According to ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge, I'm the 2,087,534th most knowledgeable college basketball expert in the world.
You could say it's been a rough couple of rounds from me so far in the NCAA Tournament.
They didn't seem like such bad picks at the time.
Syracuse was playing well going into March and they had all that experience that everyone fawns over. Hakim Warrick was scoring like 55 points a game in the Big East Tournament.
Syracuse to the Final Four!
No. 13 Syracuse 57, Vermont 60.
What the heck is a Catamount and what have they done with my Austin bracket?
No sweat though, the rest of the bracket could still turn out all right.
One team I didn't think would keep playing well was Illinois. I was able to see right through that 34-1 record and pick the Fighting Illini to go out in the Sweet 16, which still could happen. The only problem was the team I had putting them out was Alabama.
No. 21 Alabama 73, UW-Milwaukee 83.
That one hurts, but there are still chances to make up for a couple bad picks.
On to Albuquerque.
No worries here, I wasn't one of those guys that had Wake Forest going to the Final Four. Nope, I steered clear of the Demon Deacons and zeroed in on the real stud -- Gonzaga.
They're scrappy, fundamental and have shown some grit this season. Why not the Zags?
Bob Knight, that's why.
No. 10 Gonzaga 69, No. 24 Texas Tech 71.
That's about the time I dropped to two-millionth place.
But, through the beauty of denial and erasable pens I bring to you my revised bracket.
Zoom to the Chicago bracket.
Oklahoma State beats Arizona and Illinois beats UW-Milwaukee.
The Cowboys win in a close one because they play better team basketball. Head coach Eddie Sutton is the best Xs and Os coach in the country and the Cowboys' John Lucas will put the clamps on Wildcats super-guard Salim Stoudamire.
And I've been picking against UW-Milwaukee all tournament long, why not one more time?
Illinois pulls away in the second half and sends Cinderella home.Illinois has won like 653 games in a row, what's a couple more?
Chicago bracket: Illinois.
In the Syracuse bracket, North Carolina has looked dominant, even if it has been against Oakland and Iowa State.
The Tar Heels have won by an average of 27.5 points in their first two games and easily do so again against Villanova, who is missing their leading rebounder, Curtis Sumpter.
Julius Hodge, the most underrated player in the country, will light up Wisconsin as 10th-seeded NC State continues its run.
Even Hodge is no match for great matchups.
I'm tired of hearing how Duke is weak this year. Repeat after me: Duke is Duke. Duke is good.
And Duke will send the Spartans back to East Lansing.
And if Hodge is the most underrated player, Utah's Andrew Bogut is just the best.
Bogut is averaging 20 points, 12 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.The only chance of shutting him down is a well-played zone defense. Kentucky isn't up the challenge.
And even though Duke is good, they're not good enough this time.Austin bracket: Utah.
I still haven't mentioned the team who will be cutting down the nets in a couple weeks.
Not Illinois, not the Tar Heels, not Utah.
No, the champs are coming from the Albuquerque bracket.West Virginia, Texas Tech, Washington or Louisville.
West Virginia and Texas Tech have made great runs, both pulling off wins against powerhouses to reach the Sweet 16, but this is where the magic stops.
Neither of those guys has a chance of reaching St. Louis and winning it all.
Other than Memphis, the one team I've seen the most this season is Louisville. Good defense, good shooters, solid rebounding. But, one thing I've learned is that they like to control the pace of the game, something they can't do against Washington.
The Huskies will run on anybody, any time, in any situation.
How confident are the Huskies? They didn't even ask for game film from Montana and moved right ahead to Pacific and Pittsburgh.
Most people still believe they are the fifth-best team left in the tournament.
Many experts picked them to lose in the second round.
Having said that, I believe the Huskies will win it all.
Then again, that's just the opinion the 2,087,534th foremost expert in college hoops.
