The Sports Monitor

This is the fifth version of Bracket Racket, my way of picking the NCAA champion. Last year was a darn good year for the Racket. Heck, let's be honest. It was an excellent year. My formula correctly picked the championship game -- Kentucky vs. Kansas -- and it picked the winner. How do you top it? I guess simply do it again. I've tweaked the equation over the years, and after last year's success, there's not much to update. Here's the path to narrow your picks to one champion: First things first, first-round games are a joke: Honestly, no national champion will emerge from this group. And why does Dayton get to host this every year? The Sour 16: While we're being honest, no 16 seed has beaten a No. 1 seed. Go with history. Capital losses : It's easier to say UNLV instead of University of Nevada at Las Vegas. It still doesn't make them a threat to win it all. Take all teams that use capital letters off your list (UNLV, UCLA, VCU). Let...

There are many ways to pick an NCAA tournament champion. Some might pick their alma mater, others could go for a long-time favorite team while some could pull a name out of a hat. Me? I have a pretty good formula going. It's called Bracket Racket. The success is uncanny. Here's how we go from 68 to 1: First things first, first-round games are a joke: Seriously, the NCAA wants us to think the eight teams playing "first-round" games have a chance while 60 others get a bye into the second round? Missouri Valley State, Western Kentucky, BYU, Iona, Lamar, Vermont, Cal and South Florida all are eliminated. It's not sweet being a 16: Don't be a hero, scratch off the No. 16 seeds remaining. Capital losses : Teams that go by capital letters are outta here: VCU, UNLV, WVU (go home, Mountaineers). Wrong statement : I hate to break it to you, but schools with state in its name won't win it all this year. That means Iowa State, Wichita State, New Mexico...

The new-look NCAA tournament begins tonight with two games, but the same rules apply when predicting the champion -- follow my Bracket Racket for the winner of the national championship. I've picked winners in the past using this formula, so there's a good chance it'll be right again this year. Especially with the upgrades I've installed to cope with a 68-team field handed to us by the NCAA. Hopefully they don't go to a 96-team field. I'm not sure my computer can handle more changes. As an added bonus, if you have the right channels on your cable tiers, you can watch all the games. That's pretty cool, unless you own a business and want your employees to be productive. Now, on to the picks. First, eliminate all No. 16 seeds. This is a tried-and-true formula. It especially holds true since no No. 16 seed has ever won a game. That eliminates Boston U., Hampton, and the two schools that emerge to face Ohio State and Pitt after the first-round games o...

I'll be up front from the start: I'm not a Duke fan. With Duke, it's either you love 'em or you don't. I don't love 'em. Then The Indianapolis Star ran this illustration last week. Pretty funny, I thought. Coach K didn't like it, though. Here's what the Associated Press reported from Coach K: "It was kind of juvenile. Not kind of, it was just juvenile. You know, my seven grandkids didn’t enjoy looking at it: ‘That’s not Papi.’" It reminds me of Krzyzewski complaining to an official after not getting a call. The Blue Devils could be up 25 points with five minutes left in the game and Coach K would complain about not getting a foul call. The Indy Star didn't like the finished product and pulled it after 30,000 copies ran. Noted newspaper designer Charles Apple recently commented on the illustration. Apple, like me, liked it. Apple thought it could have been better. I’d have asked the designer to tone it down just...