March Madness: Not the Dance I Planned On

Storylines from one of the wildest NCAA tournaments to date

Austin Danforth

Issue date: 4/4/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Gerald Herbert

Once again, my beautifully constructed bracket was foiled by the ides of March, a.k.a. David and Goliath this time. I thought I had it this time, and I definitely didn't think I'd not have a single team left standing come the Final Four.

For the first time I can remember, I failed (miserably, shamefully, foolishly) to correctly predict even one eventual Final Four team. In doing so, I also ended my personal streak of picking 6 out of the last 7 national champions. Damn Villanova. It wasn't even George Mason's fault; I brought this hell upon myself.

It wasn't the first round that did me in. I concede each year that I'm more than likely not going to pick every game correctly, but as long as I get more than 24 games right, that's OK. I don't pride myself on picking every game accurately, not quantity but quality. I'd like to think that my basketball knowledge is ample enough to pick out the final four teams and the eventual victor, but this year I looked like a rube.

First Round: 23 right, 9 wrong. Only three of my final four remain.

Then the second round took the craziness to a different level.

Iona? They never made it to the second round, so it was impossible to win in the second round. Kansas, Michigan State? They suffered the same fate as the Iona Gaels. I almost forgot, credit for knocking out Michigan State (one of my Final Four participants) does indeed go to the overachieving Patriots of George Mason. Part of what became my theme for the month, adding insult to injury; Ohio State didn't live to see the Sweet Sixteen because they were knocked off by Georgetown.

Second Round: 9 right. I'm barely above average, still my big three are holding strong.

I'm pretty sure it was the Sweet Sixteen that did me in. UCLA, with the ghosts of their 11 previous national championships, John Wooden (in the flesh), and former hippie Bill Walton (also there, regrettably), managed to knock off national Player of the Year Adam Morrison and Gonzaga in a barn-burner. Duke, led by long-range bomber J.J. Redick, was successfully pummeled by LSU (Big Baby and Co.). On the same night as the Gonzaga-UCLA game West Virginia got sniped by Texas at the buzzer, down goes yet another of my Elite Eight teams. Damn it.

Third Round: 2 right. Villanova, my national champ, remains out of my ill-fated final four after playing a great game to defeat Boston College.

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