The Madness has officially begun.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
The 2012 NCAA Division I basketball tournament started off innocently enough.
Day one saw almost all the higher seeds taking care of business, save for last year’s Cinderella team and 12 seed Virginia Commonwealth and their victory over five seed Wichita State (which to be honest, wasn’t really all that unexpected), and 11 seed Colorado’s victory over six seed UNLV.
Then, quicker than a pizza disappearing at a Weight Watchers convention, all hell broke loose.
Day two featured the lower seeded teams going 8-8 against higher seeded teams, busting brackets all over the country and causing more profanities to be uttered than an Ozzie Guillen interview.
After the dust settled, day two was highlighted by two 15 seeds, Lehigh and Norfolk State, taking down two number two seeded teams, Duke and Missouri.
To put that into historical perspective, only four 15 seeds had ever beaten a two before this year since the tournament went to a 64 team field in 1985.
However, order restored itself in the round of 32 as the top six teams left in the tournament took care of business rather easily, with only number two seeded Kansas facing real adversity against Purdue and their star forward Robbie Hummel, who was hotter than two squirrels making love in a wool sock.
He finished with a game-high 26 points, but the Jayhawks would prevail 63-60.
Other highlights from Sunday included three double-digit seeds advancing to the Sweet 16. No. 10 seeded Xavier ended No. 15 Lehigh’s run in the tournament to advance, No. 13 Ohio took down No. 12 USF and No. 11 N.C. State continued its magical run with a convincing upset over No. 3 Georgetown where the team led for almost the entire game.
This is the first time three double digits seeds have reached the Sweet 16 in the same tournament, and Ohio is one of only five 13 seeds to make it this far and the first since Bradley in 2006.
Of the 16 teams remaining, you have to like all the one seed’s chances of advancing to the Final Four, with the exception of Syracuse and possibly UNC.
Fab Melo’s inability to go to class and receive passing grades may cost the Orangemen dearly because even if they do manage to sneak by Wisconsin, they’ll most likely run into Ohio State, led by top college big man and NBA prospect Jared Sullinger, in the Elite 8.
Unfortunately, without Fab Melo’s presence down low, Sullinger will most likely have his way with the Orangeman and rebounding will most likely swing heavily in Ohio St.’s favor, an aspect of the game Syracuse can’t afford to lose.
I like Ohio State to advance to the Final Four.
As for UNC, starting point guard Kendall Marshall’s broken wrist leaves the Tar Heels with a third stringer running the point (the backup point guard is also out with an injury).
They’ll probably get away with it in their Sweet 16 matchup against Cinderella team Ohio because they’re that much more talented, but it could cause some serious problems down the road if they run into an experienced and almost equally talented Kansas squad in the elite 8.
Gun to my head I’ll probably take Kansas in that matchup with Marshall out for the forseeable future.
Michigan State and head coach Tom Izzo will most likely win the West Region after their main competition Missouri was upset in round one (it’s still round one to me, forget the play-in games) and advance to their 2nd Final Four in three years.
I don’t see Louisville being that much of a problem (I don’t care how many hookers Rick Pitino has slept with this weekend), and the winner of the Marquette-Florida game shouldn’t be that haughty of a task for the Spartans, either.
Kentucky should have no problem advancing to their second straight Final Four.
They’re probably the most talented team in the tournament, and possess the size, defense and athleticism to win the whole thing. Anthony Davis is most likely this year’s player of the year, he’s likely to be the number one pick in the NBA draft, and I could have swore I saw his unibrow drain a turnaround jumper the other day.
Needless to say, unless this team’s youth gets in the way, John Calipari might just be cutting down the nets for the first time in his career and the Wildcats could be celebrating an eighth national championship very soon.
Shawn Ferris can be reached at sferris@spartans.ut.edu.