Crazy Start To March Madness

They don't call it March Madness for nothing. Every year, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is one of the hardest things in all of sports to be able to predict. Nobody knows what can happen from year to year This year, the tournament has been crazy, with teams pulling games out of the fire like you've never seen before. There were buzzer-beaters and beards, historic wins and never-before-seen losses, and so many upsets early that it was hard to tell, in some cases, which teams were the favorites and which were the underdogs. Just a taste of what has already happened. You got Middle Tennessee knocking off Michigan State. Then Yale takes down Baylor. Hawaii upsets California. Little Rock sends Purdue packing. That's just some of the fun stuff that has gone down to start the madness.

Look at what has gone down so far in the tourney. All four of the number one seeds, North Carolina, Oregon, Kansas and Virginia, are still alive in the big dance. Both Kansas and North Carolina have been winning by double digits, which shows how good they are (or how inferior their competition has been depending on how you look at it). This is the first time in four years that all four number one seeds have advanced to the sweet sixteen. More on the top seeds in a moment.

There have been some big upsets. None bigger, in my mind, than Michigan State getting bounced by Middle Tennessee, who pulled off the 90-81 win. I had the Spartans going to the National Title game, but they blew it, losing by nine to Middle Tennessee. The Blue Raiders had ever one of their starters hit in double digits. Michigan State looked like they had trouble keeping up. The luck ran out for the Blue Raiders in the next round, as they were taken down by Syracuse. What happened was the Blue Raiders had all their luck run out, they couldn't really hit shots to save their lives against the Orange. Every starter hit double digits against the Spartans, but only one (that being Darnell Harris), did it against Cuse.

Then we have Steven F Austin not only knock off West Virginia, but they did it by 14 points. Thomas Walkup, and that impressive beard of his, dropped 33 points, which powered the 14th-seeded. Stephen F. Austin faced down West Virginia's full-court press with some of its own in-your-face defense, pulling off a rugged, 70-56 first-round upset of the third-seeded Mountaineers in the NCAA tournament. this was a physical game for both sides and West Virginia had a little trouble handling it. The run ran out in the next round as they were clipped, in a very entertaining basketball game, by Notre Dame.

Those were just the two biggest upsets of this point in the tournaments. Then there was Northern Iowa beating Texas, and Gonzaga blasting Utah. So that handles the big upsets. So now the sixteen teams that are left standing are: North Carolina, Indiana, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Kansas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Villanova, Miami, Oregon, Duke, Syracuse, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Virginia, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

I have a little more confidence in North Carolina and Kentucky than I do the other number one seeds in Virginia and Oregon. The reason being is because UNC and Kentucky both handled their first two opponents with ease, while the 2nd round matchups were a little tougher on Virginia and Oregon (Virginia only beat Butler by eight, while Oregon only beat Saint Joe's by five). Regardless, they are are still here and standing, the first time that's happened since the 2012 tournament. Out of the four top seeds, three of the four are now favored to win their regions. North Carolina, Virginia and Kansas are the heavy favorites right now, but Oklahoma is favored over Oregon in that region. From all I've seen the last few games, I'm more inclined to agree. Reason being is Oklahoma will outplay Oregon in the Elite Eight.

Having the best representation in the sweet sixteen is the ACC. They have six teams left in the dance, Duke North Carolina, Syracuse, Miami, Virgina, and Notre Dame. But what is most interesting here is that the ACC got six schools into the Sweet 16 without anybody having to beat a top-six seed to get there. For North Carolina and Virginia, such was the result of being the top seeds in their regions. But the other four schools, that being Miami, Duke, Notre Dame and Syracuse, they managed to avoid top-six seeds on their way to the Sweet 16 thanks to upsets, at least according to the seed line, in their four-team groups. So hey got lucky in that regards.

Here's a few more interesting stats to throw at you for the sweet sixteen. There are eight coaches that are left, out of the sixteen, that have made it to final fours in the past. Those eight coaches are: Mike Krzyzewski of Duke (12 Final Fours), Roy Williams of North Carolina (7 Final Fours), Jim Boeheim of Syracuse (4 Final Fours), Bill Self of Kansas (2 Final Fours), Tom Crean of Indiana (1 Final Four), Lon Kruger of Oklahoma (1 Final Four), Jim Larranaga of Miami (1 Final Four) and Jay Wright of Villanova (1 Final Four). As you can tell, there is plenty of experience on the benches in the sweet sixteen.

When the Tournament started, I had North Carolina beating Michigan State and Kansas beating Oklahoma. Now its known that one of those (Michigan State) won't be there. But my title game was thrown off as I had Michigan State losing to the champs Kentucky. With everything that's gone down so far, I can still see another possible upset taking place.

With all those stats thrown at you, I know its a lot to handle, we can see the finish line in the big dance. There still a lot of basketball left to be played and we can determine the best in the game in two weeks. This last two weeks is going to be a lot of fun to watch.