Your bracket’s busted.
Kansas is gone. Georgetown and Maryland are out. Villanova and New Mexico went adios. Power conferences only outnumber the small leagues 11-5.
Your money is at the bottom of the office pool. The boss’ kid is alive picking favorite names, but hours of researching and a lifetime of watching basketball leaves you with zip-a-dee-doo-dah.
It’s the Bittersweet 16 for many of you. You have enough teams to avoid official elimination, but most of you need a miracle to finish above those office mates who entered to be part of the gang despite knowing nothing about basketball.
You’re not alone. Obama may have won health care, but he’s 341,262nd in the ESPN pool. And the president picked Kansas to win it all, so he’s between a rock chalk and last place after the Jayhawks went out in the second round.
There were no perfect brackets among the 4.32 million on ESPN, with only four having 15 of 16 teams remaining. I have 10 left and only one Final Four team, but at least it’s Kentucky.
So now what? Besides the greatness of the game itself? Like watching on the college basketball court what Americans dream of having settled on a football field isn’t enough?
Fill out a consolation bracket. Time for second chances and another $5 in the hat. Learn from past mistakes and consider underdogs after dismissing them a week ago.
I’m staying with Kentucky for the championship, but my new Final Four includes Duke, Ohio State and Syracuse. That’s three No. 1s and No. 2 Ohio State. Looks like the selection committee was largely right after all.
Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse looked like top seeds, stomping through their first two games. Ohio State had a little tougher route but still dispatched a tenacious Georgia Tech squad.
It would be easy to get caught up in long shots Cornell, St. Mary’s or Northern Iowa, especially since the latter catches an injured Michigan State, which would be a serious contender if it were healthy. Still, the competition tends to catch up with the smaller programs; George Mason was a perfect example of a Cinderella finally being overwhelmed in the Final Four. The underdogs go back to campus after springing a couple upsets, and suddenly the adrenaline is gone. They would have a better chance if the tournament were seven straight days.
Expect Kentucky to knock out Cornell on Thursday, while Northern Iowa will be dispatched by Ohio State on Sunday. St. Mary’s won’t get by Duke on Sunday. The Blue Devils may be overrated at times but rarely give away postseason games to underdogs.
The best weekend game should be the West Region final between No. 1 Syracuse vs. No. 2 Kansas State. But a Kentucky-West Virginia East final could be a dandy, too.
So fill in your consolation bracket. Maybe it feels like winning the NIT, but it’s better than spending the next year listening to others taunt you about how they won by picking names or mascots.
Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
