03/12 (Bracket Madness) Quickie

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Meanwhile, I have filed my picks for my annual bracket-picking column in the Wall Street Journal. I'll post it here when it is live over there, but let's just say I'm fairly conventional. (Is there anyone who ISN'T picking Kentucky to win it all?)

Let me just say that I am very disappointed that the Selection Committee put Wichita State against VCU on the first Thursday -- and in Kentucky's eighth of the bracket, no less.

Put Wichita in any of the other regional 5-seed slots, and I could see them going to the Final Four (or at least the Elite Eight); put VCU in any of the other regional 12-seed slots, and I could see them in the Sweet 16, at least.

Nevertheless, you deal with the bracket you have, not the bracket you want. And so the fact that I only have three seed upsets out of 32 first-round games? The fact that I have only three teams seeded higher than 5 in the Sweet 16? The fact that if you add up the seeds in my Final Four you get a number barely higher than the bare minimum four?

I'm rolling with it, and while I have at least a few picks that make me queasy and others I am surely going to wish I had the guts to pick when they end up happening, I feel better about this bracket than I have in years.

Obviously, I'm doomed. So, on that note, join me in the Quickish Readers group for three weeks of fun!