If you have never watched women's basketball and want a great introduction, you couldn't pick a better night than Tuesday. The four best programs in the country will be featured in two Elite Eight matchups at 7 and 9 on ESPN.
Carolina plays Tennessee first, and Duke plays Connecticut in the second game.

That right there is a Final Four in itself. Heck, the Cleveland regional semifinals, which featured UNC, Purdue, Tennessee and Rutgers was a Final Four in itself. Thanks again, committee.

By the time you read this, half of the Final Four will be set. The winner of UNC/Tenn will play Maryland (Thanks again, committee), and the winner of Duke/Connecticut will play the LSU/Stanford winner.

I'm not really all that confident for the Tar Heels' game against Tennessee. The squeaker over Purdue didn't exactly inspire confidence. I watched Tennessee shut down Rutgers' All-American Cappie Pondexter, and I worry now.

But as much as we love Ivory Latta, she won't be the key the Tar Heels need to get going. Ivory will get hers. If her shot isn't falling (it wasn't against Purdue), she'll score from the line. No, the key for the Tar Heels will be Erlana Larkins. The Tar Heels must get Erlana the ball, and she must get it in the basket.

The Heels also can't fall asleep watching Candace Parker, whose pseudo-dunks have the rest of women's college basketball mesmerized.

Anyway, the point is, if you want to watch women's college basketball, good women's college basketball, check ESPN tomorrow night.

No, I haven't been under a rock for a week. Just busy. It's about 45 minutes until the women tip off against Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen in Cleveland. I'm very excited about the game, even though the seeding in the women's NCAA tournament is a joke.

This is the year for the Tar Heels, much like last year was for the men. This was the year for Duke's men, but they didn't get it done. The Tar Heel women have the stars on the perimeter and inside, the senior leadership, and the depth to get this done this year. But the tournament committee didn't make it easy.

I'm watching Tennessee-Rutgers right now, and Tennessee has been able to neutralize Rutgers' Cappie Pondexter. The winner of this game will take on the Purdue-North Carolina winner, so it's definitely interesting. This game is in high definition on ESPNHD, but the Tar Heels will play on ESPN2HD. I don't get that channel, so I'll have to watch the game in crappy standard definition. Thanks, Time Warner.

Last night, HBG and I went to see the Carolina Hurricanes at RBC. I'd never been to a hockey game, and I have to say, the phrase "You'll know when you go" couldn't be more appropriate. It was a blast. The Canes lost, but being there in person was amazing. I'd never been a hockey person, but last night was a lot of fun. I realize I'm not the first person in the world to discover hockey, but if you haven't been, go. I'm hoping to make it back for the playoffs.

In the meantime, one more Tar Heel team has a chance to bring back a trophy. Let's go Tar Heels!

I kind of figured this team wasn't going to win the national championship this year. I kind of knew they'd bow out in the NCAA tournament without repeating as champions. But I didn't expect it to be like this.

With each win this season, the expectations for this team rose. They didn't look like the greatest team ever, but they looked like a pretty good team. So it was in the Elite Eight that most people had placed this team after seeing the seedings. But the Heels ran into a team with nothing to lose in George Mason.

It seemed like the young Tar Heels were playing scared. They might deny it themselves, but it appeared as though they were so afraid to mess up, they didn't want to take the chance. So they did nothing. Didn't attack the basket and were content to toss up from long-distance. Didn't want to risk a foul so they didn't play smart defense. Didn't want to lose, so they played not to. And lost.

Now's not the time for me to reflect on the incredible run this team had, surpassing all expectations and giving the fans some excitement while we wait til next year.

Now's the time to turn to ESPN and ESPN2, because Ivory Latta and Sylvia Hatchell are intent on bringing a national championship to Chapel Hill themselves.

That was close. Too close. With all the tight games going on, all the 16s playing close to 1s, you had to know the Tar Heels weren't going to have a cakewalk.

Box score

Four freshmen scored the last 29 points. Reyshawn had nine. David had six. Where did they go? I don't remember them making obvious mistakes, but they seemed to kind of disappear. Great games from Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green. Bobby with a clutch three, Marcus with clutch free throws.

Too many turnovers. Tried to force some things that weren't there. Too many charges.

Tyler seemed a little excited for most of the game, and was called for traveling three times.

Murray State has a good team, and brought in a better record than the Tar Heels did.

At least we won't be facing Michigan State Sunday, right? I haven't read this Adam Lucas column, but I can say it's worth reading based on his history.

Girls play UC-Riverside tonight at 8 on ESPN2.

How did you do? I'm sitting at 14-2, having missed the Nevada/Montana and Marquette/Alabama games. I didn't lose any Sweet 16 teams, so that's good. Wisconsin is about to be trailing Arizona at the half, and I picked them in that 8/9 matchup.

HBG is absolutely nuts about her bracket. She nearly got the UNCW game right. But now she's nearly in last!

Let me know what you think of the weekend. March madness is here.

How is your bracket doing? It's early, but I'm 3-0 so far. HBG is waaaaay too much into the bracket thing. She can't even enjoy a game if it might mess up her bracket a bit. She's only put five together. Yeah, five. "I just wanted to have five!"

She's got one for the Yahoo group, three for ESPN and Inside Carolina, and one personal one. Personal one? That's the one she carries around in her pocket. Why it's different from the other ones, I'll never know.

Any upsets catch you off guard? Miss out on some early ones? Let me know.

J.J. poetry courtesy of Crazy Little Thing Call Blog. And a tribute to Walt Whitman, to boot.

Wait, can I say 'Madness,' or is that copyrighted? You know how advertisers have to say 'Come watch the Big Game,' when they're talking about the Super Bowl!

Anyway, it all starts in just over two hours. We've got 15 folks signed up for the bracket challenge at Yahoo, but there's still time to get your picks in. Just hop on over to http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/men/. The ID is 55042 and password 'roysboys.'

Let's just get this out of the way: The Heels got hosed. Both men and women.

First, the men. The Tar Heels won five of their last six games and finished #10 in the country, and earned a 3 seed in Dayton. That wouldn't be so bad if there weren't tournament games being played in Greensboro.  It wouldn't be so bad if Tennessee, the team that earned the #2 seed (in Greensboro), hadn't lost four of their last six and finished #18 in the country.

I'm not saying it happened, but Taylor Zarzour on Triangle Sports Talk said on the radio that he had a friend on the tournament selection committee, and the friend said someone from Duke (not Mike Krzyzewski) called the committee and lobbied for North Carolina not to be in Greensboro. I realize that's a heavy accusation, but Taylor's got too much to lose to say that on the radio in this area.

Check out what Adam Lucas had to say.

And how do the UNC women, who finished #1 in the country and supposedly have the #1 overall seed, wind up playing in Nashville, where they could potentially meet VANDERBILT ON THEIR HOME FLOOR in the second round of the tournament? Where are the Duke women, who the Tar Heels beat twice this year, and did not have to face in the ACC championship? In Richmond. How does that make sense? Meanwhile, the Heels get the region with Tennesee and Rutgers. Great. Way to go, ladies. Win, and get rewarded with this. Last year, the ladies played in the sweet 16 on Arizona State's home floor. As a #1 seed.

This pod system is terrible.

Really, though, the field is set, and nothing is going to change it. Although I will rally the call for an independent investigation of the seeding process or, better yet, an independent commission to do the seeding. Sometimes I think these athletic directors leave it all up to a computer.

Sports Illustrated on Campus is featuring a What If? Tournament. That's as in, what if no players left college early or skipped it altogether to go to the NBA? One of the top seeds is a North Carolina team featuring Dwight Howard, J.R. Smith, Marvin Williams, Rashad, Ray and Sean. Sick. Check it out.

Also, if you're in the New York area today, you can go see Rasheed Wallace on Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith on me. The show tapes at 3 p.m. Call Jackea Chan at 646-708-7149 or email Jackea.X.Chan.-ND@espn.com.


I've noticed some new people are checking out the blog. That's great! Please, add a comment or two, or email me if you want to write an article of your own. Or just drop me a line to let me know you like it, or what you'd like to see.

I'll leave you with this: Our friend J-Mac met the president this week, and someone asked him what he thought of the tournament.

    Jason has his sights on March Madness. He predicts the University of Connecticut will take it all because the team is more athletic than Duke, a team he said has a penchant for choking. His favorite college player is Gerry McNamara, known as G-Mac, who led Syracuse to an amazing run in the Big East tournament.

"As you can tell, he's very involved in basketball," his mother said.

We can all agree on some things.

It's free.

Just go to http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/men/ and click on 'Join Private Group.'

Group ID is 55042 and the password is 'roysboys,' without the quotation marks. No prizes but bragging rights, but it should be a fun three weeks.

The better team won the North Carolina / Boston College game Saturday. I have no complaints about officiating or otherwise. Maybe it's good that we had a little hiccup, after all, a semifinal loss in the ACC tournament worked out well for the Heels last year. Tyler played well, but BC was the better team. Some mental lapses really made the difference.

So the Heels open Friday in Dayton against Murray State. In Dayton. Could've been Greensboro. There were rumblings that Mike Krzyzewski was asking the NCAA not to place both the Heels and Duke in Greensboro. After the reception Carolina fans gave the Devils when both teams were in Charlotte last year, he didn't really want his team in that environment again. Well, he got his way, if that was true.

Tennessee got the #2 seed and the trip to Greensboro. I don' t understand the thinking behind that. The Heels played much better down the stretch than the Volunteers, but sometimes human error (the committee) is involved. The Heels are set up with a rematch from last year's Final Four with #6 seed Michigan State in the second round. In Big Ten country. Again, I don't get it.

I've got a podcast coming early this week on the season and looking ahead to the tournament, so check that out. Email me or post comments here if you've got questions or comments on the Heels' season and what you think about this year's tournaments. It may not be a pretty draw for the Heels, but it's March.