My odds and ends of the first 4 days, with a few related exceptions thrown in:

1) On Selection Sunday, why not reserve those team shots to bubble teams only?  Here's a great shot of Arizona learning that they will be a #1 seed playing the winner of Wright State and Bryant?  Arizona already knew that it was going to be a #1 seed and am pretty sure wasn't caring whether it would be Wright State or Bryant.

2) Since it's impossible to teach Clark Kellogg which camera to look into while speaking, why not sit him on an end, where his two choices will be to look into the camera or towards his colleagues?  In the middle, he can look at Greg Gumbel, or to Charles and Kenny, or in that rare moment, straight into the camera.

3) If you are a college basketball fan, I hope you hated that Tom Brady "unretirement" announcement taking place in the middle of the selections.  Does this guy have such a massive ego that he needed to make sure he had a built-in audience the moment the announcement hit twitter?  Or, did the NFL purposefully plan on the timing?

4) So Avery Johnson, announcing the first 4 play-in games, moved on to a regional but his fellow commentators, Tom McCarthy and Steve Lavin did not?  That's kind of like Ted Baxter keeping his job in the last episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show while everyone else lost theirs.

5) Bar none, the best interview all season came from from GW's own Mike Brey after the Irish knocked Rutgers out in double overtime.  After acknowledging that the winning basket took place just after midnight (technically, St. Patrick's Day), Brey insisted that there be some Irish whiskey on the plane ride to San Diego.

6) Happy Vindication story of the tournament?  Mike Brey was right up there.

7) Day 1..day session.  If you're a subscriber to The Athletic, I hope you've been reading the underdog columns by Peter Keating and Jordan Bremer.  If so, you knew exactly why America's new favorite darling, the Jackrabbits from South Dakota State, were not going to get past Providence.  Michigan relied upon a underperforming freshman point guard to play out of his mind in a comeback win over Colorado State.  Richmond did just a little bit better against Iowa than Davidson did at the dance a few years back.  (Nor did they surrender a huge lead against them either.) Memphis was athletic enough to make you wonder about Gonzaga, particularly since the Zags played Georgia State to a draw for a while before pouring it on.  Speaking of pouring it on, sorry Shaka but that performance against UNC would be tough for anyone to defend.

8) It's nice that CBS sold out all of its ad inventory for the tournament but something has to give here.  We can't expect advertisers to produce 10+ different spots for the tournament, and we can't bear watching the same commercials over and over, so what we need are more advertisers.  Sadly, CBS does not care how sick we are of the commercials because they're sold out.  Some commercials are just miserable the first time you see them (am looking at you, you smug, pretentious Buick people....not to insult anyone who drives a Buick, but let's face facts...there are much nicer vehicles out there to be pretentious over), some are cute or clever at first but you can quickly get sick of (Coach K on a job interview for AT&T, Boban Marjonovic and his passionate plea for coaster use), some are just tired campaigns by now (it wasn't enough that Jim Nantz had to start hanging with Samuel L., Spike and Chuck but now Jennifer Garner is part of the posse?  Can't we keep our Capital One campaigns separate, please?)

9) First night session..Calipari losing is only made better by the fact that it was a school that Nick Griffin transferred DOWN to that did the deed.  Justim Mazzulla dancing and nearly winning.  Akron nearly being the 4th straight MAC team to win its opening round game at the Dance (making for a comfortable cover against UCLA).  Indiana waited over 3 hours in the middle of the night for a large enough plane to take them out west.  And, played like that had happened against St. Mary's.  Murray State was motivated enough to send SF home in OT, despite not having Kentucky as its next opponent.  Dan Hurley a bit too tight; Teddy Allen a bit too loose perhaps?

10) When studio folks are talking in between games and there are other games in progress, is anyone outside of the families and friends of these studio folks listening to them?  

11) Friday has arrived.  Of everything that could have been predicted about this tournament, was there a surer bet out there than Nantz/Raftery/Hill/Wolfson calling the Duke games?  (As an aside, Bomani Jones has a new show on HBO and in the first episode, he did a phenomenal piece on Duke and racism.  He showed a clip of a Jim Nantz into where he says, "coming up next:  the fab 5 vs. America's finest", setting up a Michigan-Duke game.  America's finest, Bomani asks.  Were they playing the Durham police department?

12) If you answered no to 11), I'll ask once more in a different way:  a game right before 60 Minutes between K and Izzo or K and McKillop.  Was there ever any real possibility of another crew getting this?  Ahhh, no.

13) Yes, I had Texas in my bracket.  Yes, they were the ice cold team.  Yes, I changed to the red hot team in Virginia Tech.  No, Virginia Tech did not win.  Yes, I'll likely make a similar mistake next year.

14) I got Ohio State right.  Like the Jackrabbits, a little too much public love for the Sister Jeans.

15) Jameer Nelson Jr at the dance:  Fun to see.  What seemed like an unusually high amount of talk about how JNJ was so unhappy at GW and/or how much happier he appears to be at Delaware:  Not quite so fun.

16) What's going on in San Diego?  The camera angles are far from the court and weird with that feeling we experienced playing at Duquesne (where it looked like the court was going to fall into your lap).  Is Avery Johnson somehow causing this?

17) I lose a bet wagering on a team who just fired their coach because his wrongdoings from 3 years ago were just formally acknowledged by the NCAA.   That bleary-eyed feeling I am walking around with may just be impacting my judgment.

18) After a strong first day and a half, my tides are turning.  My prideful upset pick of the first round is Chattanooga over Illinois.  The Ilini led for all of 25 seconds, including the final score.

19) Announcer stuff:

Eagle/Spanarkel:  Eagle is the new Marv Albert without the sex toys and antics.  He's great on everything and has worked with Spanarkel for decades.  Quite possibly the best crew going.

Anderson/Jackson:  Solid and steady though I am hard pressed to think of too may instances where I am overly entertained or educated from listening to them.  

Nessler/Haywood:  There are bigger Nessler fans out there than I am.  He reminds me a little too much of Chuck Woolery, while Haywood reminds me a little too much of Chris Webber.  Like Webber, Haywood create makes believe dialogue, along the lines of "Jones thinks he 's going to drive the lane but Smith shows up and says not so fast young man, this lane is mine" to describe a blocked shot.  Yeesh.

Catalon/Lappas:  Really like Catalon who could end up being Jim Nantz one day.  He is a little mistake prone but overall is more than serviceable.  Lappas strikes me as goofy and his voice is very much along the lines of the late Garry Marshall.

Harlan/Miller/Bonner:  I really like Bonner and enjoy how he and Reggie work together.  I do not despise or worship Harlan.  He brings excitement to the telecast but in a few too many instances, practically inexplicably so.

Dedes/Antonelli:  Dedes is a pro who excels at calling basketball.  Antonelli is sound though she tends to say things that fly in the face of previous things she said.  And, am sorry to make this sexist remark but does she have to sound so much like Doris Burke?

Byington/Smith/Johnson:  Steve Smith deserves better.  Lisa is getting better but probably still not strong enough to warrant this assignment.

Nantz/Raftery/Hill:  Raft appears to have a deemphasized role this season or maybe that's me?  Grant Hill is emerging as an analyst so my guess is this is purposeful.  I can't get enough Raftery.  Same tired lines again and again?  OK by me.  Nantz is fine, good at everything he does.  But, i am one of those who resents his parachuting into the booth in time for the Big 10 tournament (I think he worked 1 extra week this year) and gets to annually call the final 4.    

Saturday/Sunday:

Zags and Memphis was a joy to watch.  The Bulldogs are a great team and were truly tested.  They are my pick to win it all.

Not the same Arkansas team as last year.

Texas Tech-Duke should be interesting.  65+ points, Duke wins.  Under 65 for the winner, that should be TT.

Had UNC to beat Baylor in my brackets.  Maybe though they can stop dribbling the ball into the corners while protecting a 25 point lead.  Hint: that's where team's like to trap.

What a story St. Peter's has been.  What a break they and Purdue get playing one another next.  For Purdue, it's a tremendous matchup advantage.  For St. Peters, it's  a team that has historically underperformed in this tournament when favored.

Arizona-Houston...Not what I'd call a Sweet 16 game.  Another great tempo matchup.

Michigan-Nova..Nova beat them for a national championship, and should take care of matters again.

Kansas-Providence..The Jayhawks must be loving their draw right about now.

Miami-Iowa State..What a story these Cyclones have been.  From a 2 win season to the Sweet 16 and a winnable matchup.