March Madness Is Upon Us...Finally

A lot happened during my hiatus for Spring Break 09...mostly a lot of boring ass preseason baseball, Kobe/Lebron/D.Wade playing insane basketball, the epic SIX overtime game between Syracuse and UConn  and the launching of March Madness. F'ing right.

I've been waiting since the end of College Football for March Madness and it's finally here. The best thing about this year is that with no team being able to maintain the #1 ranking during the season, there's no real team that's head-and-shoulders better than everyone else. Here's my short version of my bracket, starting with my Agreements, Disagreements, Surprises and Sleepers:

Agreements:

• The #1 Seeds: I had North Carolina, Louisville and UConn in my Final Four since the beginning of the year so I had to agree with them getting the top spots. My fourth team, Oklahoma got the 2-seed in the South so I'm not too mad.
• I was glad to see that my man Jonny Flynn and 'Cuse got rewarded for their heroic performance in the Big East Tourney by being given the 3-seed in the South. They should be  smooth sailing until the third round against Oklahoma...
• Kansas got the smooth 3-seed in the Midwest despite falling to Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament. They should make it all the way to the Elite 8 against Louisville.
• Cornbread? Ain't nutin wrong with that. (1:29)

Disagreements:

• HOW does LSU get the 8-seed and have to play BUTLER?? I thought that our dominance in the SEC would have been enough to get a more manageable 6- or 7-seed but we get the dreaded 8/9 match up. I was watching the Selection Show mad like:
   But hey, at least it's not a 5/12....

• I don't think Arizona should have made it this year. I'm a Jarryd Bayless fan but he's gone and so is Lute. Finishing the year unranked with a 19-13 record doesn't really scream "NCAA Tournament." It seems like they got in off of past seasons' performances and took a spot away from another deserving team. But that happens every year.
  
• How can you leave out St. Mary's?? The lack of a tough conference schedule isn't really their fault. A 20-6 record (with 3 of the L's coming from Gonzaga) should have been enough to get them in the Big Dance. 

Surprises:

• North Dakota State. After their performance, I'm not surprised they were chosen, just surprised they were able to do it. This was their first year of NCAA Tournament eligibility and they were able to grab a spot. Impressive. Especially when a school like Northwestern has never made the Tourney....even in 71 tries.
• And finally, I don't really agree/disagree about Penn State not making the Tournament, I'm just surprised. The Big 10 was shockingly good this year which made success for all of the teams impossible. 

Sleepers:

• VCU: Eric Maynor is a beast and he's done this before, 
• Siena: a fast, running team, comparable to the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, and 
• LSU: Gotta go with the Tigers...even though they would have the Tar Heels in round two. Oh well, the season was fun while it lasted.

Basically, this year's Tourney is wide open and it should be one of the most enjoyable in recent memory. And when your team loses, I don't want to hear anything. Just stfu. S-T-F-U!!