It's NCAA Tourney Bracket Time!

 We've waited a long, long time for this -- the return of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

March Madness, in all it's glory, is back this week after getting sidelined in 2020 by Covid-19. That means that Virginia and Coach Tony Bennett have been, technically, the defending champions for two years.

It's a wild tournament field to be sure.  It's been a long time since teams like Kentucky, Duke and Louisville didn't get invited to the Big Dance. The streak of 24 straight appearances ends for Duke, while Kentucky fails for the first time in eight years.

I always fill out a bracket or two, though the method for my madness is questionable at best. I've been known to pull for teams I root for (like Wisconsin and a few others) or teams I have a connection to (Louisiana-Lafayette and LSU from my time living down that was, as does Texas, coached by the pride of the Village of Oregon, Shaka Smart) or teams I just root AGAINST like Notre Dame, North Carolina, etc.

What's amazing about this year's tournament is the fact that nine of the Big Ten's 14 teams were invited, with two of them Number One seeds (Illinois, Michigan) and two of them Number Two seeds (Iowa, Ohio State). The last Big Ten team invited, Michigan State, needs to get through a play-in game to advance. The Spartans are only 15-12, and I suspect the selection committee may have given them this shot based on venerable coach Tom Izzo. That and the fact that the Spartans put up some serious wins down the stretch.

As for the Badgers, a team that struggled to a 17-12 record and went winless against ranked opponents (0-9) since the first of the year, getting a ninth seed was a gift. If the Badgers don't figure out a way to put the ball THROUGH the basket, not just around it, this will be a short stay. 

Wisconsin meets an 18-10 North Carolina team and it's veteran coach, Roy Williams. Since returning to his alma mater, Williams has taken NC to the tournament 13 out of 14 years, and seven times has been the Number One seed in the process.

Bucky has it's work cut out for it. But as we know, when it comes to this tournament, all it takes is a hot hand or two to give a team momentum.

Speaking of brackets, if you're interested go to Yahoo Fantasy Sports Tourney Pick'em; I've got a bracket group set up: Jim's Magnificent Group  (Group ID #3785). If interested and you need the password, reach out to me on facebook messager.