you never get a second chance

-- The Brian Butch is overrated story has legs. Unfortunately. The Chippewa (WI) Herald runs with the story here. I'm no fan of Butch -- he spurned the University of Arizona during the recruiting process -- but see little value in the overreaction to Doug Gottlieb's comment. From the media. From Bo Ryan. From the media (again). And now from Butch himself.

-- It's official. Newspapers can begin using the "Road to St. Louis" in college basketball headlines.

-- Yes, Tony, what Ken said. Teams, North Carolina State included, win when they shoot well from the field.

-- I enjoyed the latest column from the Sporting News' Kyle Veltrop. Though if Arkansas actually defended as well against the three as Veltrop would have you believe, the Razorbacks would have beaten Kentucky. (Had the Wildcats shot their season average from behind the arc, they would have lost by two. As it were, Tubby's team bested their average and beat Arkansas by one).

-- And I might have defeated Seth Davis. As it were, the CBS analyst bested the citizen journalist 7-3 to 5-5. Sigh. Congrats...to...Seth. (Sob).

Evidence, by the way, that readers should rarely trust my picks. Pourquoi? I too often favor who I want to win rather than who I believe will win. Duke, for example, rarely makes it past the Sweet Sixteen in my NCAA Tournament bracket. Talent be ignored.

My saving grace, however, is that I rarely bet on losers. Play with real money and my biases disappear.