So it’s Monday after the Big Dance’s first whirl and we’re all licking our wounds. I’m in the upper half of my pool with 10 out of the Sweet 16 left, seven our of the Elite Eight left, and the whole quartet of my Final Four. But I’m famous for late rounds swoons. I’ll keep you posted. I have Florida over Georgetown in the final and 151 points for a tie-breaker.

A couple observations on the first two rounds: Although I had OSU, I wanted Xavier to win, wondering why they didn’t foul at the end to stop the three pointer. It’s risky but has been done.

Maybe I was seeing things through X colored glasses by then, but I also wondered how close Oden was to an intentional foul when he forearmed the Xavier player into the cheap seat. If you have the rule, you have to have to chops to call it in crunch time — when it is going to happen.

Grand Island Northwest knows: During its first round loss in OT to eventual Class B champ Omaha Skutt, a Skutt kid grabbed John ring’s jersey, an obvious and easy intentional foul by rule. He was trying to keep Ring from breaking to the basket.

Biggest surprise: USC’s easy handle of Texas. Wow! Is the Pac 10 that good. Three teams in the Sweet 16 and Wazu should be there. Oregon is looking good. I have UCLA beating Kansas in the Regional Final, but the Jayhawks look tough.

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Congrats to Heidi Foland and Jake Johnson for leading their respective All Heartland teams chosen by the Independent sports writers. Two great kids with lots of game and character. They represent their schools and all of us well.