Upon March Madness

I would be remiss if I did not mention the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament that is currently being held around the nation. My lofty notion last week of proclaiming my alma matters as "basketball powerhouses" fell a bit short of the mark. Only Regis managed to win the state championship. The HC women were massacred by Ohio State in round 1 of the women's dance, losing by something like 42 points. Then men didn't even make the dance with a Patriot league tournament championship loss to Bucknell (who incidentally manages to muscle their way past Kansas in Round 1). Holy Cross was left to the NIT, and after beating an uninspired Notre Dame squad in the first round, they lost to St. Joseph's. St. Joes had some nice home cooking from the refs, but the game was still winnable.

My prognostication in picking an NCAA bracket was no better. Early upsets of Alabama, UCONN, Wake Forest, and Syracuse, have doomed my bracket selected by basketball knowledge. I also entered a bracket at ESPN.com, using the method whereby I have a showdown between the two teams mascots, and the more likely victor's team advances. While I do still have my finals game of NC State and Duke alive, teams with a mascot more fearsome than their players UAB Blazers (a dragon is hard to defeat)'Bama (same with an elephant), are long gone.

I have liked what I have seen from UNC, who has destroyed their first two foes. The other 3 #1 seeds, Washington, Duke, and top-ranked Illinois remain alive, as do #2s OK State and Kentucky (my personal favorite). I like Arizona to go far, and we could potentially see a Wildcat v Wildcat finals. An interesting note is that no NCAA tournament has seen all 4 #1 seeds make the Final Four, and I don't see this trend changing this year.

I will go in-depth on this matter, possible Elite 8, more likely Final 4.