March Madness 2010

As March Madness officially commenced this past weekend, NCAA fans and degenerate gamblers alike were treated to forty-eight games played by sixty-four teams featuring seven hundred and sixty-eight different players over a four day span. The action thus far has lived up to its ‘madness’ claim with numerous upsets and an unbelievable amount of close games. Still, considering the seemingly constant flow of basketball up to this point, it’s nearly impossible to cover everything concisely in five hundred words. So this is happening:

Upsets

When the number 1 seed and overwhelming favourite, Kansas, fell to the University of Northern Iowa (you know, the global hotbed of basketball) on Saturday, it marked the fifteenth victory by a lower seeded team. Any time a team like Ohio University beats Georgetown, the shockwaves will reverberate. But considering the lack of “great” teams and the subsequent parity unfolding in this years’ tourney, the abundance of upsets shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Dominant teams, like Florida in 2007 and 2008 (featuring Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Daquan Cook, and Taurean Green- arguably the best starting five in NCAA history), are non-existent in 2010. Instead, every team has holes, either lacking a certain pedigree or being too reliant on freshman, as was the case with Georgetown (Greg Monroe) and Georgia Tech (Derrick Favors). Sure, Kentucky (led first-year players John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and Demarcus Cousins) looks unstoppable, and Carmelo Anthony won it all in his lone year in college, but freshman-led NCAA champs are the exception, not the rule.

All-Time Greats

The tournament will be remembered for its record-setting amount of close games and buzzer-beaters (14 games decided by three points or less already- an tournament record, with two rounds yet to be played), but really this year’s edition of March Madness has set a precedent for amazingly cool names. Consider the following: Just-in’love Smith (Sienna), Jimmer Fredette (BYU), Dallas Lauderdale (Ohio State), Nimrod Tishman (Florida), Picasso Simmons (Murray State), Blaze French (UTEP),Scoop Jardine (Syracuse), and my personal favourite, LaceDarius Dunn (Baylor). In the words of Navin R. Johnson, “Wow! All I can say is ‘wow’!”

Bracket: Busted

Listen, brackets are useless. Brackets have become like Lord of the Rings movies- there’s always an insane amount of hype at first, and then nobody cares. Of the 2 million people who filled out a tournament bracket on ESPN.com, a whopping 56 went to sleep on Thursday night with a perfect bracket. Ouch.

My favourite NCAA team is the Missouri Mizzou. I became a fan in 2003 because I thought a)Missouri guard Kareem Rush was going to be the next Vince Carter (and I mean that in the best way possible) and b)’Mizzou’ is the greatest nickname in sports. Sadly, the Mizzou were bounced again in the second round this past Sunday by an impressive West Virginia squad featuring pro-to-be Devin Ebanks and Jerry’s son, Jonnie West. In lieu of empirical and observational analysis of the remaining sixteen teams beginning play tonight, I’m going to simply say this: the West Virginia Mountaineers will be the 2010 NCAA basketball champions.