Case of the Mondays: I guess they call this March Madness

March 12th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

Pat Forde makes an excellent point in the first few paragraphs of his column from yesterday. Forde writes: “It’s now time for those of us who have been living and dying with every dribble since November to look on in disgust as the office pools are won by secretaries who make their picks based on team colors.”

He’s right, you know. The many of us who follow this game religiously are consistently outnumbered and outflanked by those who don’t, those who enjoy the tournament simply for its structure and distraction. It’s one of the things that makes me sort of sad every year; watching lots college basketball games, one of the great joys of my life, is sometimes what causes me to be so bad at picking college basketball games.

With that in mind, it’s time to think about this year’s version of America’s best tournament. The team I follow most closely got a surprising seven seed (if you don’t know, I’m going to make you guess which seven seed I’m referring to.) Illinois somehow snuck in without a really solid win and stole that No. 12 seed from Drexel, whose coach was furious on the selection show yesterday. Suppose I can’t really blame him, but too many unworthy teams beat the Drexalators (that’s their mascot, right?) throughout the year, so their high-profile road wins look a little less impressive.

Very quickly, as the teams stand, here is a short and perhaps soon to be updated list of squads who can actually win this thing:

No. 1 Florida, No. 1 Ohio State, No. 1 Kansas, No. 1 North Carolina: This is pretty obvious. All four seeds deserved their spots, and all four can definitely win this thing. Kansas is maybe the weak link here; I can’t bring myself to trust Bill Self in the tournament.

No. 2 Georgetown, No. 2 UCLA: Memphis is too streaky, and Wisconsin is too slow and too crippled without Butch. But UCLA can get hot at the right time, and Georgetown is almost a sure thing to play in their regional final.

After that, I’ve got: No. 3 Pittsburgh, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Texas, No. 4 Maryland, and, as a stretch, No. 6 Louisville: Like I said, Louisville’s a stretch, but they’re hitting their stride at the right time, as is Maryland. Durant could lead Texas to a Carmelo-esque National Title, or they could be done by next Sunday. Aaron Gray has to show up for Pittsburgh, but they could be dangerous, and A&M is just a tough team.

We’ll do more in detail on this thing later, but this is a start. It’s going to be an awesome couple of weeks, huh?