2008 Woodie Awards
Less madness doesn't necessarily mean bad tournament
By Adam Brewer
Rocket Sports Editor
Issue date: 3/23/07 Section: Sports
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The atmosphere around all of these games is amazing. People go crazy as they fill out their brackets, while watching their team lose.
Upsets, buzzer-beaters, cinderellas and, oh yeah, more coverage of teams from unknown conferences, such as Horizon, Sun Belt, Big Sky and Metro Atlantic Athletic are a norm during March Madness.
In prior years, underdog victories became a frequent occurrence, but this year the madness has slowed down. But that doesn't necessarily mean a winning bracket for yours truly.
Yes, I was one of those people who jumped on the bandwagon of Kevin Durant and thought that he could lead Texas to a championship, but thanks to the University of Southern California, a mediocre team from the Pac-10 and a team I picked to lose in the first round, my hopes of a flawless Final Four is now over.
I guess I will get over my misery, and maybe next year I will have a solid bracket, but back to the irregularities of this year's tourney.
It's time for the Sweet 16, and all of the No. 1 seeds (Florida, North Carolina, Kansas, and Ohio State) have survived the first two rounds of the tournament.
All of the No. 1 seeds will look to advance to the Final Four for the first time ever during March Madness. All of the No. 2 seeds, except for Wisconsin, who lost to the Running Rebels of UNLV in the second round, have also advanced to the second week of the tournament.
There are no typical double-digit seeds still left in the tournament and the lowest seed left is the No. 7 seed UNLV. The last time the round of 16 had no double-digit seeds was in 1995.
Other irregularity in this year's tourney has been the fact that 12 seeds upset five seeds in the first round. For 17 straight years, there has at least been one No. 5 seed to lose to a No. 12, but this year's five seeds (USC, Butler, Tennessee and Virginia Tech) all won their games and three out of those four teams are still alive in the tournament.
Another irregularity is only having one team from the Atlantic Coastal Conference and two teams from the Big East left in the tourney.
These two conferences were supposed to be the powerhouse conferences, but under-rated conferences like the Pac-10 and the Southeastern Conference each have three teams left in the tournament and are proving why college basketball is full of parity.
My last irregularity is actually a good one-the Pittsburgh Panthers didn't get embarrassed by a lower-seeded team and are in the Sweet 16 for only the fourth time in the school's history. Pitt may feel good with wins over Wright State and Virginia Commonwealth University, but I think that good vibe will stop in the Sweet 16 against UCLA.
Does not having any upsets and having the dominate teams still alive in the tournament make this year's tournament boring and unwatchable?
I don't think so. There are still numerous close games that have happened, there are still overtime games that have ended by buzzer-beaters, and there are still little known players making big time plays.
They can tell me who was going to win the games in the tourney, and I will still watch it. This is the biggest sporting event of the year and the most exciting games to watch on television.
After watching a full slate of tourney games, I tried to watch some NBA action over the weekend, and I simply couldn't. The college game is so much better, so much more team-oriented and smoother than the NBA game, which is all about one-on-one player match-up and is very sloppy.
The games in the tournament are going to get better as the field is narrowed down to one team that will hold the championship. By the way, my new and improved-and hopefully right Final Four picks-are Oregon, Kansas, Georgetown and Ohio State, with Kansas winning the whole thing. But remember my picks are subject to change at any given moment.
Adam Brewer is a senior journalism major and the sports editor for The Rocket.
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