Thursday, March 20, 2008

I Love March!

It follows February.
Baseball...
And of course, we have

MARCH MADNESS

A tradition that has developed within my own lifetime, the month of March is set aside for college basketball fans. Conference tourneys, Selection Sunday, and of course the Big Dance itself, basketball lovers LOVE this time of year.

This year (as in the last couple of years) my favorite team, The University of Missouri Tigers, will not be dancing. But a highly successful football season, and optimism in baseball sort of make up for it. Not having a favorite makes it much easier to watch and enjoy the whole process.

Final Four predictions: North Carolina (led by Missouri product Tyler Hansbrough), Texas, Georgetown (in over Kansas, the local favorite, but as an MU fan I would rather lose an eye than see the Jayhawks in the Final 4), and Duke (tough call over UCLA, but Duke has something to prove this year and UCLA is wildly inconsistent).

Upsets:
#14 Georgia over #3 Xavier; Georgia is hot, blitzing through the SEC conference tourney (yes the SEC IS weak this year, but still...), and I don't like Xavier's schedule.
#11 St. Joseph's over #6 Oklahoma; Oklahoma hasn't impressed me this year, and St, Joseph's is playing well. I have St. Joseph's all the way to the elite 8.
#12 Temple over #5 Michigan State; Playing Temple is like playingthe game in sticky molasses. Defense and rebounding win most games. Temple and Georgetown have long standing traditions of being very tough teams to beat because of defense and rebounding.

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