Well folks it's that time of year again, March Madness. 68 teams, 67 games, 1 winner.
Win or go home, in a little more than 2 weeks we will know the Men's 2012 NCAA Division 1 Basketball Champion, who's your winner?
In my opinion this is the best time in the sporting calender, sure the Super Bowl is great but when my team isn't playing in the game it becomes more a glorified background to the commercials for me. In March Madness though captivates me, sure people will still be cheering for their teams but besides some of the high match-ups every single game is exciting, spectators waiting too see if the clock strikes midnight for some of these Cinderella teams.
One thing that will be missing from this tournament is the voice of Gus Johnson. One of the great things about the tournament is commentary given to us and in my opinion Gus Johnson was one of the best truly portraying the Madness of March.
Finally here are a couple of predictions I have for this tourney:
1. This year's VCU/Butler: Detroit, Ray McCallum (DET) turned down multiple high level offers (UCLA, Kansas, Arizona) to go to Detroit to play for his dad. If Detroit can keep Thomas Robinson in check look for McCallum to go off and make this first round game one to watch and if they do win I could see them going all the way to the elite eight.
2. Top 12 seed most likely to fall first: Georgetown, with their first round game being Belmont (27-7), a team that scores a lot of points look for them to give Georgetown all they can handle.
3. Lowest seed making the Final Four: #4 Michigan, I know a bit of a homer pick the Wolverines shoot the ball well and play good defense and with Henson from UNC hurt I see UM as the one with the best shot
4. Final Four: Michigan, Vanderbilt, Duke, Michigan State
5. National Championship: Duke over Michigan, I hope I'm wrong about who wins this one but in my opinion Duke is a team built just like Michigan but with a little better talent.
Well I hope you all enjoy the tourney and may your brackets do well because mine will probably be decimated by Saturday morning.
Let the Madness Begin,
Michael Scheible
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Let the Madness Begin!
It is interesting that you spoke about cinderella teams and then you had Duke to win it all. I'm assuming you were shocked by their upset to Lehigh University. My cousin goes to Lehigh and said that absolute chaos occurred on the streets following the win. It is exciting to see small teams beat big teams like that. Michigan State is also no longer in the tournament. Based on your post it is clear that you had a specific approach to picking your teams. After reading the New York Times article which type of bracket do you think you chose?
ReplyDelete-Shannon Funsch
I'm not sure surprised is the right word to my reaction. After years of watching the tournament nothing has really surprised me in the past few years. I completely agree though about the fact that seeing the Cinderella teams win is fun, because it's always fun to see the underdog pull it out. After reading the article I would say a toned-down version of the expert bracket. I like to get that fusion of favorites and underdogs, but I don't come close to looking at such things as RPI and assist-turnover ratio.
ReplyDeleteOverall, this tournament has not failed to disappoint. This year has provided the fans with numerous surprises as every year does. To me the most exciting two games were the Norfolk St. over Missouri and Leigh over Duke games. Both of these games were incredible displays of underdogs fighting hard to beat the more well-known powerhouses. In both of these games the underdogs played as a team, and fought hard throughout the entire game. Before this year there have only been four 15 seeds to upset a 2 seed. This year, there were two! This is absolutely incredible, and I was extremely entertained during both games. I have always been someone who roots for the underdogs, and this year has provided us with incredible and shocking ones. I hope the Final Four continues to bring surprises, as I will be on the edge of my seat the entire time.
ReplyDelete