3.20.2008

Let the Madness begin!

… Kates has said more than once this school year that her class seems less attached to her than previous years, and she attributes it to the idea that her students know she’s going to be leaving soon. So they purposely are keeping a distance.

That’s kind of the way I’m feeling about March Madness this year. Sure, I’m excited for it. Sure, I’ve filled out a couple brackets … But this year, with all the baby preparations and running around, I’m feeling a little detached from all of it, and definitely less knowledgeable about the teams than I’ve felt going into past tournaments.

Whatever.

The games started today, and I’m in.

I’d barely looked at the matchups this week, and at 9 this morning I was still filling out my brackets and double-checking them with the experts’ picks …

I have a tendency to be pretty liberal with my risks and upsets, and I think I did it again this year … Today I lost big on the Winthrop game. I had them moving onto the second round against Notre Dame, but they got creamed by Washington State instead.

I also lost out on Kent State, Arizona (... my gut was telling me West Virgina, but nope, I listened to the guys on ESPN. Stupid ESPN!) and Temple.

And I breathed a huge sigh or relief -- as did most of the bracketeers, I imagine -- when Duke squeaked by Belmont tonight ...

So who’s in my Final Four?

Again, as of this morning I’d barely looked at the brackets. But based on what I had seen and knew of this season I already had it in my mind that -- not yet knowing the layouts of each region -- North Carolina, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Kansas and Memphis had some real potential to go far …

Once I took a serious look at the brackets and considered the matchups, I saw North Carolina as a shoo-in to make the Final Four in the East. And I took another risk (dang it!) by having Butler upset Tennessee in the second round.

I also took UCLA pretty easily in the West, and Memphis getting to the Final Four in the South, only after a tough game against Stanford in the regional final.

And perhaps my biggest gamble: Wisconsin making the Final Four in the Midwest. Bias perhaps, but I have a feeling about Wisconsin this year, and as I started filling out my bracket for that region I looked at the Badgers and said, Why not!? They have the ability to control the tempo of almost any game, they work the ball around and their defense is unflappable … I’m also betting on Davidson upsetting Georgetown to make Wisconsin’s third-round game a little easier …

But wait, I’ve got one more bracket I’m working this year …

And this one’s for luck.

… I’ve started referring to Kansas as the Cubs of the NCAA Tournament because every year -- no matter how talented or deep their team is -- they have a knack for choking.

Though I would give just about anything to see my beloved Jayhawks win it all. And this year -- like almost every other year -- some experts are going all ga-ga over Kansas and saying this could be their year -- again …

So I entered an extra bracket in the office pool this year -- for Baby Horns. And Baby has Kansas winning it all, in a Final Four that includes Tennessee, Texas and UCLA … The more I study it, the more I think Baby actually has the better bracket …

For luck. Wish it to me.

Good reads ...
a Luke Winn's 2008 Tourney Blog

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