A severe outbreak of March Madness has been noted by the Center for Disease Control.
Offices and work places all across America grind to a halt this week. Especially so Thursday and Friday -- when a lot of basketball fans either take the days off legitimately OR call in sick.
This a great time of year. You have people filling out brackets who are total fanatics. They study lineups, matchups and stats with more intensity than they do their own tax forms. And you have people filling out brackets who do so based on team colors or mascots.
The latter group seems to win more often than not.
The Big Ten has the most teams in the tourney with eight (Wisconsin, Michigan State, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State and Maryland), while the SEC and ACC both have seven -- tho the ACC has three of the four number one seeds in Duke, North Carolina and Virginia.
Wisconsin's Badgers stumble into the tourney, having lost three of their final nine and misplaced their offense. Wisconsin did play a tough schedule, and was 7-8 against tournament teams. If the Badgers can somehow find their offense again, giving some scoring help to senior Ethan Happ, they should reach the Sweet Sixteen. BUT the Badger chances drop off if Happ is at the foul line. The hack-a-Happ strategy pays off, so Coach Greg Gard has to hope that some of his young Badgers can step up.
Best nickname in the tournament? The University of California-Irvine Anteaters. I rank that name right up there with the Banana Slugs of UC-Santa Cruz.
My Final Four? Depends on which of my brackets you let me post! (Hey, I only did four). But like most of the country, I think Duke will win the National Championship.
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