Let The MADNESS Begin

There is this great website, bracketscience.com. It has some great information, so with a friend, I decided to pay the 20 bucks because the guy who owns it piqued my interest. Pete Tiernan has some of the greatest trends I have ever seen. However, in the end I went with the team that is pure chalk. I feel it was Pitt's good luck to get knocked out early in the Big East Tournament. They should be right and when I see them play, I cannot believe they are ever going to lose...of course I thought that about the Tarheels early when the beat Michigan State in Detroit by 40. I think Michigan State is a much better team now. In fact, they are going to be a tough matchup in the tournament. One thing I got from this website (it's sort of like Billyball for hoops) is that this one chart shows there may be a minimum of upsets. Given that and last years tourney, I am playing some chalk. I think freshmen staying at least a year have evened the playing field against senior laden teams. Still, it point to teams with seniors, a high point differential, and coaching pedigree to be a big factor. Still with all these great stats, the gurus are wrong...its' college basketball one game craziness and the best team does not always win...see Villanova and NC State. So here goes: Final 8

Pitt

Duke

UNC

Clemson

Memphis

Washington

Mich State

Louisville

with Pitt over Memphis for the title. And I already have buyers remorse. First round upsets for me are Western Ky, Butler (maybe this is not an upset),Wisconsin, BYU,Maryland, USC and Arizona. Some of these may not be upsets, but they are the lower seeds.

So why do I have this sinking feeling. I have bet absolutely nothing and it's probably time to quite getting paralysis by analysis.

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The last time I cried when a team lost was when Arizona State was in the Far West Regionals. It was in the early 60's. It was a smaller tournament then and the Sun Devils just killed UCLA in the semifinals a couple nights before by about 25 points, going away. It would be the last time the Bruins would lose in an NCAA match for many years. In fact the following year UCLA would win it all and start the streak. Arizona State would be one game away from a final four appearance. However, they ran into a red hot Oregon State team with Mel Counts and Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker, and seemed to be playing in cement tennis shoes. Arizona State featured Jumpin Joe Caldwell, an Olympic Gold Medalist with Jerry West and company. Joe Caldwell is one of the best players you never heard of. He could jump over the bed of a pickup truck and could have dually qualified for the track team in the Olympics as well. He had a very good NBA career and was one of the few shutdown defenders on Jerry West. He opted for the ABA and never got the noteriety he would have otherwise because he was made a pawn of the labor disputes. I remember one time he blocked Wilt from behind. I remember another time he intentionally fouled Wild by grabbing him on the mid section and Wilt lifted him in the air about 18 inches. There are many old timers who can be very thankful that Wilt was not a violent man. Have a fun Big Dance.