Time to put it all on the line again: Imrem's NCAA picks
It may be the Big Dance but as the Talking Heads could tell you, "This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around."
What this is is serious economic stuff, sort of a personal stimulus package.
Winning the office pool for this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament isn't a luxury. It's as much a necessity as food stamps.
The people managing my money - LehmanBrotherMadoff/SmithBarneyFife - tell me the last dollar I put down on, say, Siena, is indeed the last dollar I have to put down on anything.
Eating fried foods so I die before my money runs out didn't raise my cholesterol high enough. Psychic calisthenics to help win Lotto hasn't worked. Snookie the Bookie froze my account.
All that's left is the NCAAs' office pool and guessing that one particular team has better athlete-students than student-athletes.
So here goes, my only hope while teetering between the betting line and the soup line:
PLAY-IN GAME
Morehead State over Alabama State.
FIRST ROUND
MIDWEST - Louisville over Morehead State, Siena over Ohio State, Arizona over Utah, Wake Forest over Cleveland State, West Virginia over Dayton, Kansas over North Dakota State, USC over Boston College, Michigan State over Robert Morris.
WEST - Connecticut over Chattanooga, BYU over Texas A&M, Purdue over Northern Iowa, Mississippi State over Washington, Utah State over Marquette, Missouri over Cornell, Maryland over California, Memphis over Northridge.
EAST - Pittsburgh over East Tennessee State, Oklahoma State over Tennessee, Florida State over Wisconsin, Xavier over Portland State, Virginia Commonwealth over UCLA, Villanova over American, Texas over Minnesota, Duke over Binghamton.
SOUTH - North Carolina over Radford, LSU over Butler, Illinois over Western Kentucky, Gonzaga over Akron, Arizona State over Temple, Syracuse over S.F. Austin, Clemson over Michigan, Oklahoma over Morgan State.
SECOND ROUND
MIDWEST - Louisville over Siena, Arizona over Wake Forest, West Virginia over Kansas, Michigan State over USC.
WEST - Connecticut over BYU, Mississippi State over Purdue, Missouri over Utah State, Memphis over Maryland.
EAST - Pittsburgh over Oklahoma State, Florida State over Xavier, Villanova over VCU, Duke over Texas.
SOUTH - North Carolina over LSU, Gonzaga over Illinois, Syracuse over Arizona State, Oklahoma over Clemson.
REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
MIDWEST - Louisville over Arizona, West Virginia over Michigan State; WEST - Mississippi State over Connecticut, Memphis over Missouri; EAST - Pittsburgh over Florida State, Villanova over Duke; SOUTH - North Carolina over Gonzaga, Oklahoma over Syracuse.
REGIONAL FINALS
MIDWEST - Louisville over West Virginia. WEST - Memphis over Mississippi State. EAST - Pittsburgh over Villanova. SOUTH - Oklahoma over Syracuse.
NATIONAL SEMIFINALS
Memphis over Louisville, Pittsburgh over Oklahoma.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Pittsburgh over Memphis.