March Madness!

The last time I talked about March Madness, it was after Selection Sunday, and I was complaining about some of the teams that got into the tournament.  I was actually, very upset about it all, and about many of the teams that had received bids.  Mainly VCU and UAB.

Now, I have no right to ever talk about VCU not deserving to be in the tournament.  They didn't just win the First Four round.  They didn't just win the first round.  They didn't just win in the second round.  They didn't just win in the Sweet Sixteen.  They didn't just win in the Elite Eight.  They dominated a team that was seeded higher than them in every round.  That is something that is absolutely amazing.  No one thought that they deserved to be in the tournament, let alone thought that they would get into the Final Four.  Along the way, they defeated (11) USC, (6) Georgetown, (3) Purdue, (10) Florida State, and (1) Kansas.  They won all those games by an average of twelve points, with only one of the wins (Florida State) by single digits (72-71).  Seeing as my bracket has been trashed for a while now, I am now officially a Virginia Commonwealth fan for the rest of this tournament.

This is only the third time that a double digit seeded team has made the Final Four, and both the other times it has been an 11 seed.  George Mason in 2006 and LSU way back in 1986.  Also, a fun fact, of the ten times that Kansas has been a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, they have been defeated by an 8 or lower seed, four times.

The team that VCU is going to be playing in their Final Four game?  Oh, that's just 8th seeded Butler, who got to the NCAA finals last season.  Going into the tournament, every "expert" was saying that this was the weakest tournament in recent history, well, I don't know if this helps or hurts the expert's case, but it sure does make it an awesome story and really fun to watch.

-GP