Well, I'm glad to see there was some activity on this thread while I was gone, since there was so little on the court.
A few thoughts on the postings:
All props to Northern Iowa for knocking out top-ranked Kansas. I knew they had good help-defense and some decent options on offense, but I never gave them a chance against KU. I doubt if you did either. But I don't doubt you also whooped - one way or the other - when that mad Iranian bomber Farokhmanesh shot down the Jayhawks with that trey at 38 ticks. And from the Kansas viewpoint . . . well, perhaps they should change that "Rock Chalk" to "Brick Choke".
And while we're on the subject, props too to Cornell, St. Mary's, and Washington. Thanks for screwing up everybody's brackets.
When it comes to the Orange, I think they have a good shot at the Final Four, and put them there in my bracket. But I do not trust that zone to win a championship, especially when a talented and well-coached team has a week to prepare for it. Luckily for them, Butler and Xavier is the latter, and K-State the former, but neither is both. Unluckily for them, both Mich. State and Ohio State, possible semis opponents, ARE both.
Duke, another 1-seed, is in my eyes the least talented of the top teams left. But they are more talented than many of you give them credit, and are amongst the best coached squads left. They can beat you at their game or yours . . . and they can fall flat on their face. Fortunately for them, neither Purdue without Hummel nor Baylor/St. Mary's match up well against them, so they could . . . COULD! . . . walk into the FF.
Now for the sticky one: From what I've seen so far, Kentucky has played at a higher level than anybody else so far. If they keep it up, and considering the way they have diddled about in other games this season that is a sizable IF, they now have to be favored. At that point, we will need to wait and see if the NCAA lets them keep their wins. Perhaps you missed it, but a few days back the Sec. of Education Arne Duncan stated that there were a dozen teams in the Tourney with a graduation rate of less than 40%, and due to this he felt they should not even be allowed to compete - and UK was amongst these. As he put it, that's a low bar if you can't graduate 2 out of 5 of your student-athletes. Of course, he has no power over the NCAA, but he says he does intend to use the power of his office to push for such a requirement.
On a subject unrelated to this . . . leastwise for rabid Kentucky fans . . . the appeal of Memphis University to the NCAA regarding the penalties and sanctions levied against their 2007-08 team has been denied, and they have had to forfeit their 38 wins that year. As for whether or not they can keep that loss to Kansas in the championship game . . . you remember, the one they gave the Jayhawks from the line, after Calipari said all season that their poor free-throw shooting hadn't hurt them yet, so why think that it would now? . . . well, I suppose they can keep it.
OK, let the spitballs fly. I'm ready!