If you read my column on a regular basis, and I know there’s at least six people (including myself) who do, then you know how much I love March Madness. And if you have watched any of this year’s NCAA Tournament, then you can probably relate.

There have been moments when I was disgusted with the tournament, mainly due to the fact that Florida tanked in the second round when I picked them to go to the Final Four. The same happened when Kentucky got thumped by this year’s Cinderella, Marquette.

What sucks even more is that I had Marquette losing in the second round. Why couldn’t Marquette and Florida just have traded their outcomes?

Anyway, I really don’t need to waste any more time in saying that I am now competing for last place in the pool I joined for the tournament. But, of course, I wouldn’t win any money anyway, since we all know that bracket pools are a form of illegal gambling. (Wink, wink.)

You do have to give Marquette credit, although I don’t understand how they could only beat Holy Cross by four, Missouri by seven, and then completely dominate Kentucky the way they did. Dwyane Wade’s triple-double against Kentucky showed everyone why he won’t be wearing a Marquette jersey next season, and I’m not talking about him transferring.

The Golden Eagles had better enjoy their time in New Orleans while it lasts though. Their Final Four opponent, the Kansas Jayhawks, are playing too well right now to be stopped.

I feel bad for anyone who has to play them, although it was great to see the look on the face of Arizona’s Luke Walton when the clock stopped on his college basketball career.

I hate those Walton guys, even more so after I saw Bill Walton on ESPN wearing his tie-dyed tank top and talking about who knows what. Not to mention the fact that his son is one of the most overrated college basketball players of all time. Yeah, he is a good passer, but that is about the only thing that makes him stand out, other than that stupid hippie tattoo he has on his shoulder.

Moving on to a more positive note, you know you are watching a special team when their All-American is having a bad game, so they turn to their other All-American, as the Jayhawks have done their past two games. Nick Collison almost single-handedly took down the despised Duke Blue Devils in one of the best games I’ve ever seen. Collison had to carry the load because Kirk Hinrich couldn’t buy a basket.

In their next game against the top-seed Wildcats, Hinrich exploded for 28 points, while Arizona’s zone limited Collison to eight points. That just shows how good Kansas is, without even mentioning the stellar play they’ve received from the rest of their starters. Aaron Miles is going to be a great player by the time he leaves Kansas.

My one problem with Kansas is they run up the score and leave regular players in the whole game. It reminds me of high school when Des Moines Hoover would leave their starters, three of whom play Division I basketball, in the whole game. That’s the only reason they beat us 100-60, because we played our bench when the game was out of reach, while they all padded their stats.

I guess that’s why they all ended up playing at Drake.

On the other side of the bracket, the only No. 1 seed to make it to the Final Four this season is Texas. All-world point guard T.J. Ford is running the show for one of the best teams in the country, and supposedly he will be back next season. Not good news for the fans here at Iowa State or anyone else who doesn’t like that ugly doodoo orange color the Longhorns sport.

Texas will be doing battle with the No. 3 seed out of the East: Syracuse. The Orangemen have a tough task ahead of them seeing as how they played their first four tournament games with a home crowd.

I doubt there will be quite as many fans in the Big Easy for them this weekend. I really like Syracuse’s chances of winning the tournament — next year.

Two of their best players are freshmen who will probably be a little too wide-eyed to play the way they can, and Texas is too good of a team to knock out without top efforts from everyone.

So that gives us Kansas and Texas in the Big 12, I mean NCAA Championship game. These teams met once this season, with Kansas using the home-court advantage to take the 90-87 win. I have seen this situation before, so I have to pick Texas. Usually when two teams play once, and then meet again with higher stakes, the loser of the first game usually wins the second.

Don’t believe me, look at the NIT Tournament. Iowa State played Iowa for the second time and lost. During the Fab Five’s second year at Michigan, they beat North Carolina in a Christmas tournament, and then lost to them in the NCAA finals.

These are just some of the examples.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Roy Williams win his first national title. I would also like to see the Iowa boys win it too.

No matter how much we all hate them for going south to play ball, it’s still nice to see guys from Iowa who conduct themselves like Collison and Hinrich do. Right now, the best we can do is Ricky Davis — the guy who misses a lay-up on the wrong basket to try and rack up a triple-double.

But hey, what do you expect from a Hawkeye?