Monday, March 13, 2006

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

March Madness is here, and I'm happier than a Scotsman on June 24 in the Year of Our Lord Thirteen Fourteen. This is the most wide-open tournament in recent memory. Anyone can beat anyone, which should make for an awesome next three weeks, with more surprises than Weekend at Bernie's. And that's just the NIT (just kidding--the NIT could be comprised entirely of quadruple overtime games and no one would notice).

How IU got a 6 seed I'll never know, but I'll take it. The bitter irony, of course, is that we're playing San Diego State, a team that Jessie, Holt, and I watched win the Mountain West tournament while at the bars Saturday night, which features Marcus Slaughter, who Jessie could not stop raving about. Will she root for her alma mater or her new crush? Assuming she wants to keep living life as she's grown accustomed to (walking, breathing, having a dog, etc.), I think I know the answer.

I'm going to the 1st and 2nd round games here in Dayton on Friday and Sunday. Let's take a gander at the matchups I'll be witnessing in person:
-Friday 12:15 - #15 Davidson vs. #2 Ohio State. It's probably a good thing that this is the first game because it will mean that I won't be drunk enough to get into it with the many jackass OSU fans who will be there. It's funny how everyone is now an OSU basketball fan, considering most of them don't know the fundamental rules of the game ("why is the ball round?"). Anyway, it will be sweet when Davidson pulls the upset. Go Wildcats!
-Friday 2:35 - #10 Northern Iowa vs. #7 Georgetown. This looks like a pretty good matchup. I look for the Hoyas to win, proving once again that the Missouri Valley Conference is a fraud and hopefully prompting the NCAA to change its RPI formula back to how it used to be.
-Friday 7:10 - #11 George Mason vs. #6 Michigan State. MSU should take care of business here, although the Patriots will keep it interesting.
-Friday 9:30 - #14 Murray State vs. #3 North Carolina. The Racers should not be taken lightly. Their only non-conference losses were to NCAA tournament teams Tennessee (by 11) and Southern Illinois (by 4) and NCAA snub Cincinnati (by 4). By this time I will be drunk enough to be cheering very loudly against UNC.

Stay tuned for my tournament picks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Convenient that perennial powerhouse OSU gets to play their first two games in their own back yard....or bullshit. That's what I meant...bullshit