I knew it. I always know it.

I knew Duke wouldn't win the NCAA Tournament. I never pick Duke. Except for this year. For some reason, I just didn't see anyone else winning the tournament. But now it looks like we're going to as Duke got upended by the No. 4 seed from the Atlanta Region, LSU. Of course, I had LSU loosing in the second round to Syracuse. So that tells you a little something about my bracket right there.

But, every single year I always say Duke will choke. Usually there's just one game that stands out to me that Duke will not win. I didn't see that this year and I doubt that anyone outside of Baton Rouge figured it would be LSU that would knock the mighty Blue Devils off.

No one in the Echo Sports Tournament Challenge picked Duke to lose this early. A handful of people had the Blue Devils losing to Texas in the Elite Eight, but most had them in the Final Four and the championship game. Not everyone had them winning the tournament, and had I used my normal method of not picking Duke, my bracket may have been saved.

I didn't think Texas would be able to beat the Dukies, as of my writing of this entry the Longhorns are battling it out with West Virginia. I definitely didn't see the Mountaineers knocking off Duke. Out of the Oakland Region I have Gonzaga coming out. Which is another thing that sort of worries me. But Memphis is by far the weakest No. 1 seed and I don't know jack about UCLA, so I'm not giving them any love. But of those three teams I didn't see any of them beating Duke either.

In my other national semifinal I have UConn taking on Villanova. I think there's a good chance these will be the two teams coming out of those regions and I have an even better feeling that UConn will be in the championship.

And with that assumption, I didn't see the Huskies knocking off Duke either. So there you have it. I just thought Duke had the easiest path to the championship. But I should've known. Duke doesn't win the whole thing, at least not since I've been filling out brackets.

Well, there was 2001. I don't remember who I picked, but I know it wasn't Duke, which is why my bracket most likely stunk that year as the Blue Devils actually came through and won the thing.

In 1999 I remember watching in delight as the championship game came down almost exactly as I thought it would. I had Duke and UConn in the game, but I knew Duke would poo-poo it away. As they did when Shane Battier was called for traveling, pretty much completing the Blue Devil choke job.

I suppose I should've just went with my conventional method of picking. But then, of course, the Dukies would've went ahead and won the thing, thus thwarting my plans once again. That's the way it happens every year – you think you've got the bracket gods beat, but all along their just screwing with you.

But that's what makes this so damn fun, isn't it?