After the basketball Gods graced us with four consecutive days, from high noon until midnight, of pure basketball bliss, it has come time for them to collect their penance from us fools who dared to attempt to predict the outcomes of these games. The unforgiving red slashes that litter our digital brackets today are a humble reminder that the future is uncertain, and we aren’t very good at predicting it. But it sure as hell won’t stop us from trying! Here are four thoughts to help make sense of the first two rounds of the 2016 NCAA Tournament:
1) If you still question God’s role in this tournament, just listen to who 99% of the winners gave all the credit to in their post-game interviews, none other than Jesus Christ himself. Ancient Aliens has really dropped the ball for not doing an episode on this … “Am I saying extraterrestrials are solely responsible for determining the winners and losers of NCAA tournament games? … Yes, yes that is exactly what I’m saying.”
2) 15 teams in the Sweet 16 are from major conferences (6 from the ACC), and the 16th team is Gonzaga, an established college basketball powerhouse. Who said there was parity in college basketball this year?
3) My championship pick, Michigan St., and another one of my final four picks, West Virginia, were both eliminated in the first round. Two of my sleeper/bracket buster picks, Wisconsin and Gonzaga, advanced to the Sweet 16, and three others, Hawaii, St. Joseph’s, and VCU, won their first round games and put up a heck of a fight in round two. I’ll take this small sample size to mean that I am a genius at picking underdogs, and unlucky when picking the favorites. 🙂
4) Bill Murray’s sad face while watching Xavier lose at the buzzer yesterday, basically sums up the collective feeling of Busted Bracket Monday:
By Michael Halpern
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@ImaginaryBrickW)