They call it madness for a reason. Whether it is skipping work or classes to watch the games. Or even if you sneak a portable television into your high school to watch the games. For me March has and always will be madness.

Since eighth grade I have been running a tournament pool. It has taken on various incarnations and the entry fee hasn't changed since I was 13, but my pool has always been special to me. I won it for the first time last year and that's why this year I was trying to become the only back-to-back champion in my pool's history.

Thursday

After rushing home from my class that ends at 12:30, I arrived right after the tip-offs of the Manhattan-Florida and Texas Tech-Charlotte games. I figured these would be crucial games in my bracket as I took Manhattan and Texas Tech. Manhattan was one of my sleepers all season because of senior guard Luis Flores. Florida is always overrated and with Christian Drejer defecting to play professionally overseas, I knew this team would be overmatched. The Red Raiders I went with because of "The General" and his one-man army, Andre Emmett.

Flores and the Jaspers had no problems with the Gators, but it didn't matter as much as I thought it would as everyone had the Jaspers over Florida. When Knight got his first NCAA tournament victory since 1999 I was all over it. Over the last two weeks Knight has made me a happy man, first the Red Raiders stage a miraculous backdoor cover against Oklahoma State when I needed them badly in Vegas, and now he wins a first-round game for my brackets.

Then in the next wave of games I looked forward to another big 5 vs. 12 seed matchup. It was BYU against Syracuse and the biggest choke coach in history Jimmy Boeheim. I don't care that "he" won a title last year, even though, it was his meal ticket Carmelo Anthony that took him there. I picked BYU because despite being the less talented team I know Boeheim's teams have a tendency to crawl into a shell at tourney time. I was going to ride on the shoulders of Cougars big man Rafael Araujo. (By the way, why were CBS announcers pronouncing his first name "Hafa"? Very confusing but needless to say I started calling him the same.) After BYU solved Syracuse's vaunted zone, Boeheim actually made a smart move and used his athletes and went, as Bill Raftery would say "manaman." Despite the best efforts of Hafa and the Cougars, G-Mac was just too much as he poured in 43 points.

Looks like McNamara made the right move choosing the Orangemen over the Nits.

Despite that loss, I loved the tournament as I finished the day 15-1 in my pool.

Friday

After again missing another class, I was ready for another great day of tournament action. The game I looked forward to was the tilt between No. 4 seed Cincinnati, another tournament underachiever, and No. 13 East Tennessee State, the team that Penn State coach Ed DeChellis built from nothing. I picked ETSU first because of lightning bolt Timmy Smith and also because of Southern Conference Player of the Year Zakee Wadood. (Just saying that name 'Waaaaaaaaaadooooooood,' is so much fun.) Smith raced up and down the court as he always does and once again took the Bucs within an inch of the second round as they fell 80-77. This loss combined with Providence falling to Pacific and Western Michigan getting drubbed by Vanderbilt caused me to head to the bar to drown my sorrows while watching Pitt. I didn't know that Pitt would cause me to drink more, as its play resembled that of a certain neighbor to the East.

After Pitino's squad dumped a game to Xavier it was official my bracket had taken a major blow as I went 12-4 on Friday.

Saturday and Sunday

I am going to merge these days into one area because they seem like a big blur that I don't want to remember.

On Saturday, I was psyched for three games. I had Manhattan, Maryland and UNC getting through to the Sweet 16. Manhattan was the game I needed the most as basically no one projected Manhattan to survive the weekend. Superfrosh Chris Paul outdueled my boy Flores and single-handedly got the Demon Deacons by with an 84-80 victory. Then D.J. Strawberry failed to cap a miraculous comeback for the Terps when he "cracked" under pressure and missed two game-tying opportunities after Boeheim's boys couldn't hold a nine-point lead with two minutes to play. I capped another bad tourney day at the bar, as I watched the Tar Heels' lack of depth exposed by the deep Texas Longhorns.

By Sunday, I was so bitter I was rooting for pointless upsets and against other people's brackets. All I wanted was Kentucky to get through, because I had them in the Final Four in all my brackets in numerous pools. I was very worried about UAB, because I knew they were a great offensive and defensive team and that's why I had taken them over Washington. With 15 minutes remaining in the game the Wildcats trailed by 10.

I was so nervous I decided to listen to the Wildcats' radio announcers to try and facilitate a comeback. At the five-minute mark my plan had worked as the Wildcats' led 69-63. This UAB team was sure to roll over. Four minutes and four points later for Kentucky they found themselves down 74-73. After a thunderous put-back dunk by Kelenna Azubuike, I knew it would take some heroics to beat the Wildcats. And that's when Morris Finley, who had a game-high 17 points, nailed a jumper to put all the pressure on the Wildcats. The Wildcats scrambled and Gerald Fitch got off a tough jumper and Chuck Hayes tip wasn't even close. UAB shocks the world and puts my bracket into cardiac arrest. Move over Boeheim, Tubby Smith becomes Public Enemy No. 1.

Aftermath

The Kentucky loss left me scrambling for ways I could defend my title. Leaving me with this scenario: Oklahoma State and Wake Forest advance to the Elite Eight as does Texas, UAB beats Kansas and then beats Georgia Tech or Nevada to advance to the Final Four, Connecticut loses to Duke in the national semifinal and Duke wins it all over UAB. Now that's madness.

Upset of the Week

I can only guarantee you one thing and that is that Kansas and Georgia Tech will not both win. Too many people in Vegas will be playing Kansas and Georgia Tech in parlays to win straight up. I don't even remember my last two picks, but I know they lost so my season record stands at 6-6.