It is that time of year already. Selection Sunday has happened and the 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament’s first games are tonight.
I’m not sure if I am more excited or scared, because the fact that we are halfway through March means that I have two and a half months left in college.
And I have no idea what I am doing next year.
That could be a blessing or a curse, but I will forget about it until I start feeling like the only senior with his or her life not entirely figured out (although I know most of you are in the same, “what is next?” sort of position).
For the next two weeks, however, a lot of my free time (and I have lots of it) will be dedicated to the television. I do not consider myself a couch potato or TV addict, but I am fully aware that March Madness is beginning and that usually takes hours away from my life faster than those __ beers you drank last weekend.
I will still do my homework, exercise and hang out with friends, but I will also watch more basketball than I ever would during any other time of year.
I follow the Boston Celtics relatively consistently; however, I am lackadaisical with my college basketball watching this year. That is OK, because March Madness is the culmination of the college basketball season. Plus, in filling out a bracket, you can read enough analysis about each team’s performance throughout the season to feel like you sat on the Kentucky bench with John Wall.
You don’t have to be a basketball player to understand or love March Madness. My sister fills out a bracket based off of how stylish the team’s uniforms are. The sad thing about that? She will do better than some people who overanalyzed their picks.
I am not a basketball player and haven’t played organized basketball since fifth grade. The last game I ever played, I forgot that teams switched sides at halftime and scored on my team’s own basket after the second half tip-off.
Was it embarrassing? Yes, horribly. Does it mean that, because I was a mediocre fifth grade basketball player, I couldn’t follow the sport or understand it on the same level as someone that played (and played better than myself)? No.
Let me repeat myself: you don’t have to play basketball to like March Madness.
My grandmother fell in love with Emeka Okafor when the University of Connecticut won the National Championship in 2004 and still checks up on his career today (she claims to have been a superb basketball player back in the day ,but I am skeptical).
There is nothing in professional sports like March Madness, and that is why it is so special and captivating for us. Sure, baseball has the World Series, football has the Superbowl and basketball has the NBA Finals, but March Madness is profoundly unique.
The players are showcased as if they are professionals; however, there is no money in it for them – just pride (and maybe some money in the future if you play well enough). It is a collection of 65 teams after the same thing, and for two weeks, we see the ultimate competition of amateur athletes since the Olympics became a collection of professionals.
Who cares if a 16 seed has never beaten a one seed? They are the underdog of all underdogs and the Princetons, UVMs and Western Carolinas play their hearts out because they want to win just as badly as the Dukes, Kentuckys and Syracuses of the world.
Play begins tonight, Tuesday March 16th, at 7:30 p.m. with the play-in game of No. 16 seeds Winthrop and Arkansas Pine-Bluff. You are not supposed to know either of these schools and you will forget about them after Friday night when they meet the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils in the real opening round of the tournament.
This year feels a bit different as two of last year’s Final Four teams did not even make the tournament. Instead, defending National Champion UNC and Final Four qualifier UConn will headline a star-studded field in the National Invitational Tournament (a.k.a. the “sorry, but try again next year” tournament).
I have not yet looked at a bracket or read any analysis. It has plagued me in the past, so I am going to keep it simple this year. I am not Nostradamus nor am I a college basketball expert, but if I could give you any advice, I know that the four No. 1 seeds of this year are, on the whole, less dominant that recent tournaments.
Kentucky has one of the best players in the country in John Wall; however, they face a road to the Final Four as they have a potential matchup with former No. 1 Texas in the second round. Also looming in the Eastern side of the bracket is West Virginia, a No. 2 seed that should arguably have picked up the last No. 1 instead of Syracuse.
Syracuse is the weakest of the four top seeds and faces a potential Sweet 16 matchup with Vanderbilt. No. 5 BYU could upset No. 2 Kansas State, and if that happens, Syracuse could be in for trouble in the Elite Eight.
Duke has been on fire and their only real concern should be the No. 2 seed in their region: Villanova. If they match up with Villanova in the Elite Eight, there is no clear-cut favorite.
The last of the four No. 1s is Kansas – the overall favorite but also the one with the toughest road. Kansas will be tested in both the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight; however, they have experience and won the National Championship just two years ago.
This is why March Madness is great. Teams play all year to make it to the tournament and once they get there, anything can happen. None of the four teams described above is guaranteed a spot in the Final Four. They all have difficult roadblocks standing in their way.
My suggestion? Don’t pick all No. 1s and take some risks instead – it makes it a lot more fun.
So find some friends, print out some brackets, ask everyone for five dollars and with a little bit of luck, you could find your beer money for a few weeks.
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