Let the Madness Begin

There was a time not that long ago before jobs, meetings, money and life got in the way that I was able to watch every minute of March Madness. And on the days leading up to tip-off, I would buy a huge poster board, draw the brackets out and then dissect every single possible matchup in the tourney. In high school you would pray you had a class that had a TV in the afternoon so you could get the teacher to throw the games on and in college, you just skipped any class that you happened to schedule on Thursday-Friday after noon. There's just no time for all that anymore. I will barely see any of the first round action with work in the next two days and due to traveling Friday night for Easter weekend. But on the eve of the NCAA tournament, it's still one of the best sports times of the year, and I can't wait to get this tourney underway.

I picked my Final Four about an hour ago for my office bracket pool and I ended up with Kansas winning it. But I take them pretty much every year so don't listen to me. The Jayhawks (ever since Roy Williams went to UNC) seem to disappoint every year in the tourney. I decided I'm taking them until that changes...there's just way too much talent on that team. Plus the North Carolina pick everyone else has is getting old.

Now let's talk about Pitt. They were probably projected to be a seven or eight seed until they rolled through the Big East tournament, beating Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette and Georgetown in four days. That moved Pitt up to a four seed in the tourney, and what I don't like is they are quickly becoming everyone's trendy pick to reach the Final Four this year. Bob Knight even went so far as to take Pitt winning the championship over North Carolina. If you're a Pitt fan, you know this team hasn't made it past the Sweet 16 and their team this season has been inconsistent as hell. But if they repeat their play from the Big East tournament, they will go far. So which team will show up? Well, I have them losing in the championship game to Kansas, but that's just me and probably means they won't make it past Oral Roberts. Here's hoping they get a chance to take out Michigan State (I live way too close to East Lansing) and vastly overrated Memphis (Conference USA, are you kidding me?)

Oh yes, it's March Madness time. Let the madness begin.