Well, it's that time of the year again. A time when grown men weeping is not considered taboo. When strangers gather together to cheer schools they may have never heard of until now. Its March madness Time!!!
I love this time of year. I love March Madness. If you think about it, this is a truly great marketing achievement. The NCAA claims the entire month of March as its own and no one disputes it. The NBA is boring compared to the games being played over the next several weeks.
The best part about the tournament is the small schools. I went to a small school ... Valparaiso to be precise, which should ring a bell if you are a college basketball fan. In 1998, Valparaiso, a small school of some 3000+ in Northwest Indiana, managed to beat Ole Miss on a last second shot by Bryce Drew. They then went on to beat Florida State before succumbing to Rhode Island in the Sweet Sixteen. But, thanks to this glorious time of year, people around the country know Valparaiso University because of that one play. It is a play that gets shown every year on CBS as one of the truly great moments of the NCAA tournament. This is the one sport where the small schools get put on the same stage as the large. Where the chances of winning are closer than in any other sport. Valparaiso will never gain notoriety as a football power, but as a basketball school, we are a team to be feared. To understand the true power of this parity, look at Gonzaga. This is a small catholic school outside of Spokane, WA. This is a school that, despite its size, has become a basketball power. They have so much clout that Valpo, a 15 seed, is playing Gonzaga right now who is a 2 seed. Without March Madness, no one whould have ever heard of Gonzaga nor would they have cared. That is the greatness of this tournament.
Now, for the other great thing about the NCAA tournament. In this blog, I will do the same thing that millions of people around the country are doing as well. I will perform a bit of prognostication and predict the winners of some games. Rather than try to fill out the entire bracket in this blog, I will predict the winners of tomorrow's games only. Why not do the entire tournament? Because that would be a pain to try to format nicely. So ... without further ado:
Twench's Can't Miss NCAA Winners for Friday
Finally, before I end this post, I will give you my Final Four:
St Louis: Kentucky is my pick, but watch out for Georgia Tech
East Rutherford: Oklahoma State
Atlanta: Duke
Phoenix: UConn if Okafor is healthy, Maryland if not
I love this time of year. I love March Madness. If you think about it, this is a truly great marketing achievement. The NCAA claims the entire month of March as its own and no one disputes it. The NBA is boring compared to the games being played over the next several weeks.
The best part about the tournament is the small schools. I went to a small school ... Valparaiso to be precise, which should ring a bell if you are a college basketball fan. In 1998, Valparaiso, a small school of some 3000+ in Northwest Indiana, managed to beat Ole Miss on a last second shot by Bryce Drew. They then went on to beat Florida State before succumbing to Rhode Island in the Sweet Sixteen. But, thanks to this glorious time of year, people around the country know Valparaiso University because of that one play. It is a play that gets shown every year on CBS as one of the truly great moments of the NCAA tournament. This is the one sport where the small schools get put on the same stage as the large. Where the chances of winning are closer than in any other sport. Valparaiso will never gain notoriety as a football power, but as a basketball school, we are a team to be feared. To understand the true power of this parity, look at Gonzaga. This is a small catholic school outside of Spokane, WA. This is a school that, despite its size, has become a basketball power. They have so much clout that Valpo, a 15 seed, is playing Gonzaga right now who is a 2 seed. Without March Madness, no one whould have ever heard of Gonzaga nor would they have cared. That is the greatness of this tournament.
Now, for the other great thing about the NCAA tournament. In this blog, I will do the same thing that millions of people around the country are doing as well. I will perform a bit of prognostication and predict the winners of some games. Rather than try to fill out the entire bracket in this blog, I will predict the winners of tomorrow's games only. Why not do the entire tournament? Because that would be a pain to try to format nicely. So ... without further ado:
Twench's Can't Miss NCAA Winners for Friday
- St Louis Regional
- Kentucky over Florida A&M (duh)
- Washington over UAB
- Providence over University of the Pacific
- UIC over Kansas (first predicted upset)
- Boston College over Utah
- Georgia Tech over Northern Iowa
- Kentucky over Florida A&M (duh)
- East Rutherford Regional (was there ever a more stupid name?)
- Wisconsin over Richmond
- Pittsburgh over Central Florida
- Memphis over South Carolina
- Oklahoma State over E Washington
- Wisconsin over Richmond
- Atlanta Regional
- Illinois over Muray State (hard to win with your 2nd best scorer in the slammer)
- E Tennesee State over Cinncinati (I don't think Bob Huggins is a good tourney coach)
- Louisville over Xavier (another upset, but only because Louisville has struggled to remain healthy until now)
- Mississippi State over Monmouth
- Illinois over Muray State (hard to win with your 2nd best scorer in the slammer)
- Phoenix Regional
- Western Michigan over Vanderbilt
- NC State over Louisana LaFayette
- Western Michigan over Vanderbilt
Finally, before I end this post, I will give you my Final Four:
St Louis: Kentucky is my pick, but watch out for Georgia Tech
East Rutherford: Oklahoma State
Atlanta: Duke
Phoenix: UConn if Okafor is healthy, Maryland if not
posted by Eddie at 22:10
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