UCLA's out and all of my brackets are destroyed because I picked exactly 0 Final Four teams correctly, so I don't REALLY care who wins. But in order for the games to actually be interesting, I want to have some kind of vested interest in a team. Most people hate North Carolina, but I do have some sympathy for Tyler Hansborough; he stayed for four years to try and win a title, and he passed up a ton of money to do so. Still, I'm not the biggest Roy Williams fan, and I'm so tired of the Duke-UNC rivalry, so I vote no on UNC even though it wouldn't kill me if they won. UConn's a clear "no" for me (recruiting scandal, don't like Calhoun, don't really have an opinion on any of their players). That leaves Nova and MSU.

Yeah, it'd make our loss feel a little better if we could say "We lost to the eventual champs," but I mean, come on: Nova was thuggishly pushing us around that entire game. They pulled two Trevor Arizas on us (the DC foul and the Shipp foul) and afterward were proud of themselves for doing so. I like Nova's coach and I like that this is their first Final Four in 24 years, but I can't bring myself to root for them.

So that leaves MSU. Like their coach, like their style of play, like their tradition, like their team name, like the fact that they don't have a single projected first-round draft pick on the roster. Don't like the conference they play in, but at this point you take what you can get (and it would be so sweet to see the MSM's reaction if a non-Big East/ACC team ended up winning it all). So...go Spartans.

Villanova crushed us, Howland's reputation took a serious hit, the seniors choked, the three straight Final Fours don't matter because what have you done for me lately, a lot of lame attempts at using poetic language (and failing spectacularly every time)...yeah, vintage Plaschke. In case anyone missed it, an excerpt from Plaschke's latest garbage:

"Five freshmen coming back, five new freshmen coming in, next year we'll be . . . really young," said Howland, fresh out of promises.

His three consecutive Final Fours should be forever cherished and appreciated as a wonderful memory.

But as Saturday showed, it will quickly become a distant one.

 Read at your own risk, and prepare for the inevitable article about how USC's second-round defeat showed "heart" and "character."