It's madness, I tell you! MADNESS!

[Penfold]

It's March, and that means the madness is about to start. I started a Cinescape bracket group on Yahoo for anyone who wants to participate.

Group Name: Mania Madness
Group ID#: 16897
Password: maniacs

Who's going all the way? Who's going down in flames? Conference tourneys start Tuesday when the Big South, Horizon, and Ohio Valley conferences start play.

We're a mere two weeks from selection Sunday, people!

[neglet]

Wheeeee!!!

[Strider]

The tournament isn't even here yet, and we've already had a lot of "March Madness" going around. There' were some crazy games this past weekend.
I'll focus on the ACC since I saw most of those:

- Tyrese Rice scores 46 points for Boston College and they still lose to UNC
- Duke comes back to win by one point to give Coach K his 800th career win
- Clemson overcomes 20-point second half deficit to beat Maryland with a three pointer at the end
- Georgia Tech beat Wake Forest in OT
- Miami beat Virginia in a very close game

I'm sure there was a lot of craziness in other conferences as well.

[southpaw]

One word....TARHEELS.

[Penfold]

I thought it was two words...

[southpaw]

Nope...think of it like championship....it's not champion and ship, it's championship.

Championship=Tarheels

[University of Sportsbooks]

Unc All The Way

[Penfold]

Selection Sunday, folks! 6 pm Eastern on CBS! With endless analysis on all other stations afterwards! Should be fun!

[Penfold]

All right, we have a bracket. I'm excited. Games I'm looking forward to in the first round are Gonzaga/Davidson, USC/Kansas State, and UConn/San Diego (since I live in San Diego). So far, it's just me, Strider, Neglet, and Trixie in the Yahoo bracket group. If anyone else wants in, you need to fill out your bracket by the tip of the first game on Thursday.

[fastcar]

TARHEELS!!?!?!?!? I'm still bitter about the tournament. I had to interrupt my regular blog schedule just to vent my anger.

Chris Webber owes me $80 (http://angrymongo.blogspot.com/2008/03/chris-webber-you-owe-me-80.html)

There are three things that are like "Niagara Falls" to me. Sid Bream, Rocky Bleier, and the Tarheels. Actually, it's not NC's fault that Webber made that mistake, but it makes me feel good to place the blame on everyone.

[omicron]

Ok, I'm in.

[Strider]

Okay, I filled in my bracket. I'm sure it will prove to be wildly inaccurate. :D

[TrixieB]

Mine too, Strider. It's all a big guess.

A friend at work always says that he doesn't care if he wins the pool, just as long as he beats me! He was hating it last year when I won the whole thing and he came in 5th. I have no such hopes this year.

[Penfold]

Tip-off is 12 hours away! Whoo!

[Penfold]

We're underway. If you haven't done your brackets yet, tough.

[Strider]

I've got 12 out of 16 correct after the first day. Not too shabby, although Belmont came *this* close to completely wrecking my picks for the West region. The end of that game was nuts.

[Penfold]

Weekend two coming up.

[neglet]

Ha ha. I'm the only one who still has all their Elite Eight picks still in the competition ... although UCLA endured a very close shave last Sunday. Still, it's a good tourney when Duke washes out the first weekend. :goodbye: :Mwahaha:

I'm wishing I'd picked Michigan State to go further, though. They looked good last weekend.

[Penfold]

Dang. All four number ones are in the Final Four. How boring.

[neglet]

Yeah, I made sure not to put them all in because it never happens. I mean, never ever. This was the first time.

I win the whole enchilada with a UCLA or Memphis championship.

[Strider]

Boring? I doubt that either of the upcoming games will be described as boring. I am looking forward to both of them. :D

[omicron]

We're number 66, we're number 66!!!

Ohio State outlasts UMass for NIT crown (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=280940194)

[Penfold]

As an avid ABC fan (Anybody But Carolina, sorry southpaw), I'd like to congratulate Kansas on their victory tonight. As a basketball fan, I'd like to congratulate Memphis on making the championship. I really didn't think they had it in them.

[southpaw]

Well, I'm not gonna lie, my feelings got hurt pretty bad Saturday night....but Kansas was on point and deserved the W. Memphis has looked really good these last two games and I think this game will be a good one. Now if you will excuse me I'm gonna go cry in my fruity pebbles.

[neglet]

And Strider wins the bracket either way. Good call on Kansas. The game tonight should be good.

[Strider]

That Kansas/Carolina game was nuts. Both are really good teams (if not great), and both of them had times when they looked like a bad Jr. High team. Yuck.

The game tonight should be very interesting and fun to watch. :D

[Penfold]

And it's the Jayhawks in overtime!

[neglet]

That last 90 seconds of regulation was something else, wasn't it? I'll bet those two Memphis players are wishing they'd practicing foul shooting a bit longer.

[Penfold]

Well, Calipari said all year that free throws didn't matter. So...yeah.