This Is "Madness?"

"Yeah I have a question...when did you become a nut bar?"

Ok, so obviously, I was just so pumped up about the tournament this year. First of all, it will always be amazing. I don't think there is anything they could possibly do to not make it the greatest thing ever (unless they start playing the games on the higher seeds home courts, like they do in the women's tourney, then maybe). And secondly, the games were being played during my Spring Break, meaning I didn't have to worry about cutting classes to watch the games (note to immediate family: disregard the last sentence...never happened). So this year, I was jacked. I mean I couldn't even stand myself. I saw potential for huge upsets and cinderellas and all sorts of things. And what do I get the first day? Two lower seeds winning. Two! Tell me you're joking right now. With the tourney field being so wide open, I figured higher seeds would be dropping at a record rate, and I could not have been more wrong. Only Michigan State and VCU (I clearly became the de facto captain of that bandwagon train...I don't believe anyone who had no prior association to that school could have been rooting as hard as I was for VCU...ok maybe it was a little against Duke...just a little...and there was nothing better than to see Duke get bounced in the first round; that just made my day) were able to "shock" higher seeded teams. At the end of the first round, only two double-digit seeds were still alive (the aforementioned #11 VCU and another 11 seed in Winthrop, who I am convinced more people picked than Notre Dame). And overall, only four higher seeded teams had won. So, clearly you could see what that would do to an upset-minded individual and his bracket (thinking this guy...hey Davidson made it interesting for a while against Maryland, but them in the Sweet Sixteen?...probably not the smartest move I've ever made). With all that being said, there has been a real high quality of games so far despite there not being any major upsets (especially on Saturday). So overall, I have been pleased with how the tournament has gone (I have to say though, Thursday was pretty rough as far as quality goes...lots of blowouts).

So later on today (writing this on Sunday at around 1:00), Winthrop is playing Oregon, who I decided would be going to the Final Four (quack quack). However, this game I had circled as the "scared the bejeezus out of me" game. I am fully aware that I said Winthrop would be the big time sleeper team this year (I also said stay away from Kansas, who I have going to the National Title game...I kind of recanted, but this was only after seeing them play in the Big 12 Championship against Texas, which to me could be classified as the game of the year). To me though, if Oregon is able to survive this game, I still think I have a fairly decent shot (although with Florida out there, you never know). So I am not looking forward to the potential heart attack I am going to have later on today.

So far, the "reverse cinderella theory" has not worked out for me. I can recall being pretty adamant about these teams going down early, but so far...no, not so much. Butler is in the Sweet Sixteen after knocking off Maryland yesterday (who were so soft it was hard to watch). The Salukis got by Holy Cross in the first round (which again was par for the course given the nature of the lower seeds prevailing, which was something that could have been brought to my attention yesterday!). Hopefully, there will be a change of the tides, because there is perhaps nothing I hate more than being wrong (should I make a list of that?...like top 10 things I hate?...that could be potentially the most uninteresting/horrible idea ever; got to chill on the hating a little bit...hate hate hate!).

Alright, so I figured I would just give you a brief synopsis of what I have seen so far. Hopefully there will be more to come, but I can't guarantee anything given that I only have a month and a half of "real" classes before I graduate, and for some reason, I have a feeling that things are not going to get any easier (it should just be a downward slope of "toughness"...I'm worn out man!). So I am going to go enjoy the last few hours I have left of Spring Break (which has been amazing), so take care now. Peace.

~Mell-o