So in the blink of an eye, March Madness opening weekend, the best 4 days in sports, is coming to a close. As always, it was a blast and full of madness and memories.

Normally we just throw parlay after parlay at a bunch of teams we like but this year we took a different approach. Rather than “day trading” and losing money or breaking even, we placed much fewer, smarter, bets and the “investing” paid off. Sure we didn’t win a ton of money but we never do; we did however enjoy 3 days of non stop basketball action and ate, drank and had a great time for practically free after the winnings. That’s called vacation on a budget.

What else did we learn? The Big 12 is garbage, the Mountain West is completely overrated as always, Villanova will always be Villanova and the PAC 12 is pretty good. We also learned that we’re going to have a few really well paid 19 year olds in the NBA next year but the NCAA is a team game and all the talent in the world means nothing if they’re playing an experienced team of men.

So thank you Oregon -5.5, Michigan St -14 and UConn -5. And thank you Tennessee -5, Stephen F Austin +6.5 and Coastal Carolina +21. Thank you’s do not go to lazy, entitled, whiney, Marcus Smart and that pitiful performance that I hope costs you at least $1 million next year, and as usual, Jay Wright, who owes me money after his team fell flat way too early again. I don’t know what you do to prepare your team for tournament games but stop it and try something different. Next year brings another March Madness and I can’t wait.

Oh, and Andrew Wiggins… learn from this experience. When you’re in a Sixers jersey next season next to Michael Carter Williams, Doug McDermott, Thad Young and Nerlens Noel, things certainly won’t be any easier but they may be a whole lot more interesting.