Well as much as I like to badmouth the NCAA, It would be nearly unamerican to not love the Tournament. So I'll present to you my bracket. I'm in several pools, but only one of them I'm actually paying for. I also got real lazy and have the same bracket for every pool I'm in. I figure that only 1 bracket making me insanely angry by Saturday afternoon is enough. Seriously, I always do so bad at these.
One of the "for-fun" pools is among Basketball Bloggers, namely those from the End of The Bench, Next NBA, and KnickerBlogger.
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Kentucky
Florida A&M
Washington
UAB
Providence
Pacific
Kansas
Illinois-Chicago
Boston College
Utah
Georgia Tech
Northern Iowa
Michigan St.
Nevada
Gonzaga
Valparaiso
St. Joseph's
Liberty
Texas Tech
Charlotte
Florida
Manhattan
Wake Forest
VCU
Wisconsin
Richmond
Pittsburgh
UCF
Memphis
S. Carolina
Oklahoma St.
Eastern Wash.
Duke
Alabama St.
Seton Hall
Arizona
Illinois
Murray St.
Cincinnati
E. Tennessee St.
North Carolina
Air Force
Texas
Princeton
Xavier
Louisville
Mississippi St.
Monmouth
Stanford
TX San Antonio
Alabama
Southern Ill.
Syracuse
BYU
Maryland
UTEP
Vanderbilt
West. Michigan
N.C. State
LA Lafayette
DePaul
Dayton
Connecticut
Vermont
Kentucky
Washington
Pacific
Kansas
Boston College
Georgia Tech
Michigan St.
Gonzaga
St. Joseph's
Charlotte
Manhattan
Wake Forest
Wisconsin
Pittsburgh
S. Carolina
Oklahoma St.
Duke
Arizona
Illinois
Cincinnati
North Carolina
Texas
Xavier
Mississippi St.
Stanford
Alabama
BYU
Maryland
Vanderbilt
N.C. State
DePaul
Connecticut
Kentucky
Kansas
Georgia Tech
Michigan St.
St. Joseph's
Wake Forest
Pittsburgh
Oklahoma St.
Duke
Illinois
Texas
Mississippi St.
Stanford
Maryland
N.C. State
Connecticut
Kentucky
Georgia Tech
Wake Forest
Oklahoma St.
Duke
Mississippi St.
Stanford
Connecticut
Kentucky
Oklahoma St.
Mississippi St.
Stanford
Oklahoma St.
Stanford
St. Louis
East Ruth.
Atlanta
Phoenix
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Anyway, don't worry: I haven't sold out the NBA just yet, this is only temporary. I still think that the NBA playoffs is a better postseason. The NCAA tournament does give fans possibly the best weekend in sports calendar, the first 4 days of the tournament with all of the first round games. After that however, interest goes down considerably, due to either one's favorite team being eliminated, or their office bracket being totally destroyed.
No sir, I love the NBA playoffs more. Like the NFL, the NCAA tournament is way more popular because of the gambling aspect of it. But the NBA playoffs is unique in which the best team usually grinds out victory in a 7 game series. There are countless swings in momentum in every game and every series. While a tourney game may be a 40 minute skirmish, a classic NBA playoff series is all-out war for a whole week. While it's fun to see upsets, its also nice to see a postseason where the team that plays the best and is the best can claim the title.
I probably won't have much to say before next week, as the Bulls are on their death spiral towards a sea of lottery balls. They do get to head up to Toronto on Friday, which will be the anticipated return of former Raptors Antonio Davis and Jerome Williams. I'm sure Williams will get a standing ovation, while Davis will get rotten eggs thrown at him (and his wife). Check out Raptorblog in the coming days, I'm sure there will be some reminiscing, especially in the forum.