NCAA First Weekend Wrap-up

I suppose it is time to wrap up this weekend's action. I will admit, first off, that my interest has declined significantly due to the elimination of the Tar Heels. I guess I just felt like it was a premature end to the season, and the finality is still sinking in. Refer to the previous posting for extended thoughts/reactions from the loss. However, there are many things much bigger than one team or one tournament, so life must go on. On that note, let's look back briefly at the weekend that was.

Yawners: Duke and Memphis both advanced to the Sweet 16 with little trouble. West Virginia also waltzed in, with an assist from Northwestern St. Texas was challenged by Penn, but NC State rolled over after a half or so. Florida and Georgetown each faced few problems as well.

Close Calls: Boston College, LSU, UCONN.

Worst Pick: Take your pick. Kansas and UNC were both in my Elite Eight and each is gone. Slight nod to KU for going out earlier.

Best Pick: Georgetown and Washington. Come on Hoyas, one more round, you make me look goooood.

2nd round fizzles: Way to get those awesome second round matchups we all wanted to see. Kansas vs Pitt, UNC vs Michigan St, Iowa vs West Va were all blown up by first round upsets. When an upset occurs, that typically makes the second round watered down. But, this year, Bradley, Wichita St, and George Mason continued their upsetting ways and advanced.

Cinderella Shoe Factory: There's only supposed to be one Cinderella each year. It seems that a factory has opened, with slippers placed on Bradley, George Mason, and Wichita St. For my money, all three of these teams were certainly worthy of NCAA bids. Bradley and Mason obviously should have been seeded higher, but I argued that point in my projected bracket. I had Mason a 9-seed and the Braves a 10-seed. One run will end in the Sweet 16, as Wichita St and GMU play one another. Likely too will Bradley's run, as they meet top-seed Memphis in the Oakland region.

Power Outage: Nice one Big Ten. Thanks for playing, see y'all next year. No Big Ten team advanced to the second weekend this season. So much for that "best conference" label they gave themselves. If you break things down by seeding, assuming the top four seeds in each region are supposed to advance to the Sweet 16, the Big Ten lost three "favored" teams: 3-seed Iowa, 4-seed Illinois, and 2-seed Ohio St. The SEC advanced 2 of 3 (Tennessee), the ACC 2 of 3 (UNC), the Pac-10 1 of 1, plus Washington, the Big East 2 of 2, plus G'town and WVU, and the Big-12 1 of 2 (Kansas). I'd say the Big East is flexing its muscle. Add in C-USA's Memphis, the WCC's Gonzaga, and the three Cinderellas to form the final sixteen teams.

Best Games: BC/Pacific, Tenn/Winthrop, Washington/Illinois, GWU/UNC-W, A&M/LSU.

So the general developing themes thus far are the upsets (as usual), the mid-major conference success, and the Big Ten's failure. Somewhat overshadowed is the run by all four number one seeds to the Sweet 16. Yes, they should all advance, but it does not always happen. We'll see if they all survive the second weekend. My question is what do the so-called "mid-majors" want? Equality, yes, but what does that mean? A TV deal? Go find one. National press? They're getting it now and certainly receive a great deal during the season from second tier media sources, especially the internet. If they want to be considered majors, then win a championship. For years, non-major leagues have been populated by major programs: UNLV, Cincinnati, Louisville, UMASS, DePaul, and Gonzaga recently. These programs have helped elevate the leagues in which they play. A few weeks ago, West Coast Conference coaches complained that having to go through Gonzaga was hurting the other teams' chances to make the Big Dance. Do they realize that until Gonzaga blew up that few people could name three teams in this league?

My mid-major rant will conclude with this: the gap is closing. But, do not be fooled by the supposed lack of respect mantra from mid-major leagues. When these leagues start their spiel about being "disrespected" and "overlooked" ignore it. They are good teams, so when they start acting like it, they will be recognized as such. The whining is part of what keeps them as "mid-majors" to begin with. So do not categorize teams and look for the best squads, period.

Other random observations:

• The CBS Sportsline "March Madness on Demand" live feed is great. Not only could I watch/listen to games at work, but I also followed games online all weekend, watching a second contest while my local CBS affiliate showed our area game. The slight delay is annoying, as I saw the scores change on the scoreboard crawler on television before I saw a basket converted online. Otherwise, awesome.
• Dear CBS: please sell advertising to a more varied client list. If I saw one Applebee's/Gilligan's Island commercial, I saw it a thousand times. It led to a dialogue over the phone discussing which guy was more annoying (the tall dude on the right won out). Nick G IMed me this quote after the loss on Sunday: "those two Applebee's singers can suck it and get off my tv." Amen to that, my thoughts exactly.
• Anyone else catch the "Brad...Pitt" joke by Verne Lundquist during the Pittsburgh/Bradley game? The scoretracker had abbreviations for each score and it spelled out Brad Pitt. Then Jim Nantz got jealous because he usually makes all the corny jokes and repeated the line to Billy Packer during the Villanova game; Billy was not so amused.
• Shout out to he who kicked a whole in the wall of my former place of residence. Luckily it happened before, so we already had supplies handy.

Our attention will turn to the week ahead in the next post. A Sweet 16 preview, along with my re-picks from here on out (hint: my Final Four has not changed). All y'all be quiet out there.