UCLA Wins. IU Loses.

March Madness has arrived. It's officially the best time of the sporting year for me. Usually.

It's been a long, frustrating basketball season for me as a Hoosier fan. At it's peak, I was ready to take IU to the Final Four in my bracket and make a case to anyone that IU had just as good a shot as any top team to win it all.

Now? IU is an eight seed and I'm picking them to lose in the first round.

The whole Hoosier team seemed to lose its will to live after Kelvin Sampson got fired. They have played horrible basketball, losing three of the last four games, including a woodshed spanking at the hands of Michigan State and losses to Penn State and Minnesota.

Not only that, the week that IU is scheduled to play after limping into the Big Dance, the university announced the formation of a 10-panel search committee to find a new coach. Nice timing, eh? Just one more distraction.

So this year, its more March Sadness than it is Madness.

Now to my picks. Usually, I do my research, listen to experts, and fill out multiple brackets. This year, I haven't done any research, listened to any experts, and completed only one bracket. There are only three things that are locked in stone for me, the rest are simply shots in the dark: IU will lose to Arkansas in the first round, Tennessee will make it the school's first ever championship game, and UCLA will win it all.

Final Four:
Tennessee
Wisconsin
Texas
UCLA

Final Game:
Tennessee vs. UCLA

2008 Champion: UCLA

Go Vols!