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For this sports fan, few events offer a prolonged and sustained period of sports enjoyment than the NCAA Men’s Championship Basketball Tournament, affectionately referred to as “March Madness.”  As exciting as this annual pilgrimage through the brackets is, we usually find ourselves starting at fearsome foursome of at or near top seeds during the Final Four weekend.  Not so in 2011.  Salute the infiltration of the Mid-Majors to the Final Four.

This weekend’s games are comprised of the #4 seed Kentucky Wildcats playing the #3 seed Connecticut Huskies (Saturday, 6:09PM EST) and the #11 Virginia Commonwealth Rams playing the #8 Butler Bulldogs.  When I watch the tournament every year, after rooting for my local interests, I secondarily have a secret crush on the underdogs.  Yeah, I’m telling you that my ultimate wish would be to see four #16 seeds make it to the Final Four and set the bracket right on its ear.

Why VCU is taking the cake after the jump >>

The AP released their preseason Top 25 poll today, and as expected, the team from Durham, North Carolina is at the top of their list. This should come as no surprise, considering the squad Coach K has on his hands. Besides names like Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, there’s an infusion of young talent with names like Kyrie Irving and Seth Curry. Not only is Duke the reigning National Champs, they’re also the favorite to win it again in 2011 (6-1 odds).

The Blue Devils also received 55 first place votes (out of 65). Michigan State received eight and Kansas State closed it out with two. This also comprises your top three, and for K-State, it’s their highest preseason ranking ever. Some, however, disagree with that version of Wildcats being ranked so high. Good thing college basketball decides these things on the court.

Anyway, your 2010/11 Preseason Top 25:

1. Duke (55)
2. Michigan State (8)
3. Kansas State (2)
4. Ohio State
5. Pittsburgh
6. Villanova
7. Kansas
8. North Carolina
9. Florida
10. Syracuse
11. Kentucky
12. Gonzaga
13. Illinois
14. Purdue
15. Missouri
16. Baylor
17. Butler
18. Washington
19. Memphis
20. Georgetown
21. Virginia Tech
22. Temple
23. Tennessee
24. BYU
25. San Diego

The conference breakdown is as follows:

ACC – three teams (Duke, Carolina, Virginia Tech)
Big 10 – four teams (Michigan State, Ohio State, Illinois, Purdue)
Big 12 – four teams (Kansas State, Kansas, Missouri, Baylor)
Big East – four teams (Pittsburgh, Villanova, Syracuse, Georgetown)
SEC – three teams (Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee)
Pac-10 – one team (Washington)

Which leaves six “non-BCS” schools in the top 25, including Gonzaga, Butler, Memphis, Temple, BYU and San Diego State.

Thankfully, the NCAA avoided depth-charging the preferred college basketball tournament by not expanding it to 96 teams, something that was quite feared shortly after Duke beat the Butler Bulldogs. While the basketball committee did decide to include more teams in upcoming editions, it won’t be a glut of schools that have no reason to challenge for a National Championship, regardless of name recognition.

According to a new article from Andy Katz, the expansion plans call for the addition of a new first round, one that will pit the last four at-large bid teams against the last four automatic qualifiers, in a newly-created round called the “First Four.” Some details:

The “First Four” will be played either the Tuesday or Wednesday after Selection Sunday. The winners of the four games will advance to what will now be called the “second round” on either Thursday or Friday. The newly named third round — with 16 games — will be Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the tournament — regional semifinals (Sweet 16) and regional finals (Elite Eight) — will remain as they have been, as will the Final Four, which is set for Houston in 2011…

[Tournament selection committee chairman Dan] Guerrero and [NCAA vice president Greg] Shaheen said the last four at-large teams would be put on the seed line the committee decided they earned. So, this could mean that two could be considered No. 12 seeds playing for the right to play a No. 5 and two could be No. 11s vying to play a No. 6 in the second round.

Essentially, these last eight teams will play each other in the “new” first round and the winner advances to play what we recognize as the old first round (now the second). Think of it this way, two teams will fight for the right to be a “12-seed” with the winner facing the traditional “5-seed” in the second round. The other two games will be an extension of the current “play-in game” scenario.

The “First Four” games will be shown on TruTV earlier in the week so they don’t interfere with the traditional start of the Big Dance.

With the Duke Blue Devils making perhaps an unexpected return to the Final Four, some members of the mainstream media have begun championing their cause, at least, in a way. More to the point, they are trying to get to the bottom of what they perceive as an unnatural hate for the Blue Devils, while saying those feelings probably aren’t necessary.

Fortunately for me, my reason is covered and excused by Gregg Doyel, but allow me to reiterate to those who might not be aware — I can sum up my dislike for Duke with three words:

Christian Donald Laettner

More insight after the jump >>

Seeing your team’s star player go down can’t very easy to watch, especially when it comes during a game where the Duke Blue Devils are handing you your asses — or at least the team you root for. While I don’t usually like wallowing in the misery of others, there’s just so much going on in this picture, you almost have to, especially once the rooting biases are factored in (I’m a Kentucky fan). Granted, the fact the reactions came from Da’Sean Butler’s unfortunate knee injury, I’m still fascinated by the picture.

First, there’s about $500 worth of nail salon care going on with the the three focal points of the image. Don’t get me wrong, I love nice-looking nails, but aren’t the expensive French manicures kind of tired by now? It’s still all about the white tips, apparently.

And then there’s the guy at the lower-right of the image. While CBS’ score/time remaining graphic obscures most of what the camera cut off, you can still see his “crazy eyes” reaction fairly clearly:

Perhaps he had some money on the game, and the realization that, without Butler, WVU’s chances were thrown completely out the window caused a Scanners-like reaction and it was simply caught before his eyes exploded from their sockets.

I’d love to see an animated gif of that.

Image courtesy of 30fps.

The Butler Bulldogs Come Home; or Tom Izzo is as Constant as the Northern Star (When it comes to the Tournament); or Duke’s Back; or Is it Huggins’ Time? Either of these headlines would work when describing this year’s Final Four teams. To say this was an unexpected group is an understatement.

A lot of people expected Duke — the only number one seed to make it this far — to get beat in the earlier rounds by teams like Louisville or Baylor, while Butler is still shedding its “mid-major” label. West Virginia looks legitimate, but their lack of offensive pop — they’ve notoriously struggled to score in both the Big East and NCAA Tournaments — makes their appearance a little surprising. As for Michigan State, even with Tom Izzo as coach, the fact the Spartans lost their best player in Kalin Lucas to a hamstring injury makes them a surprise team as well.

Considering these teams, the hype surrounding the 2010 Final Four may not be as big as previous seasons, but don’t tell any of the attending teams that. I seriously doubt Duke or Butler care about whether or not they were popular picks. Furthermore, I also doubt any of Bob Huggins’ players doubt they belong, strictly because of how clutch the Mountaineers have been, not to mention how good they’ve been defensively. As for Michigan State, well, they have Tom Izzo, and that alone makes them a threat for a deep tournament run, whether non-Spartans fans are tired of seeing them there or not.

This is your Final Four, and while they may not be the most popular teams out there, each and every one of them deserve to be there. Nothing was handed to any of the teams. They all had to earn their trip, something the average victory margin of 5.5 points for all of the Elite Eight games indicates nicely.

With all that in mind, who ya got?

Are you siding with Butler and their awesome story, or do you want to see Izzo win his second title? Can Duke solve West Virginia’s stifling 1-3-1 zone or will Duke take advantage of any Mountaineers scoring droughts? These are just some of the stories to pay attention to as we get ready for another weekend of tournament basketball.

With the Bad Guys beating Cornell and West Virginia dispatching Washington, the stage is set for a nice, little border war that dates back to the days of the Hatfields and McCoys. One thing’s for sure — West Virginia native/starting Kentucky power forward Patrick Patterson will be ready. He’s not the only one who’s ready for a basketball war, however.

`Er fans are feeling it as well, and they want a piece of John Wall, something the upcoming video demonstrates nicely.

After the jump >>

Now that your bracket has been busted all to hell, let’s relive some of the moments that caused such wreckage. It was perhaps one of the best opening weekends of tournament basketball I’ve witnessed, especially with the Thursday/Saturday games. The Big Dance started out with a bang as BYU and Florida needed double overtime to decide things, all while Old Dominion and Notre Dame game was being decided by one point. This was followed by two more great games, one also needing extra time with the other finishing with a last second, game-winning shot, courtesy of Danero Thomas.

And that, folks, was just the first four games of the tournament.

The rest of the weekend gave us more of the same: Great games, surprising upsets, game-winning “Onions” shots, and perhaps one of the best basketball names ever, Ali Farokhmanesh. Overall, it wast the kind of chaos one hopes for when the tournament starts.

Coming up, I’m featuring some of the weekend’s most outstanding plays, including the uncontainable onions of the aforementioned Farokhmanesh. Continue reading >>