ok, so i'm stuck in NO CABLE (except for at sports bars like maybe friday for unc/st. louis please call me about this ok Byron?) LAND. this fact will allow me to go over and update my whole family is staring at me because the tv is on mute and my keyboard is making a lot of noise... anyways.

this post exists for 2 reasons, 1) post the games to pick for the week and 2) update our power 16 pre-big weekend of college hoops (starting tonight with pitt@osu and duke's semi-test against the 'zags, and ending with the pre-BCS championship florida-osu), hopefully my prediction and rankings will turn out better off than a certain other set of predictions of which we won't speak.

1) NFL PICK 'EM - figured we'd get this out of the way for those of you who don't want to read through that other crap to get to the weekend picks, yeah, i'm talking to all of you NFL fans who pick along at home with us each weekend. btw, why don't you all post, i mean, we give you plenty of oppurtunities, oh well, its a mystery. onto this week's games:
NO @ NYG
WAS @ STL
IND @ HOU (hah, just making sure you were still awake)
BAL @ PIT
TB @ CLE
NE @ JAX
CIN @ DEN
NYJ @ MIA
all of these lines are +/-3, so all's fair, though i'm picking GB over Minny tonight for the extra bonus point, i need whatever i can get, now, onto college bball...


2) The Power 16

1 Seeds
1) UCLA - well, they haven't lost, haven't impressed in a while, but they're the most impressive and you can't point to a team thats beaten them
2) Ohio St - yeah, this counts Greg Oden, and they still might lose this weekend, but its at Florida, hopefully the team can live up to their potential inclusive of Oden and aren't thrown off by the addition, some high quality competition should provide a nice peak
3) UNC - yeah, i don't want to put us here, but we haven't lost in a while, i think roy is slowly whipping the boys into shape
4) Arizona - not sure why john 'kempom' abernethy was drooling all over them at #1, but this is supposed to be an adapted version of his ratings, so i'll respect that

2 Seeds
5) Florida - this is sans Horford, which they are for now so the rating reflects that, i think if they weren't the returning champs they'd have one less loss, but thats the price you pay for carrying around that heavy golden belt with built in on-the-back target
6) Wichita St - yeah, yeah, i'm falling for the MVC, i pledge to watch more of their games this year, to see if they're for real
7) Duke - so much to say, McRoberts can carry them through a lot, but to make it through the ACC they're going to need contributions from others, my prediction is 11-5
8) none of these next teams impresses me enough to warrant giving them a 2 seed, maybe coolmanjohnpom can help me out

3 Seeds
9a) Villanova - ummm, again, another one of john's statistical babies, but out of respect they're still around and close to their old ranking, i mean, they lost to drexel for crying out loud, my patience is growing thin captain kenpom
9b) Wisconsin - yeah, they've looked impressive against quality competition, so i'll reward that with a decent ranking, but i'm not going ga-ga over him like a certain roommate of a certain co-author of a certain blog
10) Pittsburgh - no losses until the one to UW, i have a feeling they'll step it up against Ok St and the near-heel jameson
11) Kansas - lots and lots and LOTS of potential, go baby hawks, i would hate to see this team in my bracket come march, then again, its just bill self, i'm not sold on him as a quality coach
12) Southern Illinois - adding on another MVC team, go ahead, call me Craig Littlepage

4 Seeds
13) Butler - an experienced squad with good guard play may suffer some losses, but they also have the ability to beat almost anyone in the country
14) Washington - debuting this week Ryan's front runner for grad school and a team that showed up a decent LSU squad, to they take their place in the rankings
15) Gonzaga - i mean, they've got a killer quality win, (snicker snicker)
16) Maryland - i've got a soft spot for this team, i mean, i hate them because they're Maryland, but they represent the backbone of the ACC, several teams that have good talent, hustle, and are extremely well coached. though i stand by my early opinions about them peaking too early