Madness has been unleashed...

St. Patrick's Day AND the beginning of March Madness?!? Are you kidding me? Have I died and gone to heaven? I know that I first had to make a pit-stop through purgatory to watch Digger Phelps and Jay Bilas argue about the significance of the RPI statistic (the result is that Digger thinks he trumps everyone's knowledge because, well, darnit, he used to coach!...Jay Bilas likes to shoot back something about how he has a degree in Economics from Duke of all places! Wow, such talent all in the same studio...I think we provide them each with a switchblade and let them figure it out back behind the barn over the course of the next few weeks to spare us all their nonsense...I mean, Digger didn't actually coach...his teams ran a zone in the 70's, which is basically the same thing as coaching first-graders in the 21st century).

Here's the best bracket: http://assets.espn.go.com/i/ncaa/08mens_bracket.pdf

ESPN.com will probably be the best overall site to follow, although the New York Times does a great job (barring the comments of Peter Thamel, who is about 12 years old).

This years' lineups look really strong, and for the first time in awhile, the Pac-10 got some serious respect (six teams in it). The overrated Big East is also well-represented with eight teams going to the dance. The #1 seeds are ALL going to be tough to beat, and as for Cinderellas, I gotta go with St. Mary's and Oral Roberts.