looking ahead
(the day that was)


with the first day in the books, i am 12-4. not too bad. right around where everyone else is unless you really went out on a limb and picked against several higher seeds. if you had just picked higher seeds yesterday, you'd be sitting pretty at 14-2 and rank higher than 90 percent of the country. oh well. what's the fun in that, right? the only outcome that i am disappointed in is the usc loss. i've always been blinded by "stars" and usc and o.j. mayo forced me to wear shades. in addition to mayo, the trojans showcase three other future nba guys. sure they had lost ten games this year. maybe that should've weighed heavier than i let it. but last night, it didn't make a difference. k-state has michael beasley, the soon-to-be number one pick in the nba draft, and he was better than mayo. bill walker was way better than the next best performer for the trojans, and that was that. it wasn't an upset. k-state was the better team. but it was a perfectly painted picture of how quickly one's bracket can take serious hits. i had usc in the sweet sixteen, no further. so my chances are not ruined. yet. but all that has to happen is one team that you put too much faith in biting the dust and you are no longer in the running to win your pool.

the good news for me? i don't really have one of those teams. usc and marquette are both 6's and they are the only two teams that i have in my sweet sixteen that would even be considered mild surprises if they got there. everything else is pretty much chalk. which means two things. i was a lot less balls-y this year than i have been in the past. and, two, i will probably have, at least, a shot to be around the top until the last weekend. if any of my final four teams flop, so will yours. everyone has the same final four. give or take swapping a one seed for a two in any given region.

the only way that anyone is going to pull away this year is if there are major upsets, a mid-to-low seed makes it to san antonio, and you picked them because they are your favorite team and you never felt like you could pull the trigger and knock them out of your bracket. for example, cookie cundiff didn't miss a game yesterday. he's the leader after the first round. but his family is from indiana. he gushes over indiana basketball. and he has them picked to win the title. and unless eric gordon finds his inner jordan, well, that ain't happening. so, enjoy your day in the sun, cookie. i picked indiana too. today. unc will then relegate cookie's bracket to the bottom half of our pool come sunday.

if anything's to be gleaned from yesterday as i look forward to today and the rest of the weekend, it's that i don't see a george mason from two years ago (thank god!) happening. we may see a couple "upsets" today, but nothing huge is going to happen. and the romantics that root for that and then complain about the crappy basketball the rest of the way may be disappointed, but i will not.

no bold predictions here. just a comfortable resignation that this is going to be a very fun tournament to watch unfold, because all the "gutty" teams with "gritty", floppy-haired white guys with "something to prove" will be at home by sunday.