So, how's your NCAA Tournament bracket lookin' about now?
Mine is starting to look way too much like some of those geometry tests I took during my sophomore year in high school — you know, lots of red-ink and scribbled-out answers.
But that's what we love about March Madness — the unpredictability of it all, complete with plenty of stunning upsets by the underdogs who apparently didn't know they weren't supposed to win.
OK, by a show of hands, how many of you had that bastion of collegiate basketball known as Virginia Commonwealth University — with a mouthful like that, it's now wonder why they're more commonly called VCU — going all the way to the Elite Eight?
Yeah, that's what I thought.
And how 'bout Butler? Sure, a year ago, we saw those unheralded Bulldogs win the West Regional championship right here in Salt Lake City to reach the Final Four, where they eventually dropped a heartbreaking title-game decision to Duke when future Jazz first-round draft pick Gordon Hayward's potential game-winning, midcourt miracle shot banged off the rim at the final buzzer.
But whoever thought we'd find Butler back in this position a year later, knocking on the door again.
With Saturday's overtime victory over Florida, the team that vanquished BYU in OT in the round of 16, the underdog Bulldogs earned another berth in the Final Four.
And those of you who picked overall No. 1 seed Ohio State to win it all this year can kindly sit down. The top-ranked Buckeyes fell to Kentucky when a Knight (Brandon) rode up on a white horse and hit a game-winning shot with five seconds left. Bye-bye Buckeyes.
The same holds true for anyone who picked regional top seeds Pittsburgh (beaten by Butler on a flukey finish in the second round), or defending champ Duke, which got walloped by Arizona in the Sweet 16.
Indeed, this is why we love — and are often frustrated by — the NCAA Tournament.
The big dogs continually get bitten by the underdogs, and the top dogs often wind up in the doghouse. But that's a big part of the attraction, the allure that is March Madness.
Only one No. 1 seed, Kansas, remains alive in the field, and the Jayhawks will try to send that Cinderella team, VCU, home from the Big Dance today.
No matter what happens, though, it's been a great ride for the Rams of VCU, a lowly No. 11 seed who had to win a play-in game just to get into the field of 64 and has since knocked off favorites from the Big East, Big Ten and Atlantic Coast conferences.
Sure, we'd still got some of the big guns who are riding high in the saddle, perennially powerful programs like Kansas, North Carolina, Connecticut, Kentucky and Arizona — although Carolina and 'Zona didn't even make the tourney field a year ago. But at least two of those teams will be sent packing today.
And if not for a free throw here or a rebound there, BYU could still be playing, too, perhaps taking its own memorable trip to the Final Four.
Yes, there's an awful lot of agony and ecstasy that comes from watching teams try to navigate their way through the NCAA Tournament each year. It's a joyful ride filled with land mines, joy and heartache.
And now it's almost over. Only five games left to determine this year's national champion.
My bracket's not looking so good, but it could be worse — at least the two teams I've got playing for the title, Kansas and North Carolina, haven't gone home yet.
Emphasis on "yet."
e-mail: rhollis@desnews.com