Back home, 'Reign Over Me' is really good, just like UCLA

For everyone who thought that "Reign Over Me" looked like a great movie simply based on the premise (a guy loses his entire family in 9/11 and goes crazy) and the actors (Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler), you were right -- it is a great movie.

And for everyone who thought UCLA was going to come up short of another Final Four run based on its back-to-back losses to Washington and Cal ... well, you were wrong.

The Bruins are headed to their second consecutive Final Four for the first time since John Wooden patrolled the sidelines in Westwood, and they did it against the team that many thought was the best team left in the tournament based on its performance through the first three games.

Perhaps most impressive is that UCLA beat Kansas at its own game, playing better defense (holding the Jayhawks to 41.1 percent shooting) and executing better on offense (shooting 53.3 percent from the floor) than the No. 1 seed. And Arron Afflalo -- 24 points, 10-of-15 from the field -- is showing the rest of the country why he was the premier player in what is proving to be the best conference in the country.

The net result is that I'm now 2-for-2 in my Final Four picks, and I have now ascended from the basement in my own Bracket Challenge, and I'm eyeing third place. Good thing, because I was starting to look like one heck of a moron for letting my readers whip my butt!

The best I can do tomorrow is get one more team in the Final Four (Florida) as the winner of UNC/Georgetown is of little consequence to me. However, it will have a major effect on
the top of our Challenge: Chris Cloke, our leader, has UNC all the way to the championship; Ryan Sadoski, traling first by nine points, has Georgetown in winning the regional final.

Tomorrow should be fun! I'll be back with more then.