Best Tournament Ever

Sports

By admin | Sunday, March 27, 2005 | 10:23 pm | 11 Comments

garcia_celebratesI am sorry that I have not been very good with the tournament updates. After my favorite college team, Syracuse, lost in the first round, I partially lost interest in all my brackets (largely because I had them winning in almost all of them). When my alma mater, Dartmouth, lost in the first round of the Women’s tournament, what was there left for me to watch? Well, just a ton of good basketball.

I think college sports comprise some of the greatest events in the country. I love college basketball, and especially the NCAA tournament. So when my team lost, I start rooting for the underdog, and the underdog did a lot of good things this year. Syracuse – gone. Kansas – gone. And that was just in the first couple of days. UCONN – gone. Wake Forest – gone. That was all just the first weekend.

This year the tournament has had many close games, and many overtimes. I thought I had as much excitement as I could take in one day when West Virginia and Wake took three overtimes, and then I dug in for this weekend’s games. Oklahoma State and Arizona, Michigan State and Duke, North Carolina and Villanova. Could it seriously get any better?

Of course it could. Of the the games played to decide who would go from the Elite Eight to the Final Four, three of them went to overtime (one a double over time). One team came back from twenty points down, and another team came back from 14 down with four minutes left. Was the shot by Patrick Sparks to send Kentucky and MSU into overtime completely ridiculous or what (and by ridiculous, I mean ridiculously exciting)?

Hopefully next weekend’s games will be just as enjoyable. A mini-update on the TVgasm Yahoo Tournament bracket comes after the jump.Although my picks were quite weak (I was too sentimental with Syracuse, too quick to love the Big East, and too quick to hate the Pac-10), there have been a lot of people with fairly good picks out there. Here are the Million Dollar Gasm Top 10

Rank Team Name Points
1 ToroB21 84
2 pwnt 72
3 SamtheDog 70
4 Herky Jerk 68
4 ProphetsOfRage 68
6 Keady’s Combovers 66
6 State School WHAT 66
8 doctor dan’s picks 64
8 Notorious LKC 64
8 ProMiniGolfer 64

There is a decided lack of trash talk on Yahoo, so maybe people would like to continue it here. I am not quite sure who I am rooting for now that my teams are out of it. I don’t really like the ACC or North Carolina, but Roy Williams is a great guy and I wouldn’t mind seeing him win. Bruce Weber and Illinois have come under phenomenal pressure all year, and have been resilient and fun to watch. Louisville is a great team and Pitino is a great coach, at least at the college level. Michigan State? Well, I don’t really like them all that much, but at least it’s better than having some *really* sucky team from the Big 10 there like Penn State.

A lot of great basketball, a lot of great upsets. Amazing Race isn’t going to be in the way of the championship game, so you have no excuse not to watch.

About

11 Comments

  1. 1
    B-Side
    Posted March 27, 2005 at 10:26 pm

    Wow, all this AND a new Desperate Housewives!

  2. 2
    Spikegrl
    Posted March 28, 2005 at 5:58 am

    Living in Louisville, KY during this past weekend has been insane. My employer let us leave after half a day so we could watch the game other businesses closed during both UL and UK games. Saturday was a mini Mardi Gras in the downtown area after Louisville made the most unbelievable comeback I’ve ever seen. I’m a UL fan and my girlfriend is a UK fan but we both cheer for the other team as long as we’re not playing each other. I wish U of K would have won last night but the Tubster just got out-coached!

  3. 3
    tarheel
    Posted March 28, 2005 at 6:58 am

    How bout them Heels :)

  4. 4
    SusieQ
    Posted March 28, 2005 at 7:48 am

    Un-frickin-believable. Not only did 3 of 4 games go to OT (1 of them double OT) but the 4th game was decided by only one point–as close to OT as possible. No one was safe. You know Arizona was practically making travel arrangments when they were up 15 with only a few minutes left. I just hope the Final 4 is this good.

  5. 5
    America's Next Top Fan
    Posted March 28, 2005 at 8:20 am

    Go Illini!!!

  6. 6
    Christie
    Posted March 28, 2005 at 8:52 am

    You said it!

  7. 7
    madeyoulaugh
    Posted March 28, 2005 at 9:07 am

    Damn Double Overtime games…..I am but a man, with a weak heart condition…I cant handle this anymore!!!

  8. 8
    TheMatt
    Posted March 28, 2005 at 10:02 am

    As a CC grad, I was hoping this was a post on the *real* tourney right now: NCAA Ice Hockey. Go CC, DU Sucks!

    Oh, and go Illinois.

  9. 9
    ProphetsOfRage
    Posted March 28, 2005 at 12:37 pm

    Unbelievable tourney so far.
    The scenario generator has predicted 3 possible ‘gasm champs.

    ToroB21 wins if Michigan State beats UNC on Saturday.

    pwnt wins if UNC loses the championship on Monday.

    ProphetsOfRage wins if UNC wins the national championship on Monday.

    From a field of 50 to the final 3.
    If this were Survivor, Immunity would be mine & I’d be getting my “sorry I had to lie, cheat, steal, swear-on-my-step-nephew’s-life” speech ready for the jury.
    But it’s not Survivor.
    So no apologies.
    Just trash.
    Go ‘heels.

  10. 10
    SusieQ
    Posted March 28, 2005 at 1:11 pm

    I am just proud of myself for pulling into the top 10 after the points were updated from yesterday’s games.

  11. 11
    YouthInAsia
    Posted March 30, 2005 at 5:21 pm

    Not only were all those games close, but if they had all gone the other way ‘cept UNC i would have won my pool. I had UK and Zona…those mother f…

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