Without a doubt, for the past 15 years or so, this time of year has been my favorite. I remember skipping school as early as 3rd grade to watch these first round games. For some reason, that first tip on the first Thursday and Friday is unbeatable for me – no sporting event is better.
This year I have a different feeling, though. Usually I slave over my bracket’s hoping that this year is the year that fate has smiled upon me and that I can finally pick a near perfect bracket. I’ve always been faced with the struggle of picking the Kansas Jayhawks to win it all vs being logical. I always felt like I was letting my boys down if I didn’t believe they could win it all. Well, obviously, last years National Championship paid huge dividends to my bracket. So this year I just relaxed, made some picks, and enjoyed the games. It’s a good thing too because as the buzzer sounded after the first two games, my brackets were busted. I seriously believed in Butler and felt like Texas A&M was the Big 12 team that would go down in the first round.
Well, that was not the case. Also I couldn’t pick KU to win it all again… so what do I do this year? Who do I believe in? LOUISVILLE. I find that in this tournament, two things matter – the experience of the head coach and how the team has been playing the last couple of weeks coming into the tourney. Of course, nothing is predictable about this tournament, but I do find those are good ways to measure a team.
Rick Pitino has the experience, the Cardinals are hot. North Carolina and Lawson is too big of a question mark for me. I don’t buy into Pitt. UConn is UConn, they may surprise me. I think Memphis will get a wake up call somewhere along the way. I was really pulling for Northridge and hey, I wouldn’t even mind if Missouri gave them that wake up call. Now that’s saying something.
But in the end, the feeling I had this year was carefree. I still believe Kansas can beat Michigan State if that game comes to pass, but after winning last years championship, I’m fine with whatever happens. The likelihood of picking a perfect bracket is slim anyway. I still hope the Hawks do well and win as many games as possible, but after that I’m all for the upsets and the exciting last second shots.
Do I want Louisville to win? No. But my brackets say I do, for whatever that’s worth.
Here’s to March Madness.
