So, we get back in the saddle for real tonight by doing what we wanted to do all last weekend - liveblogging the games. We’ll be posing all night, and hope you’ll join us. In the meantime, we’re enjoying Bobby Knight’s Pepto-tastic v-neck on, of all things, Baseball Tonight. Dear tWWL: corporate synergy is annoying, but nonsensical corporate synergy is amusing. Keep it coming.

Anyway - for your amusement, belittlement, scorn, and gambling, we present our just-as-informed-as-yours-but-we’ll-call-them-expert-because-we’re-writing-this-damn-post predictions for tonight’s games:

crystal ball
It’s just a little hobby, we’ve only dabbled … but Aunt Lou says hello.

EAST REGION

North Carolina -9 over Wazzu: Were we wrong about the men of Pullman in the first weekend? Yeah, kinda. (Our bracket: loss in first round; real bracket: two wins by a combined 51 points.) But we aren’t wrong now. Wazzu has more talent than we originally thought, is better coached than we originally thought, and plays better overall basketball than we originally thought. They still aren’t Carolina, and they aren’t close. Dammit.

Tennessee +3 over Louisville: We don’t know what to think Tennessee or Bruce Pearl - but we do think that for their mutual benefit, they should consummate their unholy marriage this summer with millions of dollars, coonskin condoms, and plenty of lube before Pearl heads to Bloomington. Despite living on the edge somewhere between the seventh cup of coffee and the first line of blow, Pearl’s Tennessee teams win games when they get a little help. A little help = U of L shoots 65% from charity, not that bad but not very good. A little help = U of L has a 1.11 assist/turnover ratio (compare to the Vols at 1.42). A little help = playing against a coach in Rick Pitino that Vols’ students have hated since the womb.

WEST REGION

Xavier +1 over West Virginia: We swear this isn’t sour grapes. Not at all! Nothing about this is biased against a “blue coller” (aka football without pads) coach who fiddled while his players earned a 0% graduation rate at Cincy who is now being hailed as a Duke slayer RAGE RAGE RAGE WHY GOD WHY WE DON’T UNDERSTAND THE HUGGY LOVE PLEASE MAKE IT STOP. So our completely clear analysis tells us that Xavier has more scoring options and better defense, and we think that overcomes WfVU’s rebounding advantage.

UCLA -12 over Western Kentucky: Given that UCLA needed luck (and inconsistent whistles) to win the Pac-10 regular season, the Pac-10 tournament, and their 2nd round game against A&M, it might seem odd to give away so many points. Sure, UCLA has played some nail biters … but not against teams like WKU. In their nine regular season games against mid-major opponents, their SMALLEST margin of victory was, fancy that, 12 points against Davidson. If you have watched any of these games, you know that Davidson is much, much better than WKU. That’s the fun, infuriating aspect of this Bruin team - picking them to win big against a #12 seed seems counter-intuitive and requires explanation.