Let the Madness Begin

    With the seedings this year, any team can make a strong run, but all the one seeds this year -Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, and Syracuse – have the potential to take the title back to campus.  Other favorites that are not number one are Big Ten and Big East champions Ohio State and West Virginia. 

    Dark horses this year include Baylor, a strong team from the Big 12, and the pretty much unknown New Mexico who also received a three seed could make a strong run.

    Along with every other tournament, this year is filled with teams who are on upset alert in the first round.  Purdue’s star Robbie Hummel tore his ACL last month, and many people around the nation are now picking thirteenth seeded  Siena to advance in that matchup.  Twelfth seeded Cornell is another team that many people are looking to surprise Temple in the first round, and some, including myself, have them advancing to the Sweet 16 over Wisconsin.  Another high seed that has a possibility to advance much farther than expected of them in the tournament is eleventh seeded San Diego State.

    The one monumental difference that this tournament contains from past years is the absence of three perennial powerhouses.  Arizona, Connecticut, and North Carolina were all left out of the bracket this year.  All three universities had down years, and hopefully they can rebound and make the field next year. 

    However, the tournament will surely survive without them and be as intriguing as years past.  Good luck to all who filled out a bracket, and to all those who want to rip their hair out when their National Championship team loses in the second round, remember that it is just a game.