Hear that sound? That's the sound of me cruising out of the basement!

Well, at least my bracket isn't as screwed as some peoples' -- at least pending the Tennessee/Ohio State game.

Although I had Texas A&M advancing one more round, the Aggies' loss screwed a lot of other people a lot worse that it did me. For example, both Dan Oldham and JoJo Roberts had Texas A&M going to the Final Four -- or beyond -- and I can look forward to passing them soon.

The race to win my Bracket Challenge is shaping up nicely as a three-horse race between Chris Cloke, Ryan Sadoski and Mike Larson. Although Cloke holds a five-point advantage over Sadoski, all three can still come out on top as all three have different champs. The standings you see above are with the last two games of the night still to play.

(Incidentally, I've officially got no chance to win, since my three Final Four teams left mirror three of Sadoski's Final Four, and we've got the same chance. So, I'll officially concede that Ryan is smarter than I am. Congrats Sado!)

I do have Ohio State winning it all, so unless the Buckeyes can figure out a way to quit turning the ball over, missing free throws, missing shots, and giving up layups, I'll probably be right back where I was a week ago. Oh well -- such is the tournament. That's what I get for counting on some upsets in a tournament where there haven't been any ...

Other observations from tonight:

• Didn't get to watch a lot of the Texas A&M/Memphis game, but one thing I did some away impressed by was Memphis' toughness. I think most people assumed the Tigers would wilt in this tournament after beating up on the cupcakes of C-USA -- I know I did -- but they proved worthy of everything the Aggies threw at them. I wasn't sure they could win a close game, but they did it, and impressively at that. No miracle heroics from Acie Law ...
• Did get to watch a bunch of the Kansas/SIU game. The most impressive thing to me? The Salukis' swarming defense. That reminds me of what the Cougars will be like once they get some better athletes in the program. Don't get me wrong, I love Weaver, Low, Cowgill, etc., but those guys do it mostly on guts and guile. SIU's got some guys who really get after you. Unfortunately for them, they ran into a team that plays defense just as hard, but has elite athletes. They never really stood a chance against the Jayhawks, who look more and more impressive each time out.