Bracket Busting Brings on the Madness

Day one of "The Greatest Show on Earth" (more commonly referred to as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament" among the uninitiated) is in the books.  As usual there were shocking surprises and predictable results.  So what did we learn, if anything, from the first day of madness?

What We Know

Calling the play-in games "The First Four" is just ridiculous.  Yeah, it's just a marketing scheme but seriously folks.  Why not just call it "The Fiscal Four" or "The Sacrificial Cash Cow Four?"  Very Irritating.  Plus CBS knows people will start using the term accidentally and it will stick.  Aargh.

Also, calling the first round the second round (because of said First Four) is just confusing.

Pete Carrill's Princeton teams would've found a way to make that upset happen.

Butler just knows how to win come tourney time.

Belmont was not the surprise of the Spring.

Temple isn't very good.  Barely beating a just-lucky-to-be-here Penn State team from a weak Big Ten is not impressive.

What We Think

Rick Pitino got his.  Losing to Morehead State?  Celtics fans everywhere rejoice.

Richmond seems to pull off the upset every time they get into the tournament.  Those of us who jumped all over that 12-5 upset are loving how that makes us look.  Especially after K-State didn't oblige in the nightcap.

Don't bet against Gonzaga in the first round.  Ever.

In the wake of the "Fab Five" special it's nice to see Steve Fischer getting some tournament time.  He's been toiling at SDSU for a while now and has brought real respectability to a program that was just terrible when he got there.

Most of those "mid-majors" are pretty good, even when they lose.  Except UCSB and Bucknell.  Those two?  Not so good.


For once the Big East teams didn't embarrass themselves in the first round (excuse me, second round).

What We Hope


That the Big East doesn't embarrass themselves in the first round (whoops!) today.

Bob Huggins makes a quick exit from the tourney.  There are some coaches we're just not fans of.  Perhaps he can go tutor his former Cincy players.  Or teach them how to drive...

Pittsburgh doesn't blow their #1 seed.  It seems like, under Jamie Dixon, every year the team wins its first game by 25, its second by 12 and loses the third one by 2.  Stop the bleeding, Jamie!

C'mon upsets!





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