I’ve only been to Las Vegas twice in my life. The first was during spring break of my senior year in college, when I flew out and met up with some of my high school friends for the first four
I’ve only been to Las Vegas twice in my life.
The first was during spring break of my senior year in college, when I flew out and met up with some of my high school friends for the first four days of the NCAA Tournament.
Actually, it wasn’t my spring break, which had been a week earlier. It was their spring break and I just rewarded myself with an additional spring break to enjoy the madness. Needless to say, after the first week in Mexico and the second in Vegas, my ability to eat solid foods suffered for what felt like six months afterward.
My second trip to Vegas was for my friend’s bachelor party (so cliche) and took place during the second weekend of the 2009 tournament. All documents and records of that trip have since been destroyed.
While those trips were incredibly fun, the great thing about this particular college basketball tournament is that it can be just as easily enjoyed from anywhere. I have great memories of grabbing sandwiches from one of the local Italian eateries near my high school, heading over to my buddy’s house and watching CBS in the basement for the next eight hours.
These days, we don’t even have to count on Greg Gumbel to guide us from game to game and be responsible for making sure we see all the amazing finishes. Every game of the tournament is on in its entirety. The networks seem to be putting their faith in us to find our own path.
That’s both inspiring and probably foolish. I’m sure a fair share of remotes have had regrettable encounters with living room walls this week by people flipping to the wrong channel and missing a buzzer-beater.
We’ve again been spoiled with great games to this point, with the first day’s action rivaling — but not eclipsing — last year’s non-stop opening day of excellence. There really weren’t many true upsets in the first round, with Morehead State — for its heroics — and possibly VCU — for its dominance over Georgetown — being the biggest shockers.
Richmond (12), Gonzaga (11) and Marquette (11) making it through weren’t totally unexpected, but still great wins for each program and further proof that the difference between the teams ranked 11 through 50 is pretty negligible.
Then Butler stepped in and made us remember what’s so great about March with a buzzer-beater win over Old Dominion, followed by a ridiculous finish to send the first No. 1 seed packing on Saturday.
It seems like each year is its own reminder. We have the same epiphany every March. “Oh yeah, these games are always competitive,” is the collective thought of the masses, which lets us know that our memory somehow only has a recall of the past 330 days. Good to know.
In the past five days, the field of 68 has been sliced down to 24.
(By the way, this whole 68 teams business deserves its own column — just not today. I don’t want to spoil anything with negativity.)
After this evening, we’ll only have 15 more games left in the tournament. It always makes me a little sad once the final horn goes off at the conclusion of the first Sunday’s late game. Not only do we have to wait four days before the next round tips, we have to wait 361 days until next year’s opening weekend.
But again, focusing on negatives is stupid. There are eight more games on tap today, which should provide some more memorable moments.
Oh, and if you happened to use my picks from yesterday’s games (in which I went 7-1, including the Butler victory) for any wagering purposes — which I of course cannot endorse — please don’t feel the need to offer a kickback. I’m not in this for the recognition or the ego boost.
Signed,
The Pick Master
