What a Weekend

March Madness is my favorite time of the year, and this time, it lived up to its bidding. This has been the greatest tournament I can remember.

The first day alone--unbelievable. A one-point game to start things off, two overtime games, upsets, a buzzer beater (Murray State over Vandy). Just incredible. My bracket was already hurting badly after day one (just 10 out of 16 games correct) and I didn't care. Seeing all those close games--there is just nothing like it.

Then Friday was a little bit meh. Nothing all too exciting happened, but I'm not sure those of us watching could have taken much more drama. you just needed a little bit of a break from the absurdity.

No worries though, things got back to insane for the weekend. Saturday and Sunday games were awesome, with Northern Iowa's major upset of Kansas being the signature game from the two days. All in all, the greatest opening two rounds in my tournament-watching career: mid-major's have ruled so far, the majority of games have been close and Duke is still alive and playing well.

Surprises
How about Cornell. The 12th seeded Big Red have won by 13 and 18 points in their two games. They have just been raining threes, and its been phenomenal to watch, even though they beat Temple in the first round.

Jon Diebler. The Ohio State guard has been absolutely on fire, and making the Buckeyes look like a legit title contender all of a sudden. He's shooting 50 percent from distance, and that is cause for concern for the rest of the field. If he keeps that up, Ohio State is actually good.

Disappointments
The A-10. Being a fan of the conference I came in hoping they would do well in this tournament. Instead, Richmond and Temple both laid eggs in the first round. Granted, the teams they lost to then dominated in the second round, but still. They looked like garbage in their games. Xavier has barely survived its first two games now, but they of course always seem to do that.

Purdue. The Boilermakers came into the NCAAs looking like a d2 team against Minnesota. They barely reach double digits as a team in the first half of that game. Then, they were a popular pick to get upset by Siena in the first round without Robbie Hummell. Now my boy Mike Liberio's squad is in the Sweet 16. Pretty awesome turnaround from them.