Madness

March Madness, that is. The frenzied conference tournaments are over, and so college basketball's showcase event, the NCAA Tournament, is set to begin.

North Carolina, Connecticut, Louisville, and Pitt are the Number 1 seeds.

Duke won the ACC tournament for something like the 8th time in 11 years, showing that perhaps they are NOT over-rated (see my blog entry, "Is Duke Over-rated?").

Arizona made the field for the 25th straight season. Many people feel that they shouldn't have, but they came on strong late in the season.

Our New Mexico Lobos didn't make the cut.

Interesting stories all around, once again. Can James Harden pull Arizona State into the Final Four? Can Michigan State find the consistency for a strong run? Will the Big East dominate (they have three of the four Number 1 seeds!)? Can North Carolina win it all? Which teams will spring the big upsets? Will there be a Cinderella team?

Can USC stay hot?

The Pac-10 is fairly well-represented, with six teams in the field. Only BYU and Utah of the Mountain West made it. Seven of the Big Ten's eleven teams are in, including Michigan and Minnesota; seven teams each from the ACC and the Big East.

In this tournament, you usually expect the unexpected. No predictions here; I gave that up some years ago. It's enough fun to simply sit back and enjoy the show.

Time for some hoop!