I Told You There Would Be Madness

    In last week's post, I mentioned how the NCAA basketball tournaments were riddled with upsets.  Well, that turned out to be sort of an understatement.  In the two days after I wrote that post, the last two number one seeds in the men's tourney were defeated.  Ultimately, this would leave a four seed, two five seeds, and a nine seed in the final four, with only one of the teams in a so-called power conference.  That team would be Miami (FL) from the ACC, even though they are more known for football.  Technically, Connecticut is not in a power conference, as the Big East is usually considered a mid-major now that they don't have football.  However, UCONN is the only previous winner still in.  UCONN's last win came from an incredible conference and national winning streak, so we will see what happens this year.  On the women's side, things went pretty much as expected.  Two number ones, a number two, and a number three seed make up their final four.  All four teams come from power conferences, with two from the always dominant SEC.  This includes the undefeated South Carolina team, obviously the favorite.  Yes, there were a few upsets on the women's bracket, with two of the number one seeds losing before the Sweet Sixteen.  Yet, this still lent the women's tournament a sense of regularity.  Nothing too major beyond those loses really stands out, at least not as much as the bloodbaths on the men's side.  I don't think that many people would have chosen any of the men's final four to win it all, except maybe a few UCONN fans, and not many of those.  Seriously, how many people outside of Florida have even kept up with Florida-Atlantic? For the women's final four, South Carolina has been such an overwhelming favorite that they have a better chance of winning it all than did the rest of the Sweet Sixteen combined.  Now, should the four top seeds on the men's side have been changed?  Who can say?  All I can add is that the process needs some retooling to be fairer to the largest number of schools and fans.