A Bracket in Tatters

Luckily, my bracket is not among those in tatters after Northern Iowa shocked Kansas, the tournament favorite (roughly 40 percent of ESPN.com users picked the Jayhawks to win it all). I had much more trouble picking the Midwest Region than any other bracket, struggling with my pick of Ohio State-Georgetown (that one was taken care of for me) and Ohio State-Kansas.

For no discernible reason I went with the Buckeyes, a pick that looks prescient now that OSU seems to have a sweetheart draw to the Final Four (a Jekyll-and-Hyde Tennessee team, followed by either UNI or a depleted Michigan State squad). I ended up with OSU as champion, and I was outspoken in my belief that the winner of that presumed Kansas-Ohio State matchup would win the title. Now that matchup won't happen.

A portion of my bracket that's not so hot? The South, of course.

The most befuddling region in the tournament due to Duke's placement as a #1 seed and the seedings that appear to have been determined via drunken darts, the South proved my downfall. The total number of games I will get right in that region, out of 15? The answer is 5.

Duke, Villanova, Baylor, Texas A&M and St. Mary's. I picked those 5 teams to win in round 1. I missed EVERY OTHER GAME in the region. This was due in equal parts to my catastrophic pick of Louisville to the Sweet 16 (bet on Good Louisville showing up and instead got When's-Tip-Again? Louisville), Notre Dame to the Sweet 16 (complete homer pick, should have known better) and Villanova to the Final Four (I would've had them out in round 2 in almost any other draw). I also bet on Purdue to go out to Siena - something I should have known wouldn't happen because I wanted it to. Generally, my least-favorite team in the tournament does spectacularly well, whether it's UNC (almost always), or this year, Purdue. All bets are off with them, and frankly the more I root against them, the better their chances get.

Still, I stand in decent shape. Both of my title game participants are intact, something only 6 of the other 17 people in my bracket pool can claim. (Half our pool - 9 people - had Kansas to win the whole thing.) Only one of my Final Four - Villanova - has been dispatched. Only one person in our pool has an intact Final Four, and his Final Four includes Butler, so that will last about 1 more day.

But brackets aside, the first weekend, as has been beaten to death by the national pundits, was spectacular. Game after game seemed to come down to the wire. Friday was a relative clunker, but the other 3 days of the Dance proved to be unreal. The only regret was that neither Gus Johnson (marooned in Buffalo, where no game came down to the final minute) nor Bill Raftery (in Providence where Nova/Robert Morris proved to be the only great game) were there for the most exciting shots: Farokhmanesh, Lucious, and Danero.

I'm of the opinion that Ali Farokhmanesh's shot should be revered perhaps above all the others. Farokhmanesh's chuck (I predict the shot gets remembered simply as his last name, with no other description needed) defined what the tournament is all about - underdogs playing to win, playing as if they have nothing to lose. As one sportswriter (Pat Forde or Seth Davis, can't remember which) said, Farokhmanesh wasn't in a 'nothing to lose' situation. Most great tournament shots were made by people for whom a miss wouldn't have been blamed on them, given the circumstance. After all, no one ever blames a loss on a last-second miss (unless it's a layup or something). But Farokhmanesh was in a spot where the 'on paper' play is to run more clock. If he missed, and UNI lost, it would've been on him. But he saw an opportunity for greatness, and he took it. Really inspiring stuff. I'll never forget "the Farokhmanesh", just like I'll never forget Murray and Michigan State's buzzer-beating wins. Great stuff. One can only hope Cornell, UNI and St. Mary's can carry the mid-major banner even further.