Da Prediction, Part Deux

OK, so I was wrong. But at least I'm eating right.

This in the wake of the Wisconsin Badgers sending the Kentucky Not Quite Perfectos to the sideline Saturday night, ending UK's quest for 40-0 and my own personal streak of never being wrong about anything, except perhaps that 1982 Ford Escort I once bought.

Cover it with peonies and it could have been in the Tournament of Roses parade that year when the theme was A Tribute To Rust. That was also the year beige-and-Bondo-yellow were all the rage.

Anyway ... yeah, I was wrong. I thought Notre Dame missed everyone's chance to take down the Wildcats, but I didn't count on Frank Kaminsky and the Arc-ival Assassin, Sam Dekker. I also didn't count on John Calipari deciding not to go inside to Karl-Anthony Towns for the last six minutes, instead choosing to let the Harrison twins shoot his team out of a date with history.

And so it's Wisky vs. Duke for the title tonight, and let me say right here that the best thing about that is I will not be eating my own words sometime next week. That was the bet when I rashly wrote four months ago in this space that I would print out a certain blog entry and eat it if Kentucky went undefeated. Well, now I don't have to. So thanks for that, Bucky.

Your reward is this: I am not picking you to win tonight.

This is has less to do with the fact Duke beat the Badgers by 10 points back in December than it does with what Wisky did Saturday night. Giving them less than 48 hours to reset after the biggest W of the college basketball season seems to me to be asking too much, even for a team as experienced and mature as this one. Throw in the fact that Duke is playing at such a high level itself right now -- the Blue Devils have barely been tested in this tournament, and flicked away Michigan State in the semis like a man flicking a bug off his sleeve -- and I can't see it happening again for Wisconsin.

So: Duke by five. It'll be the third time the Blue Devils have won the title in Indianapolis, leading to the alarming thought that Mike Krzyzewski might decide to move the entire program here, bringing with it all those insufferably entitled Duke students.  

And, yes, Wisky, you can thank me. Because, as I was reminded by friends and family all day yesterday, I am actually never right about these things. 

So you got that goin' for you, ya buncha cheese curds.

You're welcome.