In my NCAA tournament pool, I'm in 88th place or something like that.
That's what I get for trying to pick some upsets. My logic has always been this: There will be upsets, so I'll take a shot at picking some of them. That philosophy has blown up in my face this March.
Anybody who picked chalk is thriving in this year's office pools. All four No. 1 seeds survived the first weekend. So did all the No. 2 seeds. So did all the No. 3 seeds. Heck, two of the No. 4 seeds (Gonzaga, Xavier) survived too. The only "surprise" teams are No. 5 seed Purdue and No. 12 seed Arizona.
The mid-majors are basically out, unless you think of Gonzaga as a mid-major. Since Gonzaga is ranked in the Top 20 every year, it is hardly a lovable underdog.
For all the talk of parity, there really isn't much in this tournament. The power conferences are taking over. Davidson advanced to the Elite Eight last year. There won't be a good small-school story like that this season.
When the brackets were announced, there was a lot of screaming about the mid-majors getting a raw deal. I disagree with that.
Twenty-six of the 65 teams in the field were low- or mid-majors. That's 40 percent of the participants, a pretty decent number. After the first two rounds, only Gonzaga remains.
That shows that this was a down year for the small and mid-major conferences. Sure, Siena (left), Western Kentucky and Cleveland State got through the first round. But we're used to seeing one of those type of teams break through into the second weekend. Didn't happen.
Mid-majors only got four at-large bids this year. We can now see why. I felt Creighton should have been selected for the tournament instead of Arizona. Given that Arizona made the Sweet 16, I don't have much of an argument there anymore.
It's too bad all the little guys got knocked out early. Once your team is eliminated, it's fun to root for the underdog. Who is the underdog this year? I'm not sure. All these teams are from power conferences.
So, I'm rooting for the teams from my favorite power conference: The Big Ten. Michigan State was the best team in the Big Ten all year. I hope the Spartans carry the flag for the conference and take it all the way. I'll be rooting for Purdue to upset Connecticut in the next round, too. Why not?
Maybe some of the ESPN talking heads who hate the Big Ten will shut up if both Michigan State and Purdue keep advancing.
How about Xavier?
I could see them going to the Final Four. I definitely think they got a shot to upset Pitt.
I picked Western Kentucky to beat the I-L-L-I-N-I, and it had nothing to do with me hating the I-L-L-I-N-I. I liked Western Kentucky because they run a good offense, and they can shoot threes as you saw in the game against Illinois and Gonzaga. Western Kentucky could have went to the Sweet 16 if Gonzaga wasn't shooting well as they did, and that game should have been in overtime considering Western Kentucky was pleading for a timeout on Saturday night, which the refs blatantly ignored. If Western Kentucky defeated Gonzaga, they were a strong threat to go to the Final Four. They are a good team than people give credit for.
Another thing. Let's stop moaning about mid-majors not being in the Sweet 16. it's clear people got spoiled with George Mason and Davidson. It's not exactly easy winning a round whether it's a mid-major or an elite team. I am all for mid-majors advancing, and in fact, I was rooting like crazy to see Siena and Western Kentucky go to the sweet 16, and I was dying to see North Dakota State and Eastern Tennessee St. pull off historical upsets, and they should have finished the deal considering their games were winnnable (North Dakota State allowed too many offensive rebounds and Eastern Tennesee St. missed too many free throws). Siena should have made some of their shots late in their game against Louisville. It never happened so let's sit back and enjoy what we got.
Let's be happy that we had some upsets this past weekend, and enjoy for what it is.
Xavier does have a shot to beat Pitt, which has been unimpressive so
far in the tournament. I don't really consider Xavier to be a
mid-major, although the A-10 has mid-major teams playing in it. I see
Xavier as being a lot like Memphis, a high-major team that happens to
play in a mid-major conference.