I'm gonna start this week with two predictions, neither of them in my favor. First, I've heard a lot of forecasters calling for bad hurricane seasons. Every damn year. I had to read an idiotic Sun-Sentinel story a couple years ago about goddamn psychics predicting ultimate death and destruction. I didn't believe it last year and I didn't believe it the year before. But this year I got a bad feeling. Anybody remember a few weeks ago when the wind started blowing and it blew for like five straight days? In my 15 years in Florida, I've never seen that before. Wind doesn't blow for five straight days in freaking Plantation. I wondered if it was a sign of things to come. Then came this story by Ken Kaye that noted abormally warm ocean temperatures and La Nina. Then last night there was a tornado warning in west Broward. Methinks there's gonna be some canes hitting this year. The good news is that we might get lucky.
-- I'm in a strange position for tonight's national championship game. In my initial mano y mano pool, I picked Kansas over N.C. and then over UCLA to win the championship. If the rockchalk boys when, I win my little pool. I didn't even have Memphis in my final four, in part because they usually find a way to blow in the 16 or 8. This year was different. They beat Miss St, an excellent team. I thought, yeah, they're good. They beat Michigan State. No, they KILLED Michigan State and I was like, they're awesome. Then they whipped Texas and I was a believer. This team reminds me more of Kentucky's 1996 NBA player-laden championship team (there were like seven pros on the team, including Tony Delk, Ron Mercer, and Antoine Walker) than any I've seen since. I knew they were going to beat UCLA and now I think they're gonna beat Kansas and kill my brackets.
But this should be a good game. Chalmers and Rush (both of whom I like a lot, especially Chalmers) are gonna get run ragged by CDR, Rose and Co., but the Jayhawks have some serious inside depth (Arthur, Kahn, Aldrich) that could give Dorsey a headache (and foul trouble). If Kansas executes beautifully, they can win. I think the problem is that Bill Self's crew can't execute 40 minutes. They almost blew a 28 point first half lead against UNC Saturday because they didn't manage the clock at the end of the first half. Looked like a bunch of fools running around but they righted when they needed it.
Prediction: Memphis 74 Kansas 69
