The Bat Cave

While my bracket doesn’t look like complete shit after the first two rounds, I do feel like I made some unforgivable mistakes that someone with the basketball knowledge I’ve developed this year should have avoided (Boston College). How Barack Obama picked more Sweet 16 teams correctly than I did is beyond my comprehension. This year has been relatively straight forward as 13 of the top 16 teams on the last AP Poll have advanced to the Sweet 16 (with Florida State, Wake Forest, and Washington being the only victims). Purdue was ranked #17 and Xavier was ranked #20, so it’s not like those teams advancing are all that shocking, especially since Xavier (a 4 seed) was actually favored to do so. The only team that’s in the Sweet 16 that is surprising is Arizona, a team that almost everyone thought shouldn’t have made the tournament in the first place with their mediocre 19-13 record. Even so, Arizona has probably had the easiest path to the Sweet 16. Despite being a 12 seed facing a 5 seed in the first round, I don’t think the world was too startled to see a Pac-10 team with three legitimate stars topple Utah, a representative from a weaker conference with no household names. I wasn’t surprised at least, as I didn’t hesitate very long in predicting that upset in the first round. For the second round, Arizona faced the only Cinderella type team to advance (Cleveland State) and beat them rather easily. So, all in all, the representatives in the Sweet 16 are unsurprising and the only team I think is a clear top 16 team that is no longer in the tournament is Wake Forest, but they have been inconsistent all season.

1st Round: 23 of 32
2nd Round: 11 of 16
Elite 8 Teams Left: 7 of 8
Final 4 Teams Left: 4 of 4

This weekend is going to suck for me. I work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and even though I might be able to get off early the first two days, I really can’t afford to. I need $$$$… so I’m likely going to miss 75% of the action this weekend after getting to see virtually all of the first two rounds. Fortunately, I scheduled myself off for all the Final Four games and the championship.

Performance Of The Tournament (so far): Cole Aldrich, 13 points, 20 rebounds, 10 blocks in 60-43 win over Dayton.