The Sports Monitor

First, Kobe Bryant claimed this year's U.S men's basketball team would beat the 1992 Dream Team. Now, LeBron James said the same thing . It's nice to talk, but James and Bryant must be dreaming. This year's team would not beat the 1992 team. No way. This year's team would not beat the 1996 team. And I'm not sure this year's team is a lock to win gold in London, either. The 1992 team was stacked with Hall of Famers in Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. But the list doesn't stop there. There were 11 Hall of Famers on that team. Other than Kobe and LeBron, I'm not sure anyone else from this year's team makes that 1992 squad. And you can say the London team is more athletic, but tell me who on that team would stop David Robinson, Patrick Ewing or Karl Malone in the post? No one. That's this team's biggest weakness, no big men. But it looks like dreaming could become a bigger shortcoming. They should focus on...

I've always had this theory that Pitt athletics will break your heart. This year's basketball team lived up to that saying once again. By all accounts, the Panthers overachieved this season. They reached the top 10 in the polls at one point, they finished second in the Big East and they received a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. All great accomplishments. Yet it means nothing when you lose in the second round of the NCAA tournament against a team your supposed to beat. But that's Pitt basketball. It seems every season they fall about one round short of what they're supposed to do. Here's their recent history: 2009: 3-1: They lost to Villanova in the regional final. 2008: 1-1. They lost to Michigan State in the second round. 2006: 1-1. They lost to Bradley in the second round. 2005: 0-1. They lost to Pacific in the first round. The Villanova loss last season was a tough one to take. But as a No. 1 seed, Pitt was a better team than Villanova...

I've got the Madness. Or maybe it's the Mania. Perhaps I should refer to it as Mayhem. Whatever you want to call it, I'm ready for the NCAA tournament to begin – as in right now, let's get it on. And, if you're filling out a bracket (who doesn't), I've got some help for you. I call it Bracket Racket. For the past five years, I've used this scientific formula to correctly pick three winners and just missed on Ohio State a couple years ago. I've tweaked it again this year, despite few error reports from last March, so chances are it'll be another banner year. Here's what you need to do: We'll, start off with an easy one: Eliminate all No. 16 seeds . Cross them off, do not advance any of them. Nada. Zilch. It's not gonna happen this year. I don't like alphabet soup . Go ahead and eliminate BYU, VCU, LSU, USC and UCLA, although I can't blame you for wanting to see Bruins or Trojans cheerleaders for a couple weeks. State-ment time ...