The most exciting long weekend in the college basketball season just wrapped up as the NCAA Men's National Tournament quickly whittled its field of 65 hopefuls down to the "Sweet Sixteen."
I don't want to say I told you so, but...I told you so. If you scroll down about three posts before this, or click the link for archives on the right, "Knockin' On Hoops Heaven Door" you'll see the advice that was offered on this blog way back on March 9th. In a nutshell it said that this year's NCAA tournament was not as strong overall, aside from a few of the #1 seeded teams it lacked the great depth and quality of teams, and for these reasons there really wasn't any surprise win that would be considered a major upset amongst all of the teams seeded between 3 and 14.
So, where do we stand now? Beginning last Thursday and finishing up on Sunday night we were treated to great athletic entertainment thanks to CBS' wall to wall coverage. The end result has four teams that were seeded 9th or higher among the 16 teams still dancing. The four vying for permanent ownership of Cinderella's slipper are #9 Northern Iowa, #10 St. Mary's of California, #11 Washington, and #12 Cornell University. The Ivy League Big Red handled Temple in round one and Big Ten rough-houser Wisconsin in the second round to advance.
Members in the count of heavy casualties are #1 seeded Kansas, #2 Villanova, and three #3 seeds--New Mexico, Georgetown and Pittsburgh. The KU Jayhawks fell to Northern Iowa in the second round, Villanova tumbled to St. Mary's also in round two, as did New Mexico drop at the hands of Washington while Georgetown was ousted in the opening round by Ohio.
In all honesty, I had Kansas going all the way and Georgetown and Villanova getting to the Elite Eight. So much for me believing what I put our here in public. Maybe I need to listen to myself and practice what I preached. Any chance we can begin new brackets starting with the Sweet Sixteen?
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Nick, I hate Cinderella.
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