Men's Tournament: Down to 16

Well, now that some of the dust has settled, we can assess the debris field left in the NCAA men's tournament.

• Three out of four number one seeds survived--even thrived. Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse thrashed their opponents.
• There are 3 double digit seeded teams and a #9 seed left.
• Conference representation: Big 10: 3 Big 12: 2 Big East: 2 SEC: 2 ACC: 1 Pac 10: 1 Midmajor conferences: 5
• Hard to predict who will emerge from the mess the Kansas loss wrought in the Midwest bracket--we have Northern Iowa (9), Michigan St (5, but hobbled by a critical injury), Tennessee (6), and Ohio State (2) to choose from.
• Syracuse (1)-Kansas State (2) would be a good game in the West--but better be sure that the Emergency Medical Services are on standby.
• Heart pick: Baylor (3) over Duke (1) in the South.
• To me, Kentucky is the Dallas Cowboys of college basketball. Frankly, also, I find the redneck history of Kentucky hard to stomach. But I am afraid that no one left in the East is strong enough to take out the Wildcats. Maybe West Virgina can lull them to sleep the way they did Missouri.

The craziness resumes Thursday, March 25.