The Side Line

Has March ever had so much madness? We’ve been lucky to witness arguably the most unpredictable, exciting NCAA basketball tournament in history. With millions of “experts” tearing up their brackets across the country, strong middle-seeded teams have knocked off top-ranked teams left and right.

The most shocking upset came early, with No. 9 seed Northern Iowa knocking out No. 1 seed Kansas in the Midwest region. The Jayhawks were President Barack Obama’s (and millions of other people’s) choice to cut down the nets in Indianapolis. But a poor shooting night and the feisty Panthers combined to send them home much earlier than anyone expected.

Three double-digit seeds made the Sweet Sixteen (Washington, Cornell and St. Mary’s) after disposing of powerful opponents. Two No. 5 seeds are in the Final Four (Michigan State and Butler) and will face each other, assuring that one No. 5 will play for the national championship.

Butler was probably the strongest mid-major all season. Its run to the Final Four was arguably the most difficult, having to knock off the top two seeds in its region in its past two games, No. 1 seed Syracuse and No. 2 seed Kansas State respectively. But here the Bulldogs are, with a legitimate shot to leave Indy with one of the most incredible national championships ever.

But its opponent, the Spartans, are battle-tested in March, on an incredible run of making six of the last 12 Final Fours under Tom Izzo. They are winning despite injuries and could be the team of destiny in this tournament.

On the other side of the bracket, two powerhouses face off to earn the right to be the favorite in the title game. Duke is familiar to the spotlight of the Final Four, playing in its 15th this season. It has tradition, it has Mike Krzyzewski, and it is the only No. 1 seed to make it this far.

West Virginia comes in with a chip on its shoulder, which can only be erased by beating the Blue Devils. The Mountaineers were the strongest No. 2 seed and Duke was arguably the weakest No. 1 seed in this tournament. And damn if they don’t get to play each other to go to the national championship! You gotta love March.

Posted by Preston Sellers on Apr 1 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry