March 30, 2006.

The telephone rang during the Texas-West Virginia NCAA Tournament game and a little birdy chirped away on the other end. It was Thursday night at 9:40.

&#8220Ole Miss will name Andy Kennedy as their next basketball coach on Friday,” the bird chirped.

Thirty minutes later, a bulletin came across the top of the television announcing that Andy Kennedy, a Louisville, Miss., native will be the next coach at Ole Miss.

I obviously had a pretty knowledgeable birdy, and I asked it a few more questions. Then I looked into my George Mason autographed crystal ball for even more guidance.

To my delight, both the blue bird and the crystal ball had a couple more. If the Kennedy thing happened as predicted, why not these?.

If the predictions prove false, no big deal, I’ll fold up a copy and staple it to my NCAA Tournament bracket to go with the rest of my lousy predictions.

So, here we go.

Florida head coach Billy Donovan will leave the Gators to become coach at the University of Kentucky. Donovan, who played college ball for current University of Louisville coach Rick Pitino at Providence, has built a national power at Florida and will now move on to one of the most rich basketball programs in the country.

He will join the Big Blue Nation and have a natural rivalry with Pitino and Louisville.

But wait, if Donovan will be the next coach at Kentucky, well what happened to Tubby Smith?.

Smith will become the head coach of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats – after the season has ended. He has spent the past nine seasons with the Wildcats, but had one of his worst seasons ever this year.

The Wildcats, an unorthodox No. 8 seed with a 22-12 record, bowed out of the tournament in the second round, and that is not acceptable at Kentucky.

In addition to Smith going to Charlotte, he will take former Ole Miss coach Rod Barnes to be his assistant coach.

Well, little birdie, what about Florida’s now vacant coaching position?.

That one is still a mystery. John Pelphrey was the leading candidate for the Ole Miss job and turned it down, which could lead one to believe he was waiting for something better. Then he signed a contract extension with South Alabama, but keep your eyes on him, he could still leave.

It’s unusual for this scribe to make predictions because there is nothing but a hard time in front of you. Every year, I am asked to pick the winner of the Vicksburg-Warren Central football game. But this birdie nailed the Kennedy news, so it’s worth a try.

Oh, yes, Final Four predictions. Seeing as though I am second to last in the 14-person pool (someone here actually picked Arkansas to play for the national title), I wouldn’t take these picks to Vegas with you.

I like LSU’s young bunch to beat the tradition-rich UCLA Bruins.

In the other semifinal, can anyone really pick against George Mason? A school in Virginia named after one of America’s great colonial statesmen and framer of the Constitution?.

So it’s the Patriots in a nail-biter.

Then lay the house on LSU (just not my house).