The Madness: Initial Thoughts

Greetings.... You knew I'd be here for March Madness.... Here's a couple things to get us started...

• No full-bracket posting until at least Wednesday... it will come...
• I did a family tradition (thanks, Dad) and did my full bracket in about 2 minutes.... aka just using the initial instinct of what I'd go with just using what I already know and not contemplating.... I ended up with a final 4 of Kansas, Cuse, Duke and Wisconsin.... FYI
• A word on snubs.... Florida has no business in the field.... none... and especially not as a 10-seed.... Mississippi State has a wildly similar resume, and they just beat them on a neutral floor a few days ago... and yet, I still would have gone with Virginia Tech over both of them despite their non-conference schedule... the ACC is still vastly tougher than the SEC... tough to ignore the in-conference results... basically they put the 3rd best team of these 3 in.... oh yeah, and I would've taken Illinois before Florida too
• Seeding issues... There are alot of them.... Maryland as a 4 (too high), Gonzaga as an 8 (too low), UTEP as a 12 (too low), Florida (duh), Clemson as a 7 (too high), Notre Dame as a 6 (ludicrously high, worst seeding of all), Villanova (too high)....
• A word on Duke... I don't have the biggest of issues with them getting a "higher" #1 seed than Syracuse... they won their league regular season and tournament, have a very impressive resume and 'Cuse stumbled down the stretch... plus, it doesn't MATTER... remember when they didn't use to release the "order" of #1's? It's irrelevant... what I will say is that Duke gets by far the easiest road and that's inexcusable... you can't realistically lineup Duke's road and Kansas's road (the overall #1) and tell me Duke's isn't wildly easier.... that needs to be done away with.... Simply look at the #2 seeds in their region's for ease... Ohio State is either best or 2nd-best #2 seed (along with WV), and Villanova is clearly the worst #2 seed by resume... how don't these flip-flop? Sigh.... hate when this stuff gets the pub leading up to the tourney

It's the most exciting sports week of the year in my opinion... wall-to-wall games from Thursday at noon til late into Sunday... Enjoy it... My bracket and thoughts will be up by the tip on Thursday