It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's not because it's spring, Easter or even spring break. Nay, this is the most wonderful time of the year because of March Madness ... unless you don't like college basketball, but I mean come on! I don't profess to be a very big college basketball fan myself; I really only follow it when it comes to be tournament time, for the simple reason that it's so damn exciting
Even better is the fact that the starting date of the tournament (and consequently, a large portion of the games, since the first round is the largest) often tends to coincide with spring break, as it did this year. What better way to spend spring break than parked on the couch watching college basketball? Except for going to the beach, or Vegas, or somewhere equally as sunny and exciting ... but I digress.
As it happened this year, both the first round and second round games fell over the course of the last weekend of spring break, meaning that there were 48 basketball games (out of 63 total throughout the course of the tournament) over the course of Thursday through Sunday. That averages to 12 games a day. And with each game being about two hours long, you could say it averages out to having a game on constantly. Unfortunately this isn't the case, but it sure sounds fun doesn't it?
I should also note that March Madness this year lasts from March 20 until April 7, so for all of you who still think that December's sequence of Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or what have you, is a better time of year, remember that March Madness lasts for 19 days this year.
One of the real surprises in the first round occurred when an upstart Davidson team, led by the amazing Stephen Curry (who's put up 70 points over the first two games of the tournament), upset perennial favorite Gonzaga. Davidson then went on shock the No. 2-seeded Georgetown in the second round and is now poised to take on the No. 1 seed Kansas for a spot in the Final Four.
Could Davidson be this year's version of George Mason from two years ago? We'll have to keep watching to find out, but they've had an exciting run this far. And isn't rooting for the underdog in our nature anyway? I think the Final Four (or any sport for that matter) wouldn't be nearly as exciting if the teams who were supposed to win all the time actually did so. Just think back to this year's Super Bowl (and this is where half of my readers get livid and the other half smile in agreement) and how exciting it was when the underdog won.
This is the kind of stuff for which people watch sports. It's drama without the writers. There tend to be two exceptions in this case. One is if your team is the sports superpower and beating everybody (if the Ravens go 19-0 this year, I won't be rooting for the underdog). The other is the bandwagon effect: Some fairweather fans tend to root for teams just because the team is always good (I'm looking at you, new Red Sox and Patriots fans). But usually, when David(son), goes up against Goliath we tend to root for David.
March Madness exhibits NCAA athletics at their finest, and it is primarily because of the uncertainty and the living day-to-day mentality that has to be adopted by every team in the tournament and every fan of the game.
One of the other great upsets was Western Kentucky over Drake. Despite my hope that Drake would beat WKU, I must say that the last play of the game was perhaps my favorite moment of the tournament thus far (aside from Duke going out in the second round). With only seconds left on the clock, down by two, and the ball in their possession, WKU needed an amazing and successful inbound play in order to pull off the upset. They inbounded to Tyrone Brazleton, who crossed half-court and made to drive the lane.
However, instead of doing so, he dished a pass outside of the three-point arc to Ty Rogers, who shot the game-winning three-pointer over the hands of three outstretched Drake players. While it busted my bracket in a sense, I still contend that this has been the play of the tournament thus far.
I think it's safe to say that we are in for two more exciting weeks, especially as the offensive powerhouse of UNC (who's scored over 100 points in each of their first two games) takes on the stalwart defensive squad of Washington State (who has held opponents to the fewest point totals of the tournament thus far) in the next round. And will Memphis be the first #1 seed to fall, after a lackluster showing against a mediocre Mississippi State team? For now I think it's safe to remain on the couch enjoying the most wonderful time of the year.
