Mapping the Madness

Once again, I’m heading into one of my favorite annual sporting events:  the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament.  I’ve been hooked on this for a while now, but many of you may be surprised to know that while I would watch games in high school (and probably had an entry or two in a couple of office pools where Dad worked), it didn’t really become BIG for me until I got to college.  I think I have Xavier to thank for that.

You see, as I prepared my bracket for the 1990 tournament, one of the second round matchups was between Xavier and Georgetown.  This was during the “twin tower” days of Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutumbo.  Just about everyone had Georgetown picked.

I, being a student at a rival MCC school of Xavier (UE), had gotten to see a fair amount of the Musketeers that season, and had a feeling that the combination of Tyrone Hill and Derek Strong would be able to negate Georgetown’s big men.  I was so convinced of this, I tried to convince Dad he needed to pick Xavier.  Dad, of course, thought I was crazy (a feeling that probably continues to this day for a variety of reasons).  However, that didn’t stop me.  I picked X.

I was actually flying back to E-ville on Saturday and missed a number of games, including UNC beating Oklahoma, which surprised the heck out of me that season, but was during a streak of about 16 straight Sweet Sixteen appearances for Dean Smith and the boys from Chapel Hill.  Anyway, I was back in the dorm during the Xavier game and was COMPLETELY pumped up when X pulled off the upset.  In what has become an annual tradition since, I called Dad to brag about how I was right and he would have been if he’d listened to me (it also goes the other way on occasion).

As for my picks this year, I can’t say I have much in the way of upsets.  I’m not real impressed with the seedings done by the committee this year.  Probably my biggest upset is BC beating Villanova in the 3rd round.  And I’m predicting a Gonzaga national championship.  That’s one person’s opinion, anyway.