Basketball Picks, the Idiotic Way

Boy, would I be a lot more optimistic if I were following TJ's 4-4 weeks than his 6-2 and Russell's 7-1 prognostications. There's little fun in my actually spending a great deal of thought on these, so we'll channel Diane Chambers this morning. She won football pools by selecting teams in non-standard ways. Among other selection processes, one week she won by choosing which city had a better symphony. And here we go, except that I don't know much about symphony music, so there's a tweak.

Pitt at Georgetown
Aaron Gray is still gimpy and the Hoyas are surging, but more importantly, Marvin Gaye is from DC and Rusted Root is from Pittsburgh. Advantage, Gaye. Georgetown.

Indiana at Michigan State
Cougar vs. Madonna, circa 1985. "Rain On the Scarecrow" vs. "Dress You Up." Cougar. Hoosiers.

Georgia Tech at Virginia
The Jackets are zipping up the ACC standings of late, yuk yuk yuk, and the Cavs were strained against Miami, yuk yuk yuk, but this should be a good showdown, like, say, The Black Crowes vs. Dave Matthews Band. We'll take DMB and UVA. (They also win in the Johannesburg U. vs. Cape Town Tech match-up.)

Stanford at UCLA
The Kingston Trio hailed from Palo Alto. 1,000,000 rock bands emanated from L.A., from The Doors to Social Distortion to the Black-Eyed Peas. Bruins. Duh.

Syracuse at Providence
You know what musical act hailed from Syracuse? None. Bobcat Goldthwait does, though. Chuck Mangione and Wendy O. Williams are/were from Rochester, of course. You know who formed while attending the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence? Talking Heads. Winner. Providence.

Texas at Oklahoma
Willie Nelson and Spoon against Vince Gill and Toby Keith. I'm going with the former, and so should you. Every time. Texas.

North Carolina at Maryland
Should be an awesome showdown; the Terps are surging of late, and Carolina is a title contender. The Connells should squeak one out at Joan Jett's place. Tar Heels.

Wisconsin at Ohio State
Big time Big Ten match-up, not unlike the powerhouses . . . Violent Femmes against Devo. Like them both plenty, though neither got much respect. Add it up or whip it? Whip it. OSU.

1-7, here we come.