O'HOOLIX IS MY NAME!!

All right, all right. Nipples doesn't appreciate "reruns." That's okay. He wants some talk about the sweet sixteen games. Even better. Here are Jack Fu's possibly-stupid, undoubtedly-disjointed thoughts about tonight's games:

Actually, first of all, to answer Jeffy's question: yes, tonight's set of games, with the exception of what looks to be a fantastic Duke-MSU matchup tomorrow night, seem to be vastly more intriguing than Friday's. If Curtis Sumpter hadn't broken his friggin' leg against Florida on Sunday, then the Villanova-UNC matchup would look much better and help out Friday's cause considerably. But, as it stands, if given the choice between missing tonight's games or tomorrow's ... I would miss tomorrow's, and I wouldn't even think twice about it.

Now, onto tonight's games...

Louisville vs. Washington, 7:10 pm

This game is getting an assload of press, billed as the "premiere" matchup of the sweet sixteen. Gee, I wonder why that is. The probable 92-90 game will get ten times the hype of the probable 60-58 game. That's just the way it is. Doesn't mean I have to accept it, but I recognize that that's the way it is. Washington was a controversial 1-seed, but the legitimate ass-whoopin' they put on Cinderella Jr. Pacific really turned a lot of people around. And Louisville, after easily dispatching of Everybody's "Dark Horse" Georgia Tech, is now getting the ol' collective fellatio from the media.

I think Mr. Big Ten Wonk, of the superb Big Ten blog ... Big Ten Wonk, put my feelings about the media folk all jumping onto Louisville's nuts this week much more elegantly and succinctly than I can: "Louisville is tough, yes, and Wonk himself went on the record in the aftermath of Selection Sunday as saying the Cardinals were under-seeded. That being said, isn't the hype getting just a tad out of hand for a team that really never did shake Louisiana-Lafayette in the first round and that needed Darius Washington to miss two of his free throws to escape with a win against Memphis in the C-USA final?" Yes sir. It is. Still...

Lousiville 86, Washington 78

Wisconsin-Milwaukee vs. Illinois, 7:30 pm

Conventional wisdom says that this is the worst possible matchup for Bruce Pearl's Fighting ... Animals ... from Milwaukee. Generally, I feel that conventional wisdom is idiotic, but I have to say that I agree in this instance. Illinois guard tandem (wait, no: Trio. Tri-dem? Tand-io?) should eat the UWM press alive, and James Augustine, whenever the game gets into the halfcourt, should be able to eat alive the smaller ... Animals, who I've read don't have a starter over 6'7". In short, UWM has been getting by on made threes (23-for-45 in their two games) and forced turnovers (41 through two games). I have a sneaky feeling that Illinois will be able to limit the ... PANTHERS! AHA! ... output in those two categories. In short, UWM faced about the best draw they possibly could have, in facing a stupid SEC team and a BC team that couldn't handle the ball because they had no guard play. If you notice, neither of those descriptions apply to the Illini.

Illinois 83, UWM 65

West Virginia vs. Texas Tech, 9:40 pm

Dids and I adopted the Mountaineers as our own during championship week, and I have a hunch that we're not giving up on them yet. Any team that runs their offense that high, looks that much for backdoor cuts, and prominently features an ugly native-West-Virginian whose appearance leads you to believe his name couldn't be anything but "Pittsnogle," automatically gets "MWB Favorite" status. I love this team. And I want you to love them too. And we should all be rooting against a Final Four featuring Bob Knight. A week of his psychotic media manipulation and corporate whoring would just about make my grundle get all Pittsnogle'd up. And not in the good way.

I have no feelings or analysis that are in any way worthwhile regarding Texas Tech, so this one is straight from the heart:

Texas Tech 73, West Virginia 70


(That's right, I'm resorting to the old Reverse Jinx. Gansey! Pittsnogle! Carebear! Go get 'em!)

Arizona vs. Oklahoma State, 10:00 pm

I mean, I guess on paper this looks like a helluvan intriguing game. But there's no way I can be fully absorbed by it until someone gives a well-timed clothesline to Salim Stoudamire. What an asscock. After watching him strutting around, trash-talking and cheap-shotting dorky Utah State players, Stoudamire officially became enemy #1 in the MWB's book. Fuck him. I hate him.

Oops, pizza's here. Gotta go. Uhhhhhh...

Okie State 7,973,021, Ari-fucking-zona -30