The second week of the NCAA basketball tournament is upon us and I'm sure, by now, most of the 19 plus million brackets that people filled out have been thoroughly destroyed, burned, or thrown away. I know the 8 brackets that I filled out have been taken care of! This year, the first round brought little excitement and shock to most people, other than Middle Tennessee State once again upsetting a higher seed (if you remember last year they took down my beloved Spartans in the first round) and this year, as a 12 seed, they took down a strong, yet depleted, Minnesota team.
The Madness of 9, 10, and 11 Seeds
The only real madness came from the 9, 10, and 11 seed match-ups, as usual. To a lot of people's surprise, Maryland did not make it past 11 seed Xavier in the first round. Xavier, who is currently blazing a trail past some top teams including a win over 2 seed Arizona in the Sweet 16, is one of the biggest surprises, and yet, not a surprise at the same time. Xavier always seems to show up to play in the tourney and usually makes it through the first couple rounds.
Another surprise to me was the early exit of a high powered Creighton squad who fell to the University of Rhode Island in the first round, who went on to eventually give 3 seed Oregon a run for their money in the second round but ended up falling late by just 3 points.
The Second Round
And then came the second round, which saw the fall of some of the top teams in the country. Duke, Villanova, and Florida State, who were all championship hopefuls and contenders, would not make it out of the second round. (Let's be honest though, who really wanted Duke to win?)
Another surprise that most people didn't see coming either was the loss of Louisville to Michigan. Michigan, despite losing last night in the Sweet 16, was playing some very good and inspired basketball (if you recall the plane crash of a couple weeks ago) having just won the Big 10 Championship. So, maybe not a huge surprise, but an upset nonetheless.
The Sweet 16
As I'm writing this, only four of the eight Sweet 16 games have been played and the only shocker was Xavier edging its way past 2 seed Arizona. Michigan lost in a nail biter that they probably should've won as they lead with under a minute to play and failed to score a single point in the last minute. Kansas continued its rout through the Midwest Region, blitzing Purdue by 32, its second largest victory of the tourney and its third double digit victory.
Gonzaga also notched their ticket to the Elite 8 beating out West Virginia by three points, the last play which has become the center of ridicule across social media as West Virginia had a shooting bonanza with 35 seconds left and failed to even come close to making a basket. Nevertheless, Gonzaga continues to show why they are a 1 seed, and as a 1 seed, all you need to do is win and they are doing that, despite not having a resounding win in the tourney yet. It will be interesting to see what they can do against that Xavier squad that is playing its best basketball of the season.
The Big 10
Once again the Big 10 struggled, sending only three teams to the Sweet 16, two of which have already lost and the only remaining Big 10 team, Wisconsin, has a tough test against Florida. Both Wisconsin and Florida are coming off strong victories however, Wisconsin beating Villanova and Florida dominating Virginia, so it'll be interesting to see which team can keep the momentum going.
My Brackets
As for my brackets, I said earlier that I filled out eight, all of which were busted after Minnesota lost to Middle Tennessee (for some reason I picked Minnesota in all of my brackets). My current best bracket sits in 6 millionth place and is in the 67th percentile. Two of my Final Four teams in that bracket are already out however, but I picked UNC to win it so hopefully I can get the champion correct!
Also, there are no perfect brackets remaining in ESPN's Tournament Challenge so don't feel so bad if you're brackets are destroyed; no one is perfect this year!
