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It’s safe to say not many people, when they filled out their NCAA basketball bracket, picked Butler and Connecticut to meet in the championship game. But, one person from Des Moines did – with a little help from his dog. Dan Bolsem has a 7-year-old Red Heeler he named Phoenix, a nod to both the city in Arizona and his admiration for the actor Joaquin Phoenix. The 36-year-old photo journalist at KCCI-TV has already won his office pool after using Phoenix as inspiration. “I had my dog pick all dog names,” Bolsem said. “If there wasn’t a team with a...

VCU (11) v Butler (8) -3.5 O/U 110 - 6:09pm EDT CBS-TV Kentucky (4) v UConn (3) +2.5 O/U 110 - about 8:49pm EDT CBS-TV

If I ever do decide to write a book about last weekend, they'll probably call it something like, "Fall From Grace: How a Good Mormon Boy Just Wanted to Watch a Little Basketball, But Ended Up Drinkin', Smokin' and Gamblin' the Weekend Away." I blame March Madness. The annual NCAA basketball tournament opened last weekend, and let's face it, some of us go a little crazy this time of year. Opening weekend alone features 48 games. Forty-eight. I did the math, and that many 40-minute games works out to 1,920 minutes -- a whopping 32 hours -- of basketball. And...

Barrack's March Madness bracket picks are a telling self-revelation. An amateur psychologist would have a field day. The doctor is in, and here is the diagnosis. 1) The man has no imagination. No vision. Zilch. Nada! He picks all predictable number one seeds to be in the Final Four. How original is that? For the first time in tournament history there are not even any number 2 seeds much less a number 1. His 2009 Final Four picks were all number ones too. The man is incredibly shallow. 2) He is bereft of the concept of personal struggle of the...

President Obama's probably hoping he put some money on his March Madness picks, if he hasn't already. After a weekend's worth of basketball, the president's picks are among the most prescient, after two rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Obama's picks rank at the 99th percentile on ESPN.com, and he leads a pool including his bracket and the picks of other members of Congress whose brackets were collected by The Hill. Following Sunday night's games, Obama's bracket had earned the most points, putting him, respectively, ahead of Sens. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Mark Warner...

DISPARITY IN GRADUATION RATES BETWEEN WHITE AND BLACK PLAYERS Ten of the 68 teams that entered this year’s NCAA Tournament are not on track to graduate at least half of their players. A proposal by the Knight Commission ten years ago recommended that teams who do not graduate at least 50% of their players should not be eligible for post-season play. More than 90 percent of intercollegiate athletic teams meet or exceed this minimal academic standard, with one glaring exception: men’s basketball. Worse, there is a growing disparity between white and black players. At Kansas State in recent years, 100...

TULSA, Okla. (AP) All those late-season struggles are behind Mike Davis and Illinois. The NCAA tournament is all that matters now. Davis tied his season high with 22 points, Demetri McCamey added 17 points and seven assists and Illinois dominated UNLV 73-62 Friday night to set up another meeting between Fighting Illini coaches past and present in the Southwest region of the NCAA tournament. The ninth-seeded Illini (20-13) took control with an early 15-0 run and led by as many as 25 in a surprisingly easy rout, after losing 10 of their previous 16 games to bring into question whether...

A 8.9 earthquake hits Japan causing a devastating tsunami leaving hundred of thousands missing or dead. Egypt had a revolution and Libya is in the process of the same. The Middle East is in turmoil. Oil prices keep on going up and up, rising above 104 a barrel.....

The NCAA plans to expand the men's basketball tournament from 65 to 68 teams beginning next year and announced a new, $10.8 billion broadcasting deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting on Thursday that will allow every game to be shown live for the first time. The three-team expansion is much more modest than 80- and 96-team proposals the NCAA outlined just a few weeks ago at the Final Four. The move coincides with the new, 14-year broadcasting arrangement that interim NCAA president Jim Isch said will provide an average of $740 million to its conferences and schools each year. The...

Butler took Duke to the final possession Monday night, but Gordon Hayward's potential game-winners drew iron as the Blue Devil won the national title 61-59.

Come watch Milan... err... I mean BUTLER, beat the Evil Duke!!!

Total votes 53,738

Tennessee shocks the basketball world.

It's Marx Madness, bay-beeee!!! The DUmmies are weighing in on the tourney! Witness this THREAD, "NCAA on now, WVU v. Wash." Which leads us to take a look at Barack's Baracket. The good news is that many of Obozo's picks are falling by the wayside! His Baracket is busted! It's the Curse of the Obamabino! And so we'll check in at the end on this THREAD, "I loves me some Obama ..... NCAA picks" and this THREAD, "So - if Obama wins the DU NCAA pool." So let's go courtside now and join the DUmmies down in the paint...

After basketball wraps up, Knoller notes, CBS turns to "60 Minutes," which tonight features Katie Couric's interview with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. No word on whether Mr. Obama plans to change the channel.

Omar Samhan was an unstoppable Gael force. His career isn't over yet - and neither is Saint Mary's NCAA tournament run as the Gaels are improbably headed to the round of 16. Samhan played the game of his career on basketball's biggest stage, finishing with 32 points and seven rebounds to lead 10th-seeded Saint Mary's past Villanova 75-68 on Saturday and on to Houston for the South Regional's Sweet 16. Mickey McConnell stopped and fired an arcing 25-footer that banked high off the glass to give Saint Mary's a 68-65 lead with 1:15 left. Samhan used a two-handed block to...

Another one of our Glorious Leader's picks flamed out... the Kansas Jayhawks. His Bracket is toast!

Kentucky beat Wake Forrest 90-60

CHICAGO - A suburban Chicago urology practice says college basketball's March Madness tournament is the perfect time for men to get a vasectomy. Doctors at 21st Century Urology in Orland Park have launched a two-week ad campaign to induce men to schedule the procedure during the days before the first two weekends of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, the Chicago Press Release Service reports. The doctors say picking that time slot for a vasectomy will allow basketball aficionados to stay home and watch all the games. All vasectomy patients will receive a free pizza to snack on and a bag...

North Carolina defeats Michigan State 89-72,wins 5th National championship.

(2) Michigan State 82, (1) Connecticut 73 Associated Press DETROIT -- Raymar Morgan grinned and lifted his right arm high in the air, saluting a stadium filled with Michigan State fans with a little wave. The Spartans promised their downtrodden state something good, and boy, did they deliver. Morgan broke out of his late-season slump with 18 points, Kalin Lucas added 21 and the smaller Spartans ran roughshod over Hasheem Thabeet and Connecticut in an 82-73 upset in the Final Four on Saturday night. The Spartans will play the winner of Villanova-North Carolina for the NCAA title Monday night, a...

1st Game, 6:07pm Michigan State Spartans at University of Connecticut Huskies 2nd Game, 8:47pm Villanova Wildcats At University of North Carolina Tarheels

Saturday, April 4th, 2009 - CBS TV Westwood One Radio 6:07pm EDT - Michigan St (2) at Connecticut (1) 8:47pm EDT - Villanova (3) at North Carolina (1)

Here's a quick look at today's NCAA tournament regional championship games:

Upset SpecialA second Big East team is headed to the Final Four, but the first No. 1 seed has fallen as Villanova knocks out Pittsburgh 78-76. Results »

<p>Why no women's bracket? asks Christine Brennan of USA Today.</p>

The NCAA Tournament commences Thursday night with four games in the round affectionately known as the Sweet 16. While the dearth of upsets thus far might have zapped some of the excitement out of the tournament, the advantage is that, according to the seeds, many of the top teams remain alive, including five from the Big East.

Has the Bible verse John 3:16 become too controversial to be displayed at sporting events? Some might be asking that question after a basketball fan at the NCAA Tournament had his sign featuring the famous New Testament quote snatched away from him by a security guard. The incident took place last week during Round One of the annual contest, as Siena College, a Catholic school, was taking on Ohio State at the UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio. CBS Sports coverage posted on YouTube shows the sign being confiscated by a security guard, who then folds it up several times so...

Would you call getting a 53 on a test "close to brilliant?" If you're Chris Matthews, and you're reporting about Barack Obama you would, for on Monday's "Hardball," the MSNBC host bragged about his president being "close to brilliant," "amazing," "incredibly on target," and "unbelievable" with his NCAA college basketball tournament picks. Yet, when you dig into the numbers, out of all the entrants into ESPN.com's Tournament Challenge 2009, Obama currently ranks 2,167,290, which makes his relative score compared to others 53.20 percent.

Thursday, March 26th, 2009 East Regionals - TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA (4) Xavier at (1) Pittsburgh, 7:27pm EDT CBS TV, Westwood One radio (3) Villanova at (2) Duke, 9:57pm EDT CBS TV, Westwood One radio Finals Saturday, March 28th, 2009 4:40pm EDT West Regional University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ (5) Purdue at (1) UConn, 7:07pm EDT CBS TV, Westwood One radio (3) Missouri at (2) Memphis, 9:37pm EDT CBS TV, Westwood One radio Finals Saturday, March 28th, 2009 7:10pm EDT Friday, March 27th, 2009 South Regional FedExForum, Memphis , TN (3) Syracuse at (2) Oklahoma, 7:27pm EDT CBS...

B.J. Raymond netted 15 points to lead a balanced scoring attack and Xavier outlasted Wisconsin in a defensive battle, 60-49, to earn a trip to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament's East Region. Xavier (27-7), slated as the fourth seed, will play either top-seeded Pittsburgh or No. 8 seed Oklahoma State in the regional semifinal on Thursday.

Abusing his authority. LOL!

[VIDEO} The President took time out from his busy schedule of magazine cover photo shoots and late night TV appearances on Tuesday and made his NCAA men’s basketball tournament picks for ESPN. And that didn’t sit well with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “Somebody said that we’re not in President Obama’s Final Four,” Krzyzewski said, “and as much as I respect what he’s doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets.”

CHICAGO (CBS) ― After the first day of the NCAA basketball tournament, President Obama's bracket appears to be a bust. The president, a self-described basketball junkie, managed to only pick 11 of 16 games correctly-or 69 percent. CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago imported Obama's picks, which were originally made for ESPN, into its Bracket Challenge game. Currently, the president ranks in the 27th percentile among all players. Several contestants managed to pick every game correctly. WBBM-TV traffic reporter Susan Carlson, who admits to watching very little basketball, picked 15 of 16 games correctly. Perhaps Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was right...

Another brutal day for President Obama's NCAA Tournament bracket. He was just 8-for-16 on the day and he would be pretty much eliminated from contention in most pools. The biggest hits he took were Cleveland State's win over Wake Forest and Wisconsin's win over Florida State, which eliminated two of his Sweet 16 teams. He's in pretty good shape in the West Region, where he's only missed one game. His Midwest Region is a disaster with five incorrect first-round picks. Overall, Obama picked 19 of 32 first-round games correctly. In his defense, he probably hasn't had much time to follow...

Rollie Massimino sat on the edge of his seat, rooting on his former team from behind the bench. No need to sweat this one out, Coach. The Wildcats had it all the way.

Krzyzewski said he heard at breakfast on Thursday that his quote had been taken out of context. He was asked what he thought about the fact that Duke wasn't advancing too far in a lot of brackets. "Really it doesn't matter at all what anyone predicts, it's what you do," Krzyzewski said on Wednesday. "Somebody said that we're not in President Obama's Final Four. As much as I respect what he's done, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably, more than the brackets. So why would I care about that? "I love the guy, and I...

The N.C.A.A. tournament hasn’t started, and already the women have fallen behind the men, never to catch up. Instead of being part of a sumptuous basketball buffet, the women are treated like leftovers. That’s too bad. And no one deserves more blame than the administrators in charge. Give me the women’s tournament over the men’s any day. Its coaches and players are more accessible and forthcoming. The story lines are plentiful and fresh. The women’s game is exciting to watch, and the players have careers, not auditions. No one who has met the garrulous wiseacre Geno Auriemma could possibly prefer...

After the first day of the NCAA basketball tournament, President Obama's bracket appears to be a bust. The president, a self-described basketball junkie, managed to only pick 11 of 16 games correctly--or 69 percent. CBS 2 imported Obama's picks, which were originally made for ESPN, into its Bracket Challenge game. Currently, the president ranks in the 27th percentile among all players. Several contestants managed to pick every game correctly. CBS 2 traffic reporter Susan Carlson, who admits to watching very little basketball, picked 15 of 16 games correctly. Perhaps Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was right when he said the president...

Obviously everybody has a lot of high expectations, but I'm not sure any of them compare to the president of the United States. I was just wondering, you know, what you thought about him picking you guys to win it. As a coach, do you feel a little more pressure to make him look kind of smart? "You know, I love the president. I really, really like President Obama. I've been fortunate enough to meet him, and I really, really like him. I think it's great that he's a sports fan and goes through the bracket and the whole bit...

Michigan, Texas A&M and LSU defied the president's expectations by winning first-round games. Of those, only Michigan was close to being an upset, as the No. 10 Wolverines knocked off seventh-seeded Clemson 62-59.

Hoops Coach to Obama: Forget March Madness, Duke It out With Economy! By John Lillpop Friday, March 20, 2009 - Satire - Advisers to President Obama probably figured that the young president could score a solid “connect” with average Americans by getting publicly involved in the annual NCAA basketball championships. No doubt those same folks calculated that Obama could defect attention from his tawdry cabinet picks by wowing the nation with his clever picks for the Final Four in what is known in sports talk as March Madness. Besides, with those ungodly AIG bonuses and other administration disasters exploding in...

Why is there no "March Madness" for soccer? Here are 6 Reasons. Now this is going to offend some of you. Too bad. I don't hate soccer. But sometimes the truth hurts. 6. The Capitalist/Socialist Theory. Basketball is...

Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski isn't thrilled his team got snubbed by the leader of the free world. "Somebody said that we're not in President Obama's Final Four, and as much as I respect what he's doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets," Krzyzewski told a reporter from the Associated Press on Wednesday.

Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski isn't thrilled his team got snubbed by the leader of the free world. "Somebody said that we're not in President Obama's Final Four, and as much as I respect what he's doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets," Krzyzewski told a reporter from the Associated Press on Wednesday. Related: Obama's Final Four picks revealed The president filled out his NCAA bracket for ESPN on Tuesday, and the Blue Devils weren't among his Final 4 picks. Instead, he has Coach K's squad falling to Pittsburgh in the...

March Madness is here

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) — More than 100 college presidents and athletic directors are urging NCAA President Myles Brand to re-examine the presence of alcohol ads on broadcasts of games, suggesting that college sports and beer advertising are a “bad mix.” The Center for Science in the Public Interest has said some of CBS’s game telecasts may have exceeded the amount of beer advertising allowed. In a letter sent yesterday, the presidents cited the amount of beer advertising during CBS’s broadcast of the “March Madness” college basketball tournament. “Beer advertising during the games continues to undermine the many positive attributes of college...

Responding to recent charges leveled against him, Nittany Lion basketball player Stanley Pringle told police he was touching his penis but was not masturbating in the Pattee Library stacks last Thursday. Pringle told police he has "a bad habit of putting his hand down his pants," and demonstrated for the officer by placing his hand down the front of his sweatpants, according to the complaint. "Why would I need to masturbate?" he told police. "This is how I chill, ma'am." Centre County District Judge Jonathan Grine signed a criminal complaint on Friday leveling charges of open lewdness and disorderly conduct...

4/6/2008 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- College basketball officials recognized the contributions of American servicemembers throughout the world during the men's NCAA Final Four weekend April 4 through 7 in San Antonio. Military members were present during college basketball's biggest weekend while singing the national anthem, presenting the colors, sitting in the stands and watching live from bases directly fighting the war on terrorism. The military was saluted throughout the weekend as officials of the NCAA saluted American warriors at festivities throughout the weekend. NCAA coaches and the public talked to and thanked troops serving on the front lines in...

Anybody watching this game? I am in 'shock and awe'tm at what Kansas is doing to UNC.