What's your Final Four looking like?

We are less than 24 hours away from tipping off the greatest four weeks in the sports year and more specifically the greatest four days. Opening weekend of March Madness is unbelievably fantastic and here are some reasons why.

No. 1: Gus Johnson. He is a sportscaster for CBS who has the ability to change the course of a team's season just by the tone in his voice. Regardless of what is happening in the game he is covering, sometime in the second half, Johnson starts screaming, which causes a run by the losing team. The underdog could be down by 40 with three minutes left. If Johnson gets excited (and he will) look out.

Gus Johnson is so important to March Madness that I will not fill out any portion of my bracket until I find out which games he will be covering. This year, he will start out in the Midwest Region. He will be in Minneapolis, Minn. so expect Kansas or Michigan State to be upset by the second round.

I have West Virginia going to the Elite Eight where it will face Louisville. Louisville will beat Morehead State and then Ohio State to get to the Sweet 16 and that gets us to my second reason for loving March Madness.

No. 2: Bracketology or the study of brackets or in my case, the ever-changing formula I makeup in the process of filling out my brackets each year. For me, bracketology starts with Gus Johnson. Then I look at records. I dismiss teams with less than 22 wins and teams going into the tournament with any kind of a losing streak. I use anything from where the games will be played, what state a team is from, program history, and so on and so forth. I even look to music for bracket help.
I once heard a country song that claimed there is no Arizona. I have never been to Arizona so I believe it's true, which means all Arizona teams are out and no team playing in the West Region (played in Glendale, Ariz.) will win the championship.

I come up with new and useful methods every year. For instance, I had a very welcoming layover flight in Utah last summer while coming home from a wedding in Idaho where I met a girl who goes to school in Oregon, which means I have advanced all teams from Utah and Oregon to the second round and it also means Gonzaga should have the upper hand against North Carolina in the Sweet 16 since Gonzaga starts its tournament in Portland.

I have Portland State beating Xavier, Utah beating Arizona, Utah State beating Marquette and I fully expect BYU to clobber Texas A&M. Furthermore, I have BYU knocking off Connecticut in the second round and then I have the Cougars advancing (past Purdue) to the Elite Eight where it will meet Memphis or Missouri. I have to decide on that game but I'm leaning toward Missouri for two reasons. The first is because I have a good friend who went to graduate school at Missouri and the second reason is because Missouri has a nice abbreviation that makes writing on the small lines easier (MIZZU). Other examples include Zaga (Gonzaga), PITT (Pittsburgh) and Nova (Villanova).

And if you have ever had Novrosky's Nova Chips, you'll understand why I have Villanova advancing past UCLA. However, I think Duke is due and is coming on strong, so Nova's run will end at the Sweet 16. That said, PITT will breeze through Duke to the Final Four. The Panthers should have no trouble with Tennessee, Wisconsin or the Blue Devils.

In the South Region, I wanted to go with Syracuse but the Orange has burned me before so I have Oklahoma beating Morgan State then Michigan and then Syracuse on the way to the Elite Eight where the Sooners will square off with Gonzaga. I have Zaga moving onto the Final Four because I don't like teams with two letter abbreviations (OU).

To recap, I have MIZZU playing Louisville and PITT playing Zaga in the Final Four. Despite my abbreviations rule, I have Louisville topping the Tigers based on my appreciation for Louisville Sluggers when I was kid. On the other side, I have PITT knocking off Gonzaga because its program has never been to a Final Four and if it is to make it that far, the Bulldogs would likely crumble just as Adam Morrison did against UCLA in 2006. I don't believe in crying and because he did, I will never give my full support to the Zags.

That leaves PITT and Louisville in the championship game. I chose Pittsburgh for two reasons. The first reason is because the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cardinals, which is the mascot of Louisville, in the Super Bowl. The second reason is because I reenforced the abbreviations rule (Louisville does not have one I like) and then decided to insert the "teams with the No. 1 overall ranking rarely wins the championship" rule.

Now that school is out, we can move on to my third reason for loving March Madness.

No. 3: Reasons No. 1 and No. 2 are so great that I don't have to continue writing this blog.