Well, it's almost here, the best sports month of the year. No, I'm not talking about the World Series in October or the Super Bowl in January, I am talking about the most competetive and exhilarating tournament of all. It's the 2009 NCAA men's college basketball tournament! College sports in general are so much more exciting to watch than the
regular seasons of professional sports. There is just so much more enthusiasm that the fans and players bring to the table, something that you don't get in the pros (except in the playoffs). I think this extra motivation comes mainly from school pride, and that is why schools like Duke and Michigan State are so renowned for their programs, especially in basketball.
As for the actual tournament, this year's March Madness is supposed to be revamped a little bit, in order to accomodate the recession in our economy. Instead of spreading teams out across the nation by their rank, the commitee is going to try to keep teams close to home to cut down on travel costs. This, however, does present a bit of a problem. That is, the really great, powerhouse basketball teams are all located in little clusters of the country. The most dominant of which are on the east coast, which is home to the ACC and SEC and don't forget the Big 12. The 4 best teams from across the country are all located in this region, so I'm not sure how the commitee plans on balancing the bracket out so it is even all the way around.
As for my prediciton on the tournament, I think the Connecticut Huskies are going to go all the
way, due to some great post play defensively and offensively by Hasheem Thabeet. He is a raw talent from Tanzania who used to be play soccer, but because of his massive stature, he has been developed into one of the nation's best inside-men. Another team that I expect to do well is the Oklahoma Sooners. Known usually for their footba
ll teams, the Sooners have the nation's best overall player in Blake Griffin, as well as his brother Taylor Griffin. This Oklahoma team has a bunch of guys who can step up if Blake is doing poorly, so they should advance far into the tourney.
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