My mother's hatred of the Tar Heels is a tad annoying

I hate UNC too. But I at least recognize they're a good team. My mom says ridiculous things like "Well he ought to win with the 12 best players in the country" and "It's not fair to get that much talent" and "He'll regret that". Yes having too much talent can be a problem on a team for chemistry issues. But I think that's a problem every coach would love to have. Also, it's not like Duke doesn't have talent. I think they have six McDonald's All-Americans. And Kansas might be more talented than UNC. What I'm saying is there are always every year a few teams with overwhelming talent. I also pointed out to mom when Florida and Arizona had similar talent several years ago she said that was "smart". To finalize this incoherent rant, UNC doesn't have the 12 best players in the country. I said they might have the most talent 1 through 12. There's a difference. In fact, other than Tyler Hansbrough, they might not have a player among the top 12. I don't think they have one in the top 5. I'd go with Kevin Durant of Texas, Nick Fazekas of Nevada, Alando Tucker of Wisconsin, Greg Oden of Ohio State and the player I think should be ACC Player of the Year, Jared Dudley of Boston College. That's my opinion.

This rant was inspired by mother saying "Carolina don't look so damn good to me" last night. They ended up beating NC State by 19. I think she thinks that all the other powers are destroying teams every night by 50 points. Which isn't the case. Carolina has had some questionable losses (the first State game, Gonzaga, and a sweep against Virginia Tech." But I had them in my Final Four and they've done nothing to disprove that. In fact at this stage I may have done my best job of projecting the Final Four I've ever done. I had Florida, UNC, UCLA and Kansas. If you add Texas A&M to that list (jump on the bandwagon dammit!) then I think those have been the five most impressive teams in the country. Yes that leaves out the 1-2 punch in the Big Ten of Ohio State/Wisconsin but I might wait till Sunday to see if one elevates into this group. Both are good but they haven't impressed me as much as the aforementioned five.

Duke goes on the road to a struggling Clemson team tonight. Don't be surprised if The Tigers pull it out. Remember they lost in Cameron due to a "clock malfunction". But I'm still picking the Dukies.

App's last home game against UNC-G tonight. I was thinking about going. But I probably won't. Contrary to what some of the rabid ASU fans are thinking, App is neither in, a lock, nor has an inside track into the dance. They must stay perfect until at least the SoCon final to even have a chance to get in. If they lose beforehand and still get in, I'll make an apology. But I think any loss beforehand and they have to win the whole thing. UNC-G isn't a bad team, but ASU is clearly a better team. And my sources indicate that there should be a solid home crowd advantage tonight. App wins by double digits.

I haven't mentioned my future, as yet unofficial alma mater lately. William & Mary has struggled as of late. They've never actually made the NCAA Tournament. Wow, that's a brilliant choice by me huh? Of course you probably shouldn't choose MBA programs based on basketball success. But anyway, the Colonial is a tougher conference than the Southern. I know App beat VCU who currently leads the Colonial, but I would bet on VCU in a rematch. And they might be 2nd best in the conference. Old Dominion is on a 10 game winning streak. But anyway, William & Mary is in the middle still. They'll have to win the Colonial for any postseason action at all most likely. With VCU, Drexel, Old Dominion, Hofstra, and 2006 Final Four participant George Mason (I still can't get over that), that's pretty unlikely.

Memphis vs Rice is on TV. That's just cruel. Poor Owls. I don't think the Memphis win streak ends here. It goes to 16 tonight.

The Italian prime minister resigned. Yet, it's almost not reported on any American news sites I found. But earlier today CNN's lead story was about Prince Harry going to Iraq. Let's compare.

Leader of the Italian government steps down inspiring crisis planning
3rd in line to meaningless title goes to Iraq

Which is more important? Hmmmm.

Cisco and Apple settled their iPhone issue. Thank God! I was worried to death over that.

Slate looks at Hillary's foolish stance on Iraq. If this isn't settled and soon I agree that it could doom her nomination. If she sticks with this, her only hope is that Democratic voters don't care much about the Iraq War. If she thinks it was right, say it was right. If she thinks she was wrong, she needs to say so. Triangulating is fine to a point. But not with this issue.

Another article. A bit of a mistep by Obama. It was a good trap by Hillary. They should have seen it coming.

I apologize if I don't have much to say about the Republican side right now. The Democratic race has been more interesting thus far. I will say a few things. Rudy is doing better than I anticipated. At this point, Republicans don't seem to be sneering about many of his more liberal leanings. Is it some of his tough talk about appointing conservative judges or are Republicans tired of the culture wars? Mitt Romney is planning to hit the airwaves with the first campaign ad of the campaign. And not a moment too soon. Ok probably a few moments too soon. And John McCain said Donald Rumsfeld would go down as one of the worst Secretaries of Defense ever. Which inspired controversy for some reason even though it's painfully evident to anyone except incredibly partisan neoconservatives.