Vive la difference!

Great to see some different teams than the usual ones win regionals in this season's NCAA Division 1 men's and women's basketball tournaments.

No Number One seeds left at the moment in the NCAA D-1 men's tourney (Alabama, Purdue, Houston, and defending champion Kansas all went down before the regional finals)...and two remaining in the NCAA D-1 women's tourney (Virginia Tech and last season's champ, still-unbeaten South Carolina).

The Hokies and Gamecocks spearhead a women's D-1 Final Four that includes a Louisiana State team that hadn't won a regional final since 2008...and an Iowa squad making just its second trip to the women's D-1 Final Four. (The first happened in 1993.)

Now...how about the D-1 men's side? Three teams in the men's D-1 Final Four for the first time ever!

Two of those first-time teams (Florida Atlantic and San Diego State) taste it up tomorrow...when Miami (FL) takes on one of its old rival from its Big East days, Connecticut. That's right...a University of Connecticut basketball team made the Final Four after all.

Dan Hurley's...not Geno Auriemma's. So...2022-23 is the first season the Huskies' men's team got to a Final Four since 2014 and the first campaign where the Huskies' women's squad got left out of a Final Four since 2007. And, here in 2022-23, not a single Number One seed among the men's D-1 regional semifinalists...a first. All right...I'm going to try some predictions about the last team standing in each D-1 NCAA tourney this season. WOMEN: Louisiana State over Virginia Tech, South Carolina over Iowa...and then on Sunday, an all-SEC final in which Dawn Staley's Gamecocks make it back-to-back titles.

MEN: Florida Atlantic over San Diego State, Connecticut over Miami (FL)...with Hurley's squad cutting down the nets late Monday night for its first title since 2011.

The watchdogs chalk it all up to the transfer portal...something that's redistributed the talent in both women's and men's Division 1 hoops. (You know what I say? Right on for the portal!)

I'm going to be watching...hope you'll be watching, too.

Finally..."Geaux Tigers!"

Two years after I announced I'd do it, I got it done at last. Had to take care of two years' worth of life issues...but I got this project done, once and for all.

I'm talking about the 2019 edition of the "shoulda/coulda/woulda" NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs.

Using Dave Koch Sports' Action! PC Football, here's how the 24-team field fared:

FIRST ROUND (seeding in parentheses): Oregon (9) 37, Miami (OH) (24) 14/Alabama (17) 38, Air Force (16) 14/Penn State (13) 38, Cincinnati (20) 17/Wisconsin (21) 24, Notre Dame (12) 10/Florida (19) 39, SMU (14) 14/Utah (11) 35, Florida Atlantic (22) 6/Minnesota (18) 38, Navy (15) 17/Louisiana-Lafayette (23) 32, Baylor (10) 13

SECOND ROUND: Ohio State (1) 47, Oregon 14/Alabama 31, Georgia (8) 20/Memphis (5) 52, Penn State 48/Wisconsin 24, Boise State (4) 10/Florida 31, Oklahoma (6) 13/Clemson (3) 28, Utah 7/Minnesota 38, Appalachian State (7) 10/Louisiana State (2) 52, Louisiana-Lafayette 31

QUARTERFINAL ROUND: Ohio State 26, Alabama 14/Wisconsin 28, Memphis 17/Florida 30, Clemson 27 (1 OT)/Louisiana State 38, Minnesota 35

SEMIFINAL ROUND: Wisconsin 33, Ohio State 21/Louisiana State 31, Florida 28

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Louisiana State 41, Wisconsin 17

Playoff MVP: LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.