Bracket busted!

March Madness


Like millions of others, my NCAA selections are out the window. How can anyone miss just one, or two...or three? I guess there are a few bracket punchers still in the running for some kind of prize, but certainly not the billion dollars that Warren Buffett has dangled in front of our faces.

I'll still be getting mortgage info from Quicken Loans for the next five years, reminding me of how stupid I was in my selections. I'm like 34 of 48 for goodness sake -- and I thought I knew my stuff!

My Final Four is still alive as we head to the Sweet Sixteen. Florida, Arizona, Michigan State and Louisville. Chances are one of those will go down this week and end what little bragging rights I have left.

To my credit, most of my losses were buzzer beaters. Ohio State in the second round, Syracuse in the third, Cincinnati falls to Harvard in Round 2, Stanford follows with a win over Kansas, Duke loses to Mercer, North Dakota State wins its opener...well, I could go on and on.

Still, there is nothing like March Madness. I'm on the edge of my seat as Ohio State's Aaron Craft misses a last-second layup...or Bryce Cotton, the former Tucson Palo Verde star, hit shot after shot, only to see his Providence team fall to Iowa State...or look on in awe as 14th-seeded Mercer surprises Duke, a third seed.

I even felt sorry (just for a moment) as Arizona State bows out of the tourney, losing a heart-breaker to Texas, 87-85 and you gotta love 12th-seeded Stephen F Austin, a surprise winner over VCU, and, of course what a great story line -- it is "Miller Time" as Archie Miller coaches his Dayton team to the Sweet Sixteen, while his "older brother" Sean, leads the Arizona Wildcats to the Sweet Sixteen with back-to-back wins over Weber State and Gonzaga.

The thing about it...we are just heating up. My goodness, this week we have Florida vs UCLA, Dayton vs Stanford, Virginia vs Michigan State, Iowa State vs UConn, Baylor vs Wisconsin, Tennessee vs Michigan, Arizona vs San Diego State and the one ESPN and the other networks can't stop talking about, Louisville and Kentucky.

Maybe, after Arizona stuffs the Aztecs and follows up with a win over Wisconsin (I'm guessing, it could very well be Baylor) to reach the Final Four...just maybe, the networks will start to give Arizona some LOVE!

Until then, all the TALK will continue to focus on the team east of the Rio Grande.

All I can say for now, is take a look at three of the Sweet Sixteen -- Arizona, UCLA and Stanford. Three teams from the Pac-12 Conference still standing and if all three are victorious this week, then those fans from the East Coast will have to stay up late to find out what is going on out WEST!

As for my Arizona Wildcats, I can't wait until Thursday morning. Go get 'em 'Cats!