Knitting and the Big Dance

This is a knitting blog but basketball is my love, and it's that time of year for college basketball fans! The NCAA Tournament, March Madness, the Big Dance! I'm excited once again! How many exclamation marks can I use??? It starts Thursday at noon (we play the first game at 12:20!) and it is pure, unadulterated basketball action until after midnight, only to start again on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the same thing. It's by far the most emotional time in sports (and this is said by someone who cries everytime the National Anthem is played at the Olympics). I am always cheering for the underdog, unless they are playing us. :)

Knowing this is coming up, I have a lot of knitting projects going on right now which is kind of funny because only a week ago, I just had a thing or two going. I like to have a project while I'm watching games, even while watching our games. It calms me. I only put it down if the game gets close at the end, and I'm shaking too hard to knit. The only time I've thrown it at the TV in disgust was during this year's Louisville game (which we won, maybe I should throw things more often).

Right now on the needles, I have:
*Hip to Knit Dreamy Turtleneck (Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool)
*Yarn Girls' Summer in the City Tank (Paton's Grace and Crystal Palace Waikiki)
*SNB Nation Lucky Wrap sweater (Brown Sheep Cotton Fine)
*SNB Felted Marsupial Tote (Cascade 220)
*My So-Called Scarf (in wool my Mom brought back from a trip to Ireland)

I also have 2 skeins of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille for more flower washcloths that I can't seem to get up to doing (these are for ME, the rest have been gifts) and some pink Plymouth Fantasy Naturale that will be a great bucket hat. I think I'll have plenty to do during those days of watching basketball.

Onto my bracket talk! We are the #2 seed in the Austin region with Duke as the #1. I figured that would happen. An NCAA committee member said on TV that we would have been a #1 had we won our conference. That means we may have been flipflopped with Duke, so I'm not too upset given that I like our half of the bracket better. Louisville got completely totally screwed with the 4 seed. Gotta love that (as long as it doesn't give them motivation to play hard to prove people wrong, that would be v. bad). There is no player in basketball I dislike more than Francisco Garcia, not even JJ Redick. And my dislike of Traitor Pitino is obvious.

My Final Four picks (subject to change before Thursday at noon!):
Illinois
UConn
Gonzaga
Kentucky

With Kentucky to win it all.

I pick us to win every year, as part of my rule about never betting against the Cats. Can we really? I don't know. We have some glaring weaknesses but so does almost every other team this year. We are young and inconsistent but display a lot of heart. We'll see. That's what makes March Madness so fun!