March has arrived and that means one thing — March Madness. Teams from across the country battle it out for a chance at the Big Dance.
Though the tournament has not yet started, conference tournaments have finished up and brackets were just released this past Sunday. Based on the conference tournaments, we’re in store for a fierce competition.
The Big East tournament in particular was an intense combination of upsets and shocks. The final game between Georgetown and West Virginia came down to a Hail Mary shot by West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler with 4.2 seconds left. Chris Wright of Georgetown tried to make it even as he drove the court in the final seconds, but he was unsuccessful. West Virginia took home their first Big East championship.
There were similar situations in the ACC and SEC as schools such as Georgia Tech and Mississippi State made surprising runs to the final games. However, neither team was able to overcome their higher seeded opponent.
In the long run, these games essentially come down to two things: bragging rights and seeding. However, for Mississippi State this tournament means much more because they were in the hunt for a bid to March Madness. Because they were unable to defeat Kentucky in overtime and did receive an at-large bid, this great team is missing out on March Madness.
What does this all mean for Loyola? How do we benefit from these teams triumphs and upsets? We gain our own bragging rights — through pools. We’ve all done them; it seems like everywhere offers some sort of incentive for the person who does the best bracket picking.
Recently, places around Loyola’s campus have joined in the excitement. The Rec Plex, for example, offers incentives to people who submit their own bracket, so be on the lookout for organizations around campus joining in the Madness.
Don’t know much about basketball and need some help picking the teams? Sporting Web sites are great place to pick up on what’s going down and who to be on the watch for. “Bracketology” comes down to something of a science. It comes down to a breakdown of seeding in each division, each teams’ win ability percentage, and teams’ past performances in the NCAA tournament.
I’ll skip the nitty-gritty of the first, second and regional rounds and get to my picks for the Final Four. I think Kansas and Kentucky are locks. Both teams are number one seeds and have a lot of history in this tournament. As much as I like San Diego State as a sleeper team, there’s no way they can take on the powerhouse of Kansas.
The West division is a tougher pick, but I have to stick with the number one seed Syracuse. Teams like Vanderbilt or Pittsburgh could take them out in an earlier round, but my gut tells me Syracuse will make it to the semi-finals.
I have to go with Villanova from the South Division for the sheer fact that it is against my better judgment to put all four number one seeds that far into the semi-finals.
My process isn’t the most scientific but picking a bracket doesn’t have to be excruciating.
Leigh Pechon can be reached at [email protected]
