Houston…We Have No 1’s or 2’s!!

Does March get anymore mad than it has this year in the 2011 NCAA Tournament? Wow, I do believe this has been as unpredictable a tournament as we’ve ever witnessed! First, Pittsburgh gets upset in the 2nd round by the magical Butler Bulldogs in possibly the craziest finish in NCAA tournament history…then duke gets smashed in the 3rd round by Arizona (in my favorite upset of the tourney :) ) as well as Ohio State falling to Kentucky. Finally, to officially finish off all the #1 seeds, the play-in Cinderella team VCU, knocks off Kansas in the Elite 8.

So, the Final Four is now set for Houston, and FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, no #1 or #2 seeds are in, and it’s also only the 3rd time in history that no #1 seeds are in.

The beginning of the tournament started off somewhat predictable…with the exception of Morehead State knocking off Dicky V’s national champion pick, Louisville. I mean there were some typical upsets, but out of the top 5 seeds in each region, only one #4 seed and one #5 seed were upset in the first round. Then, of course, from round 2 on is when things starting getting “mad.” It’s been fun to watch, exciting as always, but also very depressing. And, don’t even get me started about my busted bracket. I felt as though I had the most educated bracket that I ever filled out… turns out it’s the worst bracket I ever filled out and I’m currently 21st in the Rivalry Rage bracket pool we established.

In the end, we are less than a week away from the Final Four, and exactly a week away from the national championship, which no doubt has all the makings of a historic final, with an 8 and 11 seed playing for a spot in that oh-so-glorious final game next Monday night. For the 2nd year in a row we will be watching a Cinderella team in the final game, and I just happen to believe that whichever Cinderella team makes it to next Monday, will be your national champions.

Of course that would be the only thing I picked correctly this year…

Final Four – UCONN 72. Kentucky 64. – Butler 71. VCU 68.

Championship – Butler 71. UCONN 63


Stephen Bethea aka “Dr. Smack” – Rivalry Rage, Inc.