What Comes After February? Madness!

Okay, so once again I took an extended break from writing my “weekly” blogs. Sorry about that. Life has been hectic. But instead if wasting your time writing about why I haven’t been writing, lets get right into it...

It’s March, baby! Time for the Madness, and you know what that means for this Syracuse fanatic. Hanging on every game, moment, and write-up I can find about Syracuse, the West bracket, the Final Four, and championship predictions.

So about 2 weeks ago I was as high as a kite after driving to Syracuse to watch the Orange crush Villanova in front of a record-setting 34,616 orange-crazed fans. It was glorious to watch Cuse hand Nova it’s worst defeat of the season and see Syracuse ascend to #1 in the polls two days later. Well Cuse had a bit of a slide after that and people panicked about if the Orange would be a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.



So now lets fast forward to Sunday evening and the selection show. They get to the South bracket, played in Houston and the expected home of the Orange, only they announce Duke is the No.1 in the region. I was stunned to see this, and then watch the Orange be names as the No.1 in the West, going out to Salt Lake.

Some suggested it was wrong because Syracuse was a better team and should get to play closer to home. Honestly, that doesn’t mean crap. I doubt throngs of Syracuse fans were willing to make the 1,600 mile trek, but decided to pass on the 2,000 mile journey to Salt Lake. It s a difference of 400 miles, and if you were committed to going to Texas, I doubt you will let that stand in your way.

The REAL reason Syracuse should have been in Houston was because they are just better than Duke, plain and simple! The NCAA Selection Committee came out last week and said they would not put as much weight on the last 10 games of the season as in past years. So then when Mike Slive, head of the Selection Committee, came on CBS and was immediately asked why Duke was put over Syracuse, his answer was something to the extent of “because they won their conference tournament.”

Funny how that works. But I’m actually torn over whether I’d have preferred Syracuse to stay as a No.1 seed or fall to a No.2. Now hear me out, then you can curse all you like. Yes a No.1 is nice, and certainly a status symbol, but is a No.2 that much worse? Instead of facing the worst team in your region, you face the second worst.

I also believe it may have re-ignited a fire under the Orange I’m not sure they have maintained since gaining national notoriety and being No.1 in the polls for a week. There is a lot of pressure on 1-seeds to make it deep into the tournament, and anything less than, I’d say, the Elite Eight is a failure, major upset and will ruin ESPN and my favorite shows for at least a week (till the next round is played).

But I also read on another Syracuse blog that maybe the fact people even doubted if Cuse should be a No.1 and being ranked lower than Duke may be enough to fire them up. I sure as hell hope so, especially with Arinze Onuaku missing the first game and most likely the first weekend.

So now the field is set, and it seems the Selection Committee is not without a sense of humor either, those sons a bitches. I’m sure it went something like this...”Hey guys, lets make Syracuse play Vermont, har har har, that’ll be great.” Yeah, hilarious guys, give yourselves a pat on the back for that one. If we don’t make maple syrup seep out of their eyes and ears, I will be thoroughly upset.

So one of the most exciting parts of March Madness is filling out brackets, no? I read on another blog that if you “have stones,” you use the same bracket in every pool you’re in. I couldn’t disagree more with that statement.

The whole fun of the tourney is to see all the different combinations you can come up with. I try to do that and I still end up with the same teams in the end! But don’t you like playing around with upsets, being brave instead of always playing it safe, and having a chance if a Final Four team in one bracket gets eliminated you don’t suck in every other bracket also? At least I think it is.

Well I could go on forever about the tourney, but I’ll save it so I have more to write about soon (as long as Syracuse doesn’t decide to exit the tournament early). But I’m back!

Lets Go Orange!