It’s Monday, the weather is rotten, Des Moines is happy

Out of nowhere this afternoon, I feel horrible. So I think I'll write something.

The news Des Moines got first- and second-round NCAA men's Division I basketball tournament games in 2016 was good on two fronts.

One, it's great that the state of Iowa has its first NCAA men's D-I tourney games since Hilton Coliseum in Ames hosted the 1972 Midwest Regional.

That's right, Louisville won its way into the Final Four (I will not now or ever say 'punched its ticket”) in Ames, with a win over Kansas State in the Elite Eight.

The NCAA tourney was a different animal then, a smaller, more-manageable animal. I don't think the Final Four was even called the Final Four. UCLA won the tournament that year, as it did in the five years immediately before it and the one immediately after. And in 1975.

The Bruins have just one title since then, in 1995.

The national third-place game pitted North Carolina and Louisville. Both have remained basketball forces through the following 42 years. North Carolina has won four NCAA titles since ‘72, Louisville three.

Yes, there was a national third-place game. Iowa played in it in 1980, against Purdue in Indianapolis. The Boilermakers won, 75-58.

That's the last time any team from Iowa was in the Final Four. Hey, it's only been 34 years. There were two heartbreaks in regional finals, Iowa against UNLV in 1987 and Iowa State against Michigan State in 2000.

Iowa State can't play in the Des Moines site in 2016 because it's the host school. Iowa could, but it would have to be a very high seed to get a virtual home court game.

The second good thing about the news is the NCAA is going back to using 'first-round” for its Thursday/Friday games of the first week of the tourney, and 'second round” for the Saturday/Sunday games.

It has been second/third round the last few years, and will be this season. Which was stupid. The play-in games have been called first-round games. They should be called something else, like, oh ... play-in games?

It's basketball weather right now, that's for sure. Just ask my stuffed-up head.