As Championship Week goes on, I’ll try to update daily.

For now, my last four in are: Villanova, Oregon, Ohio St., Ole Miss
Last four out: Syracuse, Arizona St., New Mexico, UAB

Click below for the bracket:
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While traveling to Tunica on Sunday, I noticed a ton of ducks still hanging around the small ponds and swamps along the sides of Highway 61.

The ducks that really stood out were the shovelers. They have their full breeding plumage this time of year, and they really look beautiful.

They have dark green heads, long black bills, a white chest area and brown flanks. Some people refer to the flanks as “chestnut” or “copper.”

But those are paint-store terms. To me, they’re brown.

Anyway, if you’re an amateur photographer and you’re looking for a good picture of a shoveler, now is the time and Tunica is the place.

I had an assignment in Tunica on Sunday, and the folks over there were talking a lot about the Mississippi River.

Apparently, the river is rising quickly and much of the low-land property near the major casinos could be under water by the end of the week.

The Willows shooting facility at Grand Casino has already removed all of its equipment in anticipation of the high water. They expect their entire shooting and hunting course to be under water.

Apparently, this happens over there about once every three-five years, so they already have a backup plan. They’ve found some higher ground on the casino property that will allow them to keep right on shooting and hunting no matter how high the water gets.

It’ll be a bigtime headache moving all that stuff around the next few weeks.

But that’s life on the Mississippi River for you.

1. Tennessee
2. Memphis
3. North Carolina
4. UCLA
5. Texas
6. Kansas
7. Duke
8. Georgetown
9. Louisville
10. Xavier
11. Stanford
12. Notre Dame
13. Wisconsin
14. Butler
15. Drake
16. Vanderbilt
17. UConn
18. Purdue
19. Gonzaga
20. Southern Cal
21. Michigan St.
22. Washington St.
23. Marquette
24. South Alabama
25. BYU

I offer up this ballot without comment, aside from the No. 1 debate. Like I said last week, you could pick any of three or four teams as No. 1 and make a good argument. The one piece of evidence we do have is that Tennessee beat Memphis head-to-head in Memphis just three Saturdays ago. I have no compelling reason at this point to move Memphis ahead of Tennessee. I moved UCLA down from No. 1 because they would have lost to either Stanford or California without some help from the officials.

Anyone who wants an on-campus stadium needs to email your thoughts to University of Memphis President Dr. Shirley Raines. Her email address is sraines@memphis.edu. Below is my letter to her.

Dr. Raines,

This is going to sound a little strange but please take a few moments to hear me out.
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I’m going to look into that question about the other state school stadiums today. I do know that the UT system is different that the system we’re under if that helps from jump street.

Thank you Mike Davis. Any chance of the Tigers overlooking you if we play in the tournament is now effectively GONE. His refusal to compliment the Tigers’ effort on Saturday will come back to haunt him. You’re wondering what he said, “… We could have gotten beat by 40 by anybody. We just weren’t ready to play.” The Tigers are not just anybody and you will have motivated them once again. Davis, you’re not any different than the idiot in a orange jumpsuit after all.
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