One of the facets of March Madness I've missed this year is the Pepsi promotion where caps have a school name which, if they win the tournament, provides you with fabulous (or not so fabulous) prizes. Of course, the schools listed were the 300+ with division one men's hoop teams, so there were timed during tournaments past where I'd check under the cap and get Oakland, or Robert Morris, or some other sad sack.

This year, the only Pepsi brand doing such a promotion seems to be Diet Mountain Dew. I only noticed this when I picked one up by mistake earlier this week, in need of the caffiene. I got Auburn, which is at least a reasonable school (though they didn't make the dance this year).

So today, I decided to get another bottle. I look under the cap, and what do I find?

WILD ANY NCAA TEAM

What did this mean? I checked the bottle, and it appears that I have won the college basketball jersey of my choice. Or, more specifically, the jersey of my choice from those being offered by Mountain Dew. I'd be really excited about this were I actually a basketball fan, or if BU was one of my choices.

The 20 schools I have to choose from are: Duke, UNC, Arizona, Kentucky, Stanford, Maryland, Cincinnati, St. John's, Purdue, Temple, Iowa, BC, Texas, Illinois, UConn, Michigan, Howard, Georgetown, Tennessee St., and Jackson State.

Right away, I'm removing these from the running: Duke, Cincinnati, St. John's, BC, Howard, Tennessee St., and Jackson St. Duke and Cincy are gone as I really dislike both programs, though for very different reasons. St. John's is a school I'm generally non-commital about, but I'm not much of a Big East fan. BC gets dropped for obvious reasons. The last three are historically black schools; I don't think I'm their best representative.

If forced to make a second round of cuts, I'd drop Arizona, Kentucky, Maryland, Purdue, Temple, Illinois, Michigan, and Georgetown. Arizona gets the boot because they're underachievers. Then again, I may be a good fit for them. Hmm.

Kentucky is a hard call, as I'm a big Tubby Smith fan, and we have a dislike of Rick Pitino in common. Kentucky also gave the Celtics Antoine Walker. Perhaps they're back in, too, even with the spectre of Adolph Rupp.

Maryland, Purdue, Temple, and Illinois all miss the cut as they're just too random. Nothing against any of them.

Michigan I drop because they tend to annoy me. I suppose my annoyance is as much envy as anything else, given Michigan's general strength in everything. And I'm a Notre Dame fan, which makes any move supporting the Wolverines a little problematic.

I'm passing on Georgetown because (a) they wait-listed me for law school, (b) they let John Thompson run the program into the ground, and (c) the Big East thing, again. Notice that I don't use the Big East thing as an excuse to cut UConn. I probably should. That and John Calhoun being a jerk. OK, UConn's out.

I've decided to put Arizona and Kentucky back in the pool. So here's the finalist pool:
Arizona I was going to drop them given their suckitude in most years' tournaments, but then saw the link between their underachieving and my own. There's a definite link there.

UNC One of my favorite teams, and one that busts my bracket most years as I routinely have them going into the final four, if not winning. They make sense using the underachieving label, too. Think about all those years Dean Smith was there, and how many titles did he win? Two? Three?

The drawback here is that they had a horrific season this year, and their coach may be a ninny.

Kentucky Back in as I'm pro Tubby Smith and anti Pitino. That and Ashley Judd's a fan. Rowr.

Stanford Another of my bracket buster teams, except the year they actually did get out of the second round. In a different world, one in which I'm smarter and have more willingness to relocate, I would be a Stanford student. Or at least not have the admissions committee use my application for kindling.

Iowa I like their football team. I suppose I should also like the way Luke Recker almost stole the Big 10 title for them this year. I'd have liked it more if Bobby Knight was still on the IU bench. I'm also a fan of the black and yellow color combo.

Texas This is kind of an odd pick, as there are many other teams in this part of the world that I would prefer. I'd go with Oklahoma or Texas A&M over Texas, but neither are offered (especially strange given Oklahoma's success). I'd even so with SMU over Texas as it's my aunt Shirley's alma mater, but they aren't offered, either. I also kind of like burnt orange.

I can't make up my mind. So here's your chance to do it for me.

Hie thyself over to this poll to vote for the jersey I should get. The poll will be open until a week from today; let's say the poll closes at 4 PM EST on Friday, March 29. In the words of Richard Daley, vote early and often!