It's March, let the madness begin!

As the song says, "it's the most wonderful time of the year" for me anyway! I love March Madness, I love the conference tournaments, all the way to the end of the Big Dance. In my opinion there is not a better sporting event than the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, where 4 games are going on at the same time all capable of being last second upsets, I love it! I wait all year for this stuff! Nothing compares to this, can't wait til the brackets are revealed Sunday.

So, my Boilermakers have made the finals of the Big Ten Tournament, and I am so excited! I was able to go to the game Friday night at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, when we beat Penn State. Remember this we have never won a BTT game in Conseco, and so it was awesome to see the guys jump all over Penn State to start the game. Quite possibly the best dunk I have ever seen in person also occurred when Chris Kramer dunked on a poor Nittany Lion it was awesome! It also was the #2 play of the day on ESPN's Sportscenter top 10. However, the best thing I saw Friday night had nothing to do with the game. They do a flex cam at Conseco like a kiss cam, but instead you flex, and they put it on former hall of fame coach of Purdue Gene Keady, and of course he flexed and mugged for the camera, it was AWESOME! Of course he got a HUGE ovation from the pro Purdue crowd, it was great. Today we beat the Illinois Fighting Illini, I unfortunately couldn't make it because our HS team was playing in regionals, but I got to watch on TV. I was very nervous for this game because in the regular season they swept us, however both wins were essentially us without our best player Robbie Hummel. So, it was great to see the boys run out to another big lead, and bury three after three. We led by 20 at half and the game was pretty much over, thanks to our defense holding Illinois scoreless for a 12 minute stretch! That's pretty amazing, and Hummel had 19 I believe. Next up is the Ohio State Suckeyes Sunday at 3:30 on CBS, lets just say I don't really like OSU. GO BOILERS!

So, I believe two years ago I started a post where I predicted the 65 teams I thought would make the field on the eve of the tournament, and I am going to do that again here. As I write this some conference finals in the mid major level have either yet to be played or our being played now, so for one bid teams if I list 2 teams the winner between the two gets the bid. I am not sure I remember a time where there were more bubble teams sweating it out for Sunday. Could it be possible the SEC only gets 2 bids? I respect Joe Lunardi of ESPN who does their bracketology but I am not sure what he's smoking putting Creighton in?? Let me know you sports nuts if you disagree, agree?

1 BID LEAGUES ALL CAPS MEANS THE AUTO BID WINNER
American East- BINGHAMTON
Atlantic Sun- EAST TENNESSEE STATE
BIG SKY- PORTLAND STATE
BIG SOUTH- RADFORD
BIG WEST- CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE
CAA- VCU
CONFERENCE USA- MEMPHIS
MAAC- SIENA
MAC- AKRON
MEAC- MORGAN STATE
MISSOURI VALLEY- NORTHERN IOWA
NEC- ROBERT MORRIS
OVC- MOREHEAD STATE
PATRIOT- AMERICAN
SOUTHERN- CHATTANOOGA
SOUTHLAND- STEPHEN F AUSTIN
SWAC- ALABAMA STATE
SUMMIT- NORTH DAKOTA STATE
SUNBELT- WESTERN KENTUCKY
WAC- UTAH STATE

Multiple Bid Leagues
ACC(6)- North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke, Florida State, Clemson, Maryland
A10(3)- Temple, Xavier, Dayton
Big East(7)- Louisville, UCONN, Pitt, Syracuse, Villanova, Marquette, West Virginia
Big Ten(8)- Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Big 12(6)- Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas State, Texas, Baylor
Horizon(2)- Butler, Cleveland State
Mountain West(3)- Utah, BYU, San Diego State
Pac 10(6)- USC, Washington, UCLA, Arizona State, Cal, Arizona
SEC(2)- Tennessee, Auburn(last in), Mississippi State
WCC(2)- Gonzaga, St Mary's

NIT(Not In Tournament) Close- Va Tech, Penn State, Providence, Oklahoma State, South Carolina
Agree, Disagree? I will be sending out emails tomorrow night for those of you in the bracket challenge. Picks will be due Wednesday 10 pm. NO LATER

BTFU
Phats