Madness continues as always

The Hot Corner

Every year the NCAA men's basketball tournament turns even the most reserved sports fans into college hoops addicts. The 2004 March Madness has been no different than years past.

By the time the dust cleared last Sunday night, sports fans were left with 16 teams fighting for the right to be crowned national champions. At this time, I, much like many other sports fans, reached two conclusions:

My bracket is toast yet, I love this tournament.

The destroyed bracket scenario happens to me every year, although going into this tournament, I still had hope. I was sure that this March would be mine. I was hoping that, for once, I would do the impossible and win my very own NCAA tournament pool.

I was extra careful with my predictions this year. I played strategic and safe, resulting in a solid set of Final Four teams. I researched, debated with myself and went through two rough drafts before turning in my final tournament bracket.

Of course it didn't matter — it never does. That's what makes this tournament so great. No matter how hard you try, something always catches you by surprise — it's the parity of college sports at its finest.

In the first round of the St. Louis bracket, I picked the No. 10-seeded University of Nevada to beat No. 7 Michigan State University. Nevada won and moved on to face the No. 2-seeded Gonzaga University Bulldogs in the second round, a matchup about which I was not at all concerned. For weeks I boasted about Gonzaga and I was sure the Bulldogs would advance to the Final Four behind their strong senior leadership and fulfill my bracket dreams.

At this point, I should have known what was going to happen. I should have seen it coming. Whenever I'm not concerned about a game, things have a tendency not to work out in my favor, but the alarm never went off in my head. Unfortunately for both me and Gonzaga, someone must have hit the snooze button.

The Bulldogs lost 91-72. For the second year in a row, I became the first participant in my pool to lose a Final Four team. My chances at winning this year's pool now hover around zero percent.

The Gonzaga meltdown was only a precursor for what was to come. After an opening round where only four of the 32 games were won by lower-ranked teams, the proverbial wheels came off the wagon for the favorites in round two.

With the wheels off, the scene was set for the mayhem to continue.

Saturday night in the Phoenix bracket, No. 1 Stanford University lost to No. 8 University of Alabama. The upset trend in this section continued Sunday as No. 3 North Carolina State University was defeated by No. 6 Vanderbilt University.

From that point on, the weekend proved to be one for the underdogs as two more high seeds were knocked off. First, the Atlanta bracket suffered its first big upset as No. 2 Mississippi State University lost to No. 10 Xavier University.

Finally, we returned to the St. Louis bracket and watched in awe as No. 1 University of Kentucky was shocked by No. 9 University of Alabama-Birmingham.

At this point, many of us have given up on hoping for that perfect NCAA run. Let's face it, if your bracket escaped the first weekend unscathed, you should be tested for extra sensory perception because that kind of luck just doesn't exist. The fact is, most of us were totally wrong in our predictions. As a sports fan, I love it.

The great thing about the NCAA tournament lies in its unpredictability.

Forget about the bracket pools for just a second and focus on the tournament itself. This is the sporting event that truly lives up to the adage "any team can win on any day."

We are drawn to this because we love to see upsets happen, even if it means the death of our brackets.

Because of this excitement, we can scream at the top of our lungs in anger as teams such as Nevada and UA-B destroy our brackets, and then later cheer for these same teams because they have reminded us that anything is possible.

It's events like the NCAA tournament that bring out the greatest competition and the best side of sports. It's moments like these that keep us on the edge of our seats every March.

James Irwin is a sophomore SMAD major who still is searching for that elusive NCAA tournament pool victory that so many other sports fan still are hoping for.