How Much Madness Is Too Much Madness?

Well that was an eventful weekend. This past weekend proved that being an expert (or supposed expert) on the college game means nothing when it's the middle of March and there is a one-and-done tournament being played. The Madness started early on Thursday with a double overtime thriller between BYU and Florida and a near monumental upset by 15 seed Robert Morris over 2 seed Villanova. This should have been a sign that all of our brackets were in danger of becoming chicken scratch and that nothing was going to make sense in this tournament. But no, I still thought my Kansas pick was safe. Then on Saturday, two of my four Final Four picks were taken out as Kansas got done in by some guy whose name doesn't match his face (Ali Farokhmanesh, or what I think his name should be, Jimmy Stevenson) and Villanova got dominated by another baller from the Middle East, Omar Samhan. Come Saturday night, I abandoned all hope for my bracket and instead I am now rooting for complete chaos for the rest of the tournament. And that means I am rooting for Cornell to win it, so go Big Red! In honor of the insanity that was the tourney's opening weekend, I bring you my five favorite moments or stories from the first two rounds.

5. Murray State upsets Vanderbilt- This was the first buzzer beater of the tourney and the fact that it was done by a 13 seed to knock off a 4 seed is awesome. On what appeared to be a sort-of broken play at the end, Danero Thomas stepped up and drilled a long two pointer to win the game for the Racers (how cool of a name is that?). Murray State then played Butler extremely tough but a turnover on their final possession of the game ended the Racers' run. Nonetheless, Murray State is the kind of team that makes this tournament great, since we know nothing about them coming into the tourney but we immediately start rooting for them as if we are all alums of the university (despite the fact that none of us have any clue where Murray State is located).

4. Washington morphs into preseason form- I have to give the Pac-10 some love. Preseason top-ten team U-Dub got hot at the end of Pac-10 play and parlayed that into a Pac-10 Tournament title. This tournament birth gave Washington "nobody wants to play us" status entering the tournament as a ridiculously dangerous 11 seed. Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter continued to thrive once the NCAA tourney commenced as Washington upset Marquette 80-78 on a late basket by Pondexter. The Huskies then proved the superiority of the Pac-10 over the Mountain West as Washington pounded the MWC conference champs from New Mexico in the second round. So good luck Huskies and I'm rooting for you guys to continue the run.

3. The mortality of the Big East- Once again, the Big East received eight bids in the 65 team field. However, this year's lot of teams from the "best conference in America" has been uninspiring. Aside from Syracuse (a legit title contender) and West Virginia (a good team, but a team I think will get upset next round), the Big East has been a massive disappointment. Georgetown was dominated by 14 seed Ohio, Villanova almost lost to Robert Morris before Saint Mary's finished the Wildcats off. Louisville never got into any rhythm against Cal. Notre Dame was upset by Old Dominion, Pittsburgh was knocked off by Xavier, and Washington beat Marquette. All in all, an underwhelming performance from the monster that is usually the Big East conference.

2. Northern Iowa advances to the Sweet Sixteen- Farokhmanesh and Eglseder barely escaped against UNLV before taking it Kansas and giving a gigantic middle finger to brackets across America. A Persian and a big man with a receding hairline (two things that make me think "great basketball team", along with short, chubby white guy and middle-aged man with two knee braces) have Northern Iowa in a position to advance to the Elite Eight when they face off with the Michigan State Spartans this weekend. Michigan State will be without Kalin Lucas and I think Northern Iowa can continue their run. Needless to say I'll be rooting for this team that reminds me of a pickup squad at the local 24-Hour Fitness.

1. The Red Hot Cornell Big Red destroy the competition- 12 seeds knock off 5 seeds every single year. But then they usually fizzle in the next round. Not Cornell, who defeated Temple in the first round by 13 before waxing Wisconsin in the second round. The Big Red and their zero athletic scholarships won the first two NCAA tournament games in program history. It is hard not to root for the Ivy League since these kids are actually students that happen to play sports rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, the kids from Ithaca, New York run up against Kentucky next round. I'd be surprised if they win, but I refuse to make any more predictions (well, at least not right now). However, at this point, would anyone be truly shocked if the Big Red came out knocking down threes and pushed Kentucky to the brink? I wouldn't be.



This past weekend showed that either I know nothing about college basketball or that this tournament is hard to predict. Let's go with with the latter. My predictions from earlier this week were not very good (other than my pick of Cornell as a sleeper). So I'm just going to enjoy the ride and not worry about my picks anymore. But hey, since we're here, I like Syracuse to win it all now. Consider the Orange officially jinxed.

UPDATE: I want to give a shout-out to the UCLA women's team as they take on number one seed Nebraska tonight at 6:30. Coach Caldwell continues to turn the program around in impressive fashion, and I wish them the best of luck tonight.