The last 72 hours have reiterated an opinion that I have held for a very long time: the NCAA Basketball Tournament is the greatest tournament and spectacle in all of sports. It is captivating and dramatic, providing storylines that confound the mind and results that leave you in shock and awe.
When the NBA Playoffs are upon us, many diehard fans can predict the results with a solid level of accuracy. The same can be said with the NFL or MLB Playoffs. However, the NCAA Tournament can confound even the most brilliant basketball college experts. Filling out a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket is impossible. And at this point, filling out an accurate NCAA Tournament bracket is a longshot.
I'm not ashamed to say that my tournament bracket is in shambles because I'm sure that this is the case for many others. I'm pretty sure that no one predicted that #16 Fairleigh Dickinson would become the second team in tournament history to defeat a #1 seed when they beat Purdue.
The fascinating part is that Fairleigh Dickinson not only beat Purdue, they broke Purdue. They strategically took their 7'4" inch monster, Zach Edey, out of the game. He had one shot in the last 12 minutes. Fairleigh Dickinson made up for their disadvantage in terms of height with miles and miles of heart and an amazing strategy from coach Tobin Anderson. This is incredible given that FDU had only four wins last year.
Fairleigh Dickinson was not the only small school from NJ making noise in the tournament. 28 years after their monumental upset of UCLA in the 1996 tournament, #15 seed Princeton would stick it to the Pac 12 by defeating Arizona. Then they soundly beat the #7 seed Missouri to reach the Sweet 16.
Purdue was not the only #1 seed to go down in defeat so far. Eric Musselman and the Arkansas Razorbacks took down the Kansas Jayhawks 72-71. This means we are guaranteed to have a new national champion in college basketball this year. Based on Arkansas's post-game celebration, we are also guaranteed to have a celebration that will be written in the history books.
Eric Musselman enthusiastically stripped off his polo shirt in the aftermath of this game. It rivaled the celebration that Brandi Chastain pulled off in the aftermath of the USA Women's World Cup Triumph in 1999. His exuberance will surely be one of many in the "One Shining Moment" montage that will take place at the end of this epic moment. March Madness is upon us, and I can't get enough.
For more opinionated sports articles check out Sports Column!
