Going Mad (again!)

On Monday morning, the bracket that I had filled out that said "KANSAS" all over it found its final resting home - the trash.

Normally, being eliminated from my pool midway through the third day of the Tournament would upset me, but after everything that happened in the first two rounds, I couldn't be happier.

I had lost faith in the NCAA Tournament in the last two years. After two lifeless brackets where all four #1 seeds advanced for the first time to the Final Four (2008), and only one seed lower than a five made the second weekend (2009), four crazy days brought the "madness" back to March:

- The odds-on favorite Kansas, was beaten by Northern Iowa in the most jarring upset since George Mason toppled UConn in 2006.

- Eight double-digit seeds won their opening game, Including a #14 (Ohio), a #13 (Murray State), a #12 (Cornell), and two #11s (Washington, Old Dominion).

- A record-tying five non-BCS teams (Butler, Xavier, Northern Iowa, Saint Mary's and Cornell) advanced to the Sweet 16.

- 25 of the 48 games in the first two rounds were decided by nine points or less.

After all, the Tournament is about the Cinderellas.

It's back!

Instead of gushing over Evan Turner and John Wall, all the water cooler conversation is around Ali Farokhmanesh's ice-water veins, and Omar Samham's swagger. Instead of chalk, and BCS-level heavyweights flexing their muscle, we're talking about how the Missouri Valley Conference and Atlantic-10 teams should get the respect they deserve from the committee.

Kentucky, Syracuse, and Duke all still look strong, and the higher seeds could still reign supreme. But, for four days, the Tournament reminded us why it's the greatest event in American sports.