Leave it up to Duke to effectively destroy March Madness by killing the cinderella story, stomping all over the little guy, and giving the NCAA committee exactly what they want. With the tournament expanding to 96 teams imminent there will not be much hope left for teams from non-power conferences to make a great run for the title. It's sad that it's all about the money rather than the love of the game. Oh no, North Carolina didn't make it in, let's expand it so they can rake us in more cash! The expansion would not be so bad if 1) the selection committee actually knew how to seed properly, 2) the refs knew how to officiate properly, and 3) if the bias towards power conference teams wasn't so obvious. Only against against a Horizon league team could Duke blatantly elbow someone in the face twice and not get a call against them. But back to the expansion, who do you think this will help: Coastal Carolina, a 28-7 team that won the Big South but did not make the tournament because they did not win their conference tourney, or a terrible 18-16 Connecticut team? What, you never heard of Coastal Carolina? I guess the NCAA has to put UConn in the tournament even though they would get smoked. Butler winning would have given mid-majors hope, and it would also help recruits who might not start for Kentucky play for Siena instead, believing that if they can put a good TEAM together, then just maybe a championship run isn't so far-fetched. However, Duke basically spit on all of our hopes and dreams. Now, maybe they'll prove me wrong and help out the good mid-majors by expanding instead of putting in average power teams just because of their name.
And maybe they'll change the BCS into a playoff system...
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Shocking Upsets
The Sweet 16 round begins today, and there are two 6's, a 9, 10, 11, and 12 seeds remaining. A 1 seed and a 2 seed have already been eliminated, with the obvious notable being Northern Iowa upsetting Kansas. After that game ended, sports analysts were debating if that was the most shocking upset ever. I've decided to look at previous upsets in recent March Madness history to the best of my recollection to see if UNI/Kansas was indeed the biggest shocker ever.
2008 - In a year where all 1 seeds made the Final Four for the first time ever, the first round in particular was highly entertaining, with two 12 vs. 13 seeds being set up for the second round. 12 seed Villanova and 13 seed Siena took down Clemson and Vanderbilt to set up one match, and Western Kentucky over Drake and San Diego over UConn setting up another. As great as these upsets were, Clemson and Vanderbilt have a history of choking in the tournament, and Drake was overseeded, or perhaps purposely placed in the 5 spot to keep the 5/12 curse alive. The only true shocker here was UConn. Even with these upsets, the big story of this year was 10 seed Davidson making the Elite Eight and coming so close to upsetting (you guessed it) Kansas, losing by a mere two points. Everybody knows about the rise of Stephen Curry, so let's move on.
2005 - Also known as the year Illinois failed us all, this year was full of upsets. (12) Milwaukee over (5) Alabama and (4) Boston College, (11) UAB over (6) LSU, (7) West Virginia over (2) Wake Forest, (10) NC State over (2) UConn, (13) Vermont over (4) Syracuse, and (14) Bucknell over (3) Kansas. This also had a 6 and 7 seed in the Elite 8, which is always nice to see. Out of those NC State was the biggest shocker of all, having the most regular season losses entering the tournament at 13 and yet making the Sweet 16.
2004 - This year has in my opinion the 2nd biggest upset of the decade, with a particularly weak (9) UAB team defeating overall 1 seed Kentucky in the second round by one point, busting millions of brackets including mine. UAB is in a weaker conference and had more losses than UNI did this year, and there was much discussion about whether this year's Kansas team really had the chemistry needed to win a championship. Case in point, UNI/Kansas, as shocking as it was, is only the 3rd most shocking upset. So what is #1?
2006 - I still remember the commentary just after the final Elite Eight game ended, it was short and sweet, "Show me the bracket that has this Final Four." In 2006, the last four teams remaining were (2) UCLA, (3) Florida, (4) LSU, and the ultimate cinderella team, (11) George Mason. GM over UConn in the Elite Eight is one of the greatest upsets I've ever seen, as UConn was by far the heavy favorite to win the championship this year. Also, George Mason had to go through Michigan State and UNC to get here (they lucked out of facing Tennessee due to Wichita State defeating them). It's only fitting that the best tournament ever (arguably) had the best upset as well.
2008 - In a year where all 1 seeds made the Final Four for the first time ever, the first round in particular was highly entertaining, with two 12 vs. 13 seeds being set up for the second round. 12 seed Villanova and 13 seed Siena took down Clemson and Vanderbilt to set up one match, and Western Kentucky over Drake and San Diego over UConn setting up another. As great as these upsets were, Clemson and Vanderbilt have a history of choking in the tournament, and Drake was overseeded, or perhaps purposely placed in the 5 spot to keep the 5/12 curse alive. The only true shocker here was UConn. Even with these upsets, the big story of this year was 10 seed Davidson making the Elite Eight and coming so close to upsetting (you guessed it) Kansas, losing by a mere two points. Everybody knows about the rise of Stephen Curry, so let's move on.
2005 - Also known as the year Illinois failed us all, this year was full of upsets. (12) Milwaukee over (5) Alabama and (4) Boston College, (11) UAB over (6) LSU, (7) West Virginia over (2) Wake Forest, (10) NC State over (2) UConn, (13) Vermont over (4) Syracuse, and (14) Bucknell over (3) Kansas. This also had a 6 and 7 seed in the Elite 8, which is always nice to see. Out of those NC State was the biggest shocker of all, having the most regular season losses entering the tournament at 13 and yet making the Sweet 16.
2004 - This year has in my opinion the 2nd biggest upset of the decade, with a particularly weak (9) UAB team defeating overall 1 seed Kentucky in the second round by one point, busting millions of brackets including mine. UAB is in a weaker conference and had more losses than UNI did this year, and there was much discussion about whether this year's Kansas team really had the chemistry needed to win a championship. Case in point, UNI/Kansas, as shocking as it was, is only the 3rd most shocking upset. So what is #1?
2006 - I still remember the commentary just after the final Elite Eight game ended, it was short and sweet, "Show me the bracket that has this Final Four." In 2006, the last four teams remaining were (2) UCLA, (3) Florida, (4) LSU, and the ultimate cinderella team, (11) George Mason. GM over UConn in the Elite Eight is one of the greatest upsets I've ever seen, as UConn was by far the heavy favorite to win the championship this year. Also, George Mason had to go through Michigan State and UNC to get here (they lucked out of facing Tennessee due to Wichita State defeating them). It's only fitting that the best tournament ever (arguably) had the best upset as well.
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