Bring it

Not that you asked, but I'll give you my early observations:

Gonzaga lost five games all year, all of them to other tournament teams. That's got to mean something. Worth more, I think, is who Syracuse beat: Memphis, Kansas and Connecticut. I have the Orange going deep because that 2-3 zone freaks people out. So does Wisconsin's style, but not enough to get past anyone this year. 

A lot of pick-'ems in the first round this year: Ohio State vs. Sienna. West Virginia vs. Dayton. Boston College vs. USC. How can you possibly pick these games? That's just in the Midwest. 

I like a couple of teams that seem to be jelling. Missouri. Michigan. Syracuse and Washington both won 8 out of their last 10. 

Who's deflating? Oklahoma, surely. North Carolina's stock is down as long as Ty Lawson's toe hurts (though I still like them to make the Final Four). Some say Purdue is surging, but they seem to me to be limping.

It's the best field in years, but when the dust settles on March 29 I think Cindarella will be long gone and we'll be looking at four teams that have all the pieces: Seniors, steady guard play, bruisers inside and defensive intensity. Special-situation smarts also count for a lot, as evidenced by Memphis's crack-up in last year's final. 

It says here the Final Four will come from this group of six: Louisville, Michigan State, Connecticut, Pitt, Villanova and North Carolina.

What do you say?

It's time for the Saint John's Hoops Al McGuire Memorial Final Four contest!

You know how it works: Send me the names of the four teams YOU pick to be in the Final Four this year, specifying which team you pick to win it all and which you pick as the runner-up. (Several people miss this crucial detail every year and are disqualified.)

After the champion's been crowned, I will score everyone's picks as follows: 1 point for each team you correctly place in the Final Four, 2 points for naming the runner-up, and 3 points for naming the champion. The winner will receive a North Dakota State University sweatshirt, in honor of the Bison making it in their first year of eligibility. The winner's team will also be spotted 4 points in a game to 11 in our first post-tournament game at St. John's. (A non-player winner will receive a prize of approximately equal value, whatever that would be.) In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen by a random draw. All recipients of this e-mail are eligible to enter.

But there's more! Specify a fifth team, seeded 9 or lower, as your darkhorse pick. If that team makes it into the Final Four, you will win $64 and a six-pack of Summit Pale Ale. (Yes, I've had to write that check.) Doggone it, if there's a better NCAA tournament contest, I've never heard of it!

All entries must be received in my inbox by tip-off of the first game on Thursday, March 19.

After you submit your entry, please let me know if you will or will not be playing hoops this weekend. Note we are playing at Mounds Park Academy this week. Directions to come, but we tip off at 8:00 a.m., as usual.

Nice shot, Jenney

I submit for your consideration United State Patent Number 5,890,985: Basketball Training Aid, "a portable basketball training aid to improve the player's shooting accuracy while being distracted by vision restrictors which simulate realistic game conditions."

I dunno. I have read through this patent (11 pages) and I'm not sure Mr. George Warren Jenney of Barberton, Ohio, is qualified to say what are realistic game conditions. Then again, maybe things were different in Mr. Jenney's day:

Please let me know if you will or will not be playing hoops at St. John's tomorrow. We tip off at 8:00 a.m., as usual (har, har).

Hat tips: Kehoe (patent), Jim (photo), Keekley (Nice shot, Jenny).

Devolver

This week I did something I haven't done since 1986: I lined up to buy a record on the day of its release. The last was Boston's "Third Stage," and I stood in line behind a guy buying 10 copies. Tuesday it was "Middle Cyclone" by Neko Case.

I didn't actually "line up" to buy it. There are no record stores in my neighborhood, so to buy an actual physical CD you have to visit Best Buy. They don't usually have what I'm looking for (unless I'm looking for what KDWB played 10 minutes ago, which I'm usually not), but I was pretty sure they've have "Middle Cyclone" given all the pre-release hype. (An item on NPR counts as hype, right?)

In the entryway was a whiteboard on which was written, "NEW RELEASES 3/3: NEKO CASE." From the New Releases rack I could see laptops and vacuum cleaners. Around 30 titles were on display, but no Neko Case. A blue-shirted clerkbot asked me if was finding everything okay.

"I'm looking for the new Neko Case," I said.

"Huh...?" I could tell he was wondering what kind of case you put a neko in.

"The new Neko Case CD. It comes out today."

He said, "That's probably in New Releases."

"Yeah, I looked there. I didn't see it."

"Uhhh..."

"Tell you what. I'll go look under 'Neko Case.'"

"Okay," he said with obvious relief.

The woman checking out in front of me was buying $400 worth of Nintendo junk. Her credit card was refused. I quickly moved to the next line, where the two young men in front of me were also buying video games. One also had "Marvin Gaye's Greatest Hits," incongruously, I thought, given his age and appearance. I wanted to chat him up, like you do in a real record store: "I've got that album. It's great. Did you see there's a new remastered version of 'What's Going On'?" I didn't.

My CD had a bright yellow sticker on it: SALE $9.99. "Eight fifty-three," said the cashier. He asked if I had a rewards card but didn't ask if I'd heard "Blacklisted" or if I was into Freakwater. At Great American Music, where I bought that Boston album, the girl at the counter used to give me leftover promotional copies of albums she thought I'd like. I asked her out, and we dated for a while.

People lament the sense of "community" that's lost when sales of things like music move online. I don't know. When I'm in Best Buy I feel lonely and alienated. So I mostly buy from quirky websites where others post reviews and comments about the music. It's not the Electric Fetus. It doesn't smell like pot and incense. But no one's trying to sell me a washing machine, either.

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Please let me know if you will or will not be playing hoops at St. John's this Saturday. We tip off at 8:00 a.m., as usual.