Arizona State's James Harden

The first weekend is in the books, the field of 65 is down to 16, and I seriously need a break from watching basketball. After the first two rounds of the Dance, here are my big losers (winners RIGHT HERE):

THE SH*T LIST

James Harden — Every time I’ve watched Harden play (which is a lot, since I live in Pac-10 country), I can’t help but liken him to Paul Pierce. The 6-5, 220-pounder is built similar to a younger Pierce, and his game is the same blend of joystick moves, strong takes to the cup, an ability to draw fouls and get to the line, and underrated defense. I think he’s gonna be a solid pro and should go high in the Lottery. But in the three biggest games of his season — the Pac-10 title game against USC, and last weekend’s games against Temple and Syracuse — he simply crapped the bed. Harden averaged 9.6 points in that stretch, hitting 22 percent from the field (6-for-27 FG). The obvious culprit? In games that meant everything to ASU’s opponents, those teams spent hours in the film room and on the practice court devising ways to not let Harden kill them; especially in the Temple game, you could tell Fran Dunphy had devoted 75% of the Owls’ defensive game plan to Harden, because they looked totally unprepared for when Derek Glasser and Jeff Pendergraph started dropping buckets. The reigning Pac-10 Player of the Year (20.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.7 spg) has an overall body of work that should still justify a top spot in the Draft this summer, but may have hurt his stock in the games where every scout was watching.

Wake Forest — It’s not just that the Demon Deacons got upset in the first round. It’s that they got dominated in the first round. Dino Gaudio’s squad was once the No. 1-ranked team in the country, and a darkhorse Final Four pick by some, yet came out looking flat and unprepared for Cleveland State’s attack, getting picked apart by guard Cedric Jackson and beasted by undersized (6-5) post player J’Nathan Bullock. And it’s not like Wake was thrown off by some drastic change in styles; Cleveland State plays up-tempo pressure basketball, and Wake might be the most athletic team in the country.

CBS’ West Coast feed — Of course, it’s not like I saw one single second of that Cleveland State/Wake Forest game. While I can’t complain about the end of Wisconsin/Florida State, I really didn’t need to watch the entire thing almost uninterrupted just because the game was played in Boise, Idaho, and I’m in the state of Washington. I think a 13-seed upsetting a 4-seed from start to finish deserves some shine; at least a minute or two, right?

Jarvis Varnado — I was among those at the head of the Varnado hype machine, which reached a crescendo when one announcer said just before Mississippi State’s first-round game against UW that the junior shot-blocker is “just incredible.” I figured the lanky Varnado would have a load of trouble keeping Jon Brockman off the glass, but I figured he would still be a defensive force with his shot-blocking and be able to help the Bulldogs some offensively. Varnado did block four shots, but only had seven points and three rebounds and was pretty much a non-factor in MSU’s loss.

Me — I was gonna reserve this spot for Bob Huggins, but I’m more upset at myself. When I filled out my bracket, I had Dayton beating West Virginia in the first round; the Mountaineers relied too much on freshmen, and a couple of their standouts (Devin Ebanks and Alex Ruoff) didn’t really impress me. But at the last minute, like literally the last thing I did before hitting “Submit,” was go back and change the pick; I figured Huggins would surely be able to out-coach a team with mid-major talent, and maybe Dayton was overrated like a lot of people said. Had I just gone with my gut, I would probably be in first-place in my bracket pool, which has a lucrative pot of (Monopoly) gold at the end of the rainbow, instead of third-place. I still can’t get over it.