Thursday starts the annual sacrifice of 63 teams in nine cities across the country. In three weeks, we will have our national champion.
That's what makes March Madness special. There are several NBA coaches and superstars that have won NBA Titles, but was never good enough to lead his team through six straight in order to be called NCAA Champion. To be an NCAA Champion is to belong to a pretty elite group.
So here are Thursday's games, and my picks (I placed my upsets in yellow font):
Chicago:
- #1. Illinois over #16. Fairleigh Dickinson
- #9. Nevada over #8. Texas
- #5. Alabama over #12. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
- #4. Boston College over #13. Pennsylvania
- #6. LSU over #11. UAB
- #3. Arizona over #14. Utah State
- #10. St. Mary's over #7. Southern Illinois
- #2. Oklahoma State over #15. Southeastern Louisiana
Albuquerque:
- #1. Washington over #16. Montana
- #8. Pacific over #9. Pittsburgh
- #11. UCLA over #6. Texas Tech
- #14. Winthrop over #3. Gonzaga (That's right. I said it.)
- #7. West Virginia over #10. Creighton
- #2. Wake Forest over #15 Chattanooga
Syracuse:
No games scheduled.
Austin:
- #6. Utah over #11. UTEP
- #3. Oklahoma over #14. Niagara
- #10. Iowa over #7. Cincinnati
- #2. Kentucky over #15. Eastern Kentucky
I don't understand the reasoning of not having an even amount of games on Thursday/Saturday and Friday/Sunday (I think it's because CBS wants to preserve it's Sunday night lineup), but I wish they would have kept it the way it was. And I definitely hate the idea of naming the regions after cities. What was wrong with East, Southeast, Midwest, and West?
Why try to fix something that isn't broken? Ah well. *shrugs*
Also, I plan to do some updates throughout the weekend, so check back to see what's going on.