Matt Holthe's Fleeting Thoughts

This Saturday is the NCAA Final Four. This year is a bit strange in that there is North Carolina (20th Final Four), Oregon (2nd Final Four, but first since the very first one in 1939), Gonzaga (first Final Four), and South Carolina (first Final Four). There's a lot of experience with North Carolina - they were in the national championship game last year, the coach has been to the Final Four multiple times, and so on. There's no experience with the other 3 teams. We'll see if that experience helps at all by the time Monday evening rolls around. Gonzaga plays South Carolina in the first game (Gonzaga is a 6.5 point favorite) and North Carolina (-4.5) plays Oregon in the second game.

The travel for my job has significantly slowed down the last couple of years. More and more customers are fine with doing things remotely. It's nice being able to stay at home, but it also means I miss out on the frequent flier and hotel perks that I used to have. When I do have to travel, it's much more difficult anymore. In 2016, I spent 27 nights away from home, but only 4 of those nights were because of business trips. I flew 3,574 miles and visited 5 airports (BMI, ORD, LGA, ATL, MCO). I spent time in 9 states (IL, NY, GA, FL, WI, IA, NE, SD, MN).

The first weekend of the NCAA tournament has ended and there are 16 teams still playing. Of those 16, there is only 1 from the ACC, which many people said was the best conference in the nation this year. There are 3 each from the SEC and the Big Ten, which many people said were the worse of the major conferences. There are also 3 from the Pac-12, which was very top heavy, and the Big 12. Of the final 3 teams, 2 are from the Big East and the only mid-major team is Gonzaga, which is a big-time program in the West Coast Conference.