If you haven’t filled out a bracket by now, what are you waiting for? After Selection Sunday, everything is in place for the best tournament in all of sports. A 65-team single elimination tournament where only the best can survive and taking even a few minutes off on the court, can cost your team — and entire school — the chance of being the best team in all of college basketball.
Here’s a few of my opening thoughts for the tournament…
You can say that Memphis and their 25-game winning streak got snubbed by not getting a No. 1, but seriously, how bad is it to be a number 2? It’s not their fault that the Tigers play in the inferior Conference USA, but they do have to suffer because of it. On the bright side, they’ll at least make the NCAA’s every year since there’s no real competition for them.
So, Notre Dame’s a cinch to win the NIT right? After everything I’ve heard about their stud forward Luke Harangoody, how can they lose.
Ohio State went from on the bubble to a 8-seed? That doesn’t really add up for me but I’ll gladly take them to lose to Siena. Another surprising entrant is Arizona who are a 12-seed after being on the bubble most of the season. I wonder how much they paid to keep their (now) 25-year streak alive.
I had told some friends on Friday night that I’d pick Louisville to win it all. Now, I’m not so sure about that. Landing the No. 1 seed was what I didn’t really want for them. There’s too much pressure being at the top.
There will be no way that all four No. 1 seeds make it all the way a la last year’s Final Four. These top seeds aren’t as good as last year’s group.
The saddest exclusion of all is Kentucky’s. No Ashley Judd court side this year. The Wildcats didn’t deserve to make it at 20-13 though.
A couple of heartbreaking tournament misses: Holy Cross and Davidson. It’s always fun to see ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons rooting for his alma mater to tumble a No. 1 seed — even though that he knows it will never happen. As for Davidson, how great was it to watch Stephen Curry’s coming out party last year. This year, here’s hoping for another unsung hero to come out of nowhere.
Finally, at first glance, I’ll take Louisville over Pitt. But there’s no doubt in my mind that will change at least twice before Noon on Thursday.
Put me down for Gonzaga !