As always, it's going to be a great tourney - Sporting Goods

March Madness is the greatest sporting event around. I think it would be hard to argue with that. Not only is it more exciting than, lets say, the Superbowl, but its a lot easier to follow, too. A good Superbowl or World Series comes along once every few years. There are upsets and great games year in an year out in the NCAA tournament. Even the casual sports fan can watch any game and appreciate that each team is fighting for their playoff survival. A team can be as heavily favored as it wants to be, but it doesn't matter after tip-off. Every year we see a new Cinderella team who knocks off some heavy favorite. It's no coincidence that the greatest game ever, Duke-Kentucky, was a college basketball game.

Every year, the outcome of the tournament is up in the air until the very end. Sure, the trendy pick this year is Duke or Maryland, but there are plenty of teams who could upend them. Unlike in the NBA or baseball, where the small-market teams have virtually no chance, in college bball there's always room for a small-time program like Gonzaga to capture the spotlight.

Every March there seems to be a team that comes out of nowhere to wreak havoc in the tournament, not to mention people's brackets. Bracket-breakers this year include the seemingly hopeless, underachieving UCLA squad. Every year they supposedly have the cream of the crop in terms of recruiting. But you could never tell watching the team play, as they consistently lose to lesser opponents. I went to one of their games a few months ago, where they played Columbia. Columbia's team could barely pass for an intramural team at most schools, yet UCLA found a way to keep the game close til the very end. Still, UCLA has the players to beat any team in the bracket, as they showed when they beat Kansas, Arizona and Stanford this season.

Speaking of Stanford, I wouldn't classify Stanford as a Cinderella team at the No. 8 spot, but I think they can do some damage this year. After being (over)-hyped for this season, Casey Jacobsen put up a pretty poor showing, except for a big game here and there. But he is a great player, and he can make a big difference in the tourney. Stanford is in a tough bracket, and W. Kentucky is a tough draw for their first game, but if they play well they can run with any of those squads.

Notice I've picked two Pac-10 squads for my sleeper picks. That's because that was clearly the best conference this year. The only reason some of them had poor records is the tough competition they faced within their conference. Some teams get in without playing any strong teams during the year, like Gonzaga. Every team in the Pac-10 by default had a tough schedule. Look at the teams from the conference in the tournament. UCLA, Stanford, Arizona, Oregon and USC are all from the conference, and at least one of them is sure to do some serious damage.