Read More

CHJ's final regional preview comes to you in the dinner hour, and it's a full meal of games that the East is offering up. In fact, a buffet's more like it, and you won't want to treat this group of tilts like an à la cart menu (too heavy on the food metaphors? Stopping now). In the past decade no region has had more unpredictability, in terms of which seed ... Read More

Now we're going to talk about Duke and all that's been handed to it and how easy it's going to be for it to saunter to the Final Four. Wait. We're not doing any of that. See, Duke can't "win." Either it reaches the Final Four and everyone rolls their eyes, or it loses before then and Duke gets pummeled for not being able to roll through what's conceived to ... Read More

Heard it called The Man Region yesterday, and that's a great call. I went on the radio last night to talk about these 16 teams, and as I was feebly trying to come off as something barely resembling an analyst, I realized this region is great for us, the viewers. Yeah, it really sucks that Kansas got the toughest region possible, but what a television experience this quadrant is going ... Read More

Today is the day I'll be doling out all the previews for all the regions. I don't want to get you straight-and-narrow analysis and over-exhaustive breakdowns from every game; you can find that in plenty of places, and it's often way, way too much, wouldn't you agree? Doesn't a lot of the stuff so many people slave over just become white noise? So, my own little take on the games, ... Read More

UPDATE: Well, unbelievably, I nailed the field. For the first time in my 28 years on the planet I went 65 for 65. Sure, some of my seeding was off, but who gives a damn about that? If you haven't heard, Lunardi went 64 for 65, missing out on Florida and opting to put Illinois in instead. Those losses, they add up. I think three times in the past seven ... Read More

Don't have a lot of time to tackle this because it will all be decided in 12 hours. Purdue bowed out of the running yesterday so it's down to West Virginia and Duke. Before I give you my opinion, here are the resúmés. Ohio State eliminated from this discussion because WVU beat it head to head, and you have to assume that's going to factor into the rankings. Also, OSU ... Read More

Who just got knocked out? Florida? Ole Miss? Seton Hall? Rhode Island's in the process of giving away its chances at a bid. If I had to pick, I think Mississippi State would be the team, as I don't think Ole Miss has a shot. Florida still barely in. Who the hell knows, though. Let's just get to the brackets! For all the bubble talk we've had, no one had been ... Read More

The fact he's even participating in this annual endorsement parade lets you know, someone in his cockles, that he's got doubts yet again about his team's chances.

A must-read feature on Bill Raftery, Corliss Williamson gets a job in Arkansas, who's left from the 1996 Draft class, a Kentucky-Tennessee primer and many more links.

Recaps of last night's four conference title games and some tidbits on each of the new Dance contestants -- like the Gaels, who finally got Gonzaga's goat.

We're five auto bids deep and more will be handed out each day this week. The regular season is now officially over and only postseason games remain. Here's who have been awarded the auto bids. The Golden Tickets, if you will. And there's nothing quite as sweet as that. NORTHERN IOWA »Hoping to play: Pittsburgh, Temple, Notre Dame »Record: 28-4, 15-3 Missouri Valley »Probably: a 9-seed »KenPom ranking: 37 »RPI: 22 »Most recent tournament history (six total ... Read More

If you're on Twitter and follow anyone that writes about college basketball, then you know about what I'm going to link to. But I figured I had to make a post about this because it's simply a FREAKING GOLD MINE. A college hoops lover's sopping wet dream. And I've got a few friends who read the site and aren't on the tweet machine, so they'll appreciate this. Do I wax poetic ... Read More

A loss for the small guys. Yep, a mid-major just fell out of the at-large pool. It did it in the most affronting way possible, too. The Wichita State Shockers were doing considerably well this season — second place in the Missouri Valley, a win over conference leader Northern Iowa and a win over Texas Tech as well — before it all went to shit last night in Evansville, Indiana. The then-20-5 Shockers ... Read More

Grab a cup of hot cocoa and reminisce with me, won't you?

With all the bad PR the BCS is taking today (and don't lie to yourself by saying otherwise), is it really that wise for the NCAA to go on the record by stating its openly considering changing the format of the men's tournament? It's not. Then again, the NCAA tends to be as wrong as a $140 pair of gloves in a ski resort shop more often than not. The option ... Read More

For fun, I screengrab his first picks of the season for the recreational purpose of seeing how much can change from love-at-first-pick four months prior. Funnily enough (and Lunardi addressed this immediately), he only has ONE mid-major school getting an at-large bid right now. The weakling known as Xavier is the only small guy getting the early-season love. Some other quick observations: • Jacksonville as a 14-seed is UNFORGIVABLE!!!! • WVU as a 3. ... Read More

This was addressed when I interviewed ESPN president George Bodenheimer last year, and it's only going to grow and grow as the option for the NCAA to opt out of its contract with CBS next year gets closer. Burke Magnus, the man who decides what college sports goes on where and when at ESPN, admitted the obvious to USA Today's Michael McCarthy recently when he said The Juggernaut would be interested ... Read More