So, how is your bracket doing?

Well, that is my bracket up above, and that is a lot of red.  You would think that is just a disaster of a bracket, yet somehow I'm in the top 20% of all brackets on ESPN.com.  I guess that's what happens in a year in which only 2 of 5.9 million people picked the Final Four right in the ESPN Bracket Challenge.  I'm also assuming the two people who made those picks don't really know much about college basketball and have some affiliation with VCU.  Why else would they pick them to go to the Final Four?

So now your bracket is fucked this year, and there is a boring VCU vs. Butler national semi-final.  But on the bright side, next year's NCAA tourney pools are going to be ripe for the picking.  Everybody is going to be sending crazy teams to the Final Four because it happened this year, and they are going to be screwing their brackets before the games start.  Remember that this is abnormal, and there is a reason teams get 11 and 8 seeds.  So next year, just forget about this year and stick with your normal draft strategy and cash some checks.

The Derrick Rose angry face is here

 

Blog a Bull - 4:09 Derrick Rose makes free throw 1 of 2 80-83  
4:09 Derrick Rose makes free throw 2 of 2 81-83
3:36 Carlos Boozer makes layup (Derrick Rose assists) 83-83
2:50 83-87 Brandon Jennings shooting foul (Derrick Rose draws the foul)
2:50 Derrick Rose makes free throw 1 of 2 84-87
2:50 Derrick Rose makes free throw 2 of 2 85-87
2:28 Joakim Noah makes dunk (Derrick Rose assists) 87-87
1:53 Derrick Rose makes layup 89-87
1:07 Derrick Rose makes 13-foot jumper 91-87
0:42 Derrick Rose makes 14-foot jumper 93-87
0:29 Ronnie Brewer makes layup (Derrick Rose assists) 95-87
0:00 End of the 4th Quarter
0:00 End Game

Only thing that play-by-play is missing is the Rose angry-face. Makes every highlight seem a bit better.
The face and the game are serious. Even post-game in the locker room (featuring a gum-chewing KC Johnson), Rose isn't satisfied (while dropping some profanity!) in saying 'we didn't do shit yet', referencing his previous two first-round losses in the playoffs.
No doubt with the #1 seed and a gimme first-round matchup, those specific demons will be exorcised eventually. But unlikely that will leave Rose satisfied either.
It's still humility, but so very not humble-bot. And that difference is ultimately sideshow, anyway. The game Rose displayed (and drive to execute it) was positively Wade-ian, the version that won the NBA title.