I'm at the UT bookstore on my lunch break, and the Lady Vols national championship t-shirts are out in force.

…does this mean there’s going to be a parade?? I love parades!!

UPDATE: Local news says there will be a celebration at Thompson-Boling Arena at 5:30 PM tomorrow, free and open to the general public, with doors opening at 5:00. No word yet on any parade plans.

P.S. My Facebook profile asks the question:

It’s Candace vs. Candice (and Smoky vs. The Tree) in the women’s national championship game, and Jeff vs. Jeff in the Living Room Times women’s pool, as March Madness officially ends tonight.

If the Tennessee Lady Vols, led by Candace Parker, beat the Stanford Drunken Trees Cardinal, led by Candice Wiggins, in tonight’s title showdown, then Jeff Freeze, a 1992 Indiana alum, will win the 11th annual Times women’s pool. If Stanford prevails, then Jeff Vaca, a 1982 Cal alum, will be the pool champion.

The game starts at 8:30 PM EST on ESPN. Gamecast here.

P.S. If Tennessee wins, there will be three contestants in my pools who correctly predicted both the men’s and women’s champions: Chris Aemisegger, Dan Port, and… Loyette! Heh. (If Stanford wins, there will be no such contestants.)

UPDATE: It’s 37-29 Tennessee at halftime.

UPDATE 2: The Lady Vols win!

The final score was 64-48. I guess they used up all the drama in their Final Four win over LSU:

Last night, Kansas won its first national championship since 1988. You know, it occurs to me, there’s another storied national powerhouse that won its last national championship in 1988. Hmm… could the Jayhawks’ return to glory be a good omen for the Irish?

A tragedy at ‘SC: "A USC freshman was found dead in his New/North dorm room around noon
Wednesday, after suffering from what appears to be an accidental drug
overdose, USC Department of Public Safety officials said." (Hat tip: Becky.)

The student’s name is Michael Weiss. His death reportedly follows on the heels of a "series of incidents involving substance abuse" at New/North, "prompting a mass e-mail
to residents warning of a new zero tolerance drug use policy."

So sad. May he rest in peace.

Ever since I saw (and photographed) the above-pictured robin en route home from work on March 6, I’ve been meaning to put together a "springtime in Knoxville" photo gallery for the blog. There are a ton of beautiful flowers, trees and other lovely signs of spring in this part of the world. Unfortunately, I haven’t had time to make the album yet, but I hope to do so soon.

I’ll definitely have a lot more material to work with after today, as Becky, Loyette and I ventured out to the Crescent Bend Tulip Time festival this afternoon, then walked three miles along the riverfront, snapping photos all the way. Here’s one pic from the tulip gardens:

Very pretty. It was an absolutely gorgeous day here, and it looks like a very nice week ahead. It all puts me in mind of the song "Rambles of Spring," one of my favorite Makem & Clancy numbers — of which, conveniently enough, I found a YouTube clip recently. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds has some nice pictures from yesterday as well.

Okay, but I’m not sure we want him roaming the sidelines:

Then again, I’m not sure we ever wanted Snoop Dogg roaming the sidelines, either. Unfortunately, nobody listens to me about these things. :)

Even as I was engaging in some April Foolishness, claiming that ESPN’s Andy Katz was reporting that Indiana would hire Mike Brey, Andy Katz was actually reporting that Indiana would hire Marquette’s Tom Crean — and that has now been confirmed.

Meanwhile, “El Kabong” at ND Nation has taken some heat for his Brey-to-Indiana April Fool’s joke, which he now admits was a joke. (Money quote: “Part of me thinks the only thing I should be embarrassed about is the joke is so hackneyed a twit like Brendan Loy apparently thought of it too.” Heh.)

Breaking news: ESPN’s Andy Katz is reporting that Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey, the back-to-back Big East Coach of the Year who used to be such a frequent subject of Irish Trojan criticism that you’d have thought his first name was "Fire," will be introduced tomorrow morning as the new head coach at Indiana.

The last time rumors cropped up of Brey’s possible departure (for N.C. State, in that case), I said they were "too good to be true." Now I actually think this might be a big loss for the Irish. I just hope Brey won’t take assistant coach Gene Cross with him to Hoosierland!

Anyway, I’ll have more on this after work, but Katz has more details.

Big, and good, news for Notre Dame Law School: Professors A.J. and Patricia Bellia have turned down tenured offers from the University of Virginia Law School, which is ranked in the U.S. News Top 10, and will stay at NDLS. Brian Leiter calls this a "major retention coup for Notre Dame."

My impression is that it’s almost an article of faith among some NDLS critics, skeptics and detractors that the school’s young superstar professors, such as the Bellias, will inevitably be "poached" by other, higher-ranking law schools in due course. This development appears to contradict that belief, which is a very good thing.

As Leiter says, "Notre Dame has long had a strong reputation among practitioners … but the school
has also noticeably strengthened its faculty from a scholarly point of
view in the last decade." Indeed, during last year’s unfortunate "Paulinogate" incident, one thing that became crystal clear was that pretty much everyone, even those who strongly criticize the law school for various things, totally disagreed with Jimmy’s criticisms of the faculty: there was almost universal agreement among Irish Trojan commenters that the NDLS faculty rocks. And the Bellias are a big part of that, so it’s great that they’re staying put. Indeed, I daresay this is a much bigger deal than last week’s news that NDLS had climbed back to #22 in those flawed U.S. News rankings. Those numbers may vary from year to year, but if profs like the Bellias are staying put, the law school will be just fine.

If you think the men’s tournament is Chalk City, check out the women’s bracket: the Elite Eight consists of four #1 seeds and four #2s. (Admittedly, chalkiness is more common on the women’s side, where parity is less pronounced than among the men. But still.) #1-seed Tennessee sealed the deal last night with a 74-64 win over #5 Notre Dame, which is now 0-16 all-time against UT.

The Irish gave the Lady Vols a much better game than they did in an 87-63 loss back in January at the Joyce Center. In this one, ND led at halftime, 33-31. But between about the 18-minute mark and the 13-minute mark of the second half, Tennessee went on a 17-1 run, and Candace Parker wound up with a career-high-tying 34 points. That was just too much for the Irish to overcome.

In my 11th annual women’s pool, six contestants correctly predicted the "all chalk" Elite Eight: Ken Stern, Kevin Pilz, Tom Caputi, Carol LaPlante, Joseph Hiegel and Lisa Velte.

Stern currently leads the pool with 316 out of a possible 352 points. He took first place from Chuck Wessell when #3 Texas A&M beat #2 Duke last night. Wessell, who had picked the Blue Devils, is now second with 313. Pilz is third with 311. Those three contestants are the only ones ahead of the "all favorites bracket," which would have 309 points. Complete standings here and after the jump. Information on who’s still alive to win the pool — 21 contestants in all — here.

Incidentally, I forgot to mention this before, but in the men’s pool (presented by the UCLA Bruins, blah blah blah), 28 contestants got the "all-chalk" Final Four right. Their names are listed after the jump.

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Notre Dame and Tennessee are about to get underway in a Sweet Sixteen showdown. The #5-seed Fighting Irish are the last chance to prevent an “all chalk” Elite Eight in the women’s NCAA Tournament; so far, all the #1 and #2 seeds have won.

Incidentally, the women’s pool standings and scenarios are updated through seven Elite Eight games. Ken Stern currently has the lead. The standings are after the jump as well.

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One year after rising to the #1 ranking in the country only to be stunned by Michigan State in the NCAA regional final, the #12-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame got their revenge tonight, beating the Spartans 3-1 (after previously upsetting the top seed, New Hampshire) to advance to their first Frozen Four in school history! WOOHOO!! (Hat tip: NDLauren.)

The Irish will play the hated Skunkbears of Michigan, whose football team lost to Appalachian State last year, in a national semifinal in Denver on April 10. Michigan is ranked #1 in the land.

[UPDATE: Folks in the South Bend area are encouraged to assemble at the Joyce Center around 4:30 AM to greet the team upon its return. (Hat tip: John.)]

Now… can the Fighting Irish women’s basketball team pull off an even more monumental upset tomorrow by upsetting #1-seed Tennessee in the Sweet 16? The Irish are 0-15 all-time against the Lady Vols. How does two milestones in 24 hours sound? GO IRISH!!!

P.S. Speaking of women’s basketball, the ladies are now halfway to the Elite Eight after another quartet of non-upsets. In my pool, Chuck Wessell continues to have the lead. Complete standings here and after the jump. Information on who’s still mathematically alive to win the pool here.

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The Bruce Pearl to Indiana rumors are officially on.

Above The Law has confirmed the legitimacy of the leaked U.S. News law-school rankings, which I blogged last night. As I mentioned in that post, they show Notre Dame Law School erasing last year’s decline and returning to #22.

Meanwhile, there is breaking news at NDLS. Less than an hour ago, Dean Patty O’Hara wrote an e-mail to the student body, announcing that she is stepping down at the end of next year. The e-mail was forwarded to me, and it’s printed in full after the jump.

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