Bracket Racket Inspires Deja Vu
I Feel Like I've Lost This Tourney Before . . .
This cultural phenomenon -- if not the biggest media event farce in history -- was the basis for the Bill Murray movie so aptly titled "Groundhog Day," in which Murray plays TV weather man Phil Connors who is forced to live his least favorite day of the year over and over again.
I can't tell you if Phil, the fat rodent, saw his shadow this year. But I can tell you that spring is near because it's NCAA basketball tournament time.
This is the wonderful time of the year when all attention is turned to the best championship tournament in all of sport. Are you reading this, Bowl Championship Series? We become enthralled with bubble teams, rating percentage index (RPI), Cinderella stories, brackets and power conferences.
My personal "Groundhog Day" is this March Madness. I am startled -- not unlike Connors' sidewalk encounters with Ned Ryerson -- every morning when I see Dick Vitale screaming at me through the TV. This is definitely my favorite time of year, yet I relive the same fate over and over again: I never win the tournament office pool.
If I didn't love this tournament so much, I probably would have given up my pursuit of the perfect bracket a long time ago. But the quest to test my basketball knowledge and luck keeps me coming back year after year.
My wife decided last year that she would fill out a bracket sheet just for fun. She will watch a game with me once in a while, but probably to her credit, she is not the sports junkie that I am. When she was finished filling out her brackets, she chose Wisconsin to win the national championship.
I joked with her that she was probably the only person in the world to make that darkhorse prediction besides Bucky Badger himself. I thought there had to be a distinct separation between choosing winners with your heart and with your brain. I stopped laughing as the Badgers proceeded to win four games to advance to their first Final Four in nearly 60 years. During their tournament run, I made a solemn vow to my wife that I would never fill out the brackets again -- not to mention laugh off her predictions -- if the Badgers were to win the championship. Thanks to Michigan State, I didn't have to give up my bracket addiction.
This year should be a very difficult field of 65 from which to forecast a Final Four, much less a national champion. Yes, this season the tournament selection committee resorted to a national play-in game between the 64th and 65th best teams. I thought the 65th best team already had a tournament: It's called the NIT. But the powers-that-be have determined this trivial contest necessary, and the winner of the game will go on to be a 16th-seeded sacrificial lamb against Illinois.
I see as many as 10 teams that have the potential to win the six consecutive games necessary to be national champion. These brackets would make Nostradamus scratch his head. There are many questions to be answered in the next few weeks:
- Can Michigan State repeat as national champions without the senior leadership Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson gave them one year ago?
- How will injuries to All-America point guard Jason Williams and Carlos Boozer affect the deeply talented Duke Blue Devils title hopes?
- Will Stanford finally justify its high ranking by making a serious championship run?
- Will Bill Self continue his magical first season at Illinois by coaching his team to its first Final Four since 1989?
- Can North Carolina survive its matchup with the backdoor-cutting Princeton Tigers, a team that always puts a scare into its first-round opponent?
- Arizona and Kentucky are both past champions and No. 2 seeds this year. Will either or both continue hot streaks going into the tournament?
I will probably need to work out two or three drafts of this year's bracket before reluctantly deciding on a final entry. But maybe this will be my year to beat the odds and win, a feat that seems as unlikely as a 16th seed's upsetting a No. 1 seed.
Phil Connors was able to ultimately escape Groundhog Day. Perhaps I will soon be able to do the same.
Sirvio Archive:
Ryan Sirvio is a guest columnist whose opinions are regularly published here. When not obsessing about all things sport, he enjoys music, movies and spending time with his family. Feel free to send him an e-mail and let him know what you think of his latest musings.
