Spring break was fun, but now reality is setting in and decisions are going to be made. Those of us who are graduating — including me — have just a few weeks to get all our ducks in a row and make the biggest choices of the spring so far.
We have to choose who to root for in the NCAA Tournament.
If you’re like me, your brackets were severely torn apart by the first two rounds this past weekend.
I’m sure you nearly spit out your beer on the beach when you heard Duke was upset by West Virginia (which I called, by the way).
I’m sure you needed a double take when you saw Davidson downed second-seeded Georgetown Sunday.
And who would have thought lowly 12th-seed Western Kentucky would still be in the chase? The Hilltoppers play the mighty UCLA Bruins today.
When I chose my brackets, I was on my cell phone in a hotel room in Panama City. I usually put a little more thought into it, but I had to choose quick and wisely.
I’m always the type of guy who chooses plenty of upsets. This year, I merely chose the wrong teams to be upset.
I called for a Kansas State upset over Southern Cal, but I also picked the Wildcats over Wisconsin in the second round. That was a rookie mistake. I should have known the Badgers were a much more fundamentally sound team and freshman Michael Beasley wouldn’t be able to keep the upset train moving into the Sweet 16.
I also called for a Winthrop upset over Washington State in the first round. What a stupid, stupid pick.
The Cougars have looked like one of the most solid teams in the tournament, although the team hasn’t played very tough teams. Their dominating performance over Notre Dame Saturday was impressive though.
Villanova has worked its way into the field of 16 to everyone’s surprise, knocking off 5th-seeded Clemson and 13 seed Sienna, who surprised Vanderbilt in the first round. Nova won’t see much more action, however, as it faces No. 1 Kansas next.
North Carolina looks like a mini NBA team. The Tar Heels have scored 113 and 108 points in the first two rounds respectively. Anyone who doesn’t have them at least in the Final Four is a fool.
But then again, the fun of the NCAA Tournament is not knowing which team will be the last one laughing. It’s not like college football, where one can make an extremely educated guess on which team will be in the national championship game.
North Carolina, hands down the most impressive team I have seen in a while, still has to face Washington State today.
Assuming the Tar Heels win, they then have to take on the winner of the Louisville/Tennessee game. Then comes the Final Four, likely against Kansas or Wisconsin.
There are plenty of landmines for every team to navigate through on its way to San Antonio. Therefore, educated guesses are useless.
The beauty of college basketball also resides in the nailbiting finishes.
It’s likely that most of you were on a beach when Duke squeezed by Belmont in the first round. You were probably passed out when San Diego upset UConn in overtime.
You were likely recovering from the weekend when Tennessee inched by Butler in the second round on Sunday.
Trust me, I didn’t catch any of them either. But I caught the highlights.
It was difficult to keep up with all of the games for me because I had to journey across a beach and up 16 floors to catch up with the action.
Some advice to Auburn University: try not to schedule the opening rounds of March Madness during spring break. It’s too hard for us kids to keep up with partying and the tournament.
Of course, maybe if Auburn actually appeared regularly in the tournament, the powers that be might consider doing so.
But until then, we must choose our paths: beer or brackets?
