This is it, the article all you college hoop fans have been waiting for, my current coverage of NCAA March Madness 2010. (This is also the article the non-basketball fans have been dreading, so I give those people my blessing to return when the next article comes out, trust me, it's difficult to understand if you don't know squat.) Last year, I wrote about this topic from the Bay Area in California, where I had a chance to check out some NBA action first hand as well. Unfortunately, my departure for San Francisco is set for April 21st, by that time the March Madness brackets will have crowned a new collegiate champion. Subsequently, the NBA regular season will have come to a close as well. Because the Goldenstate Warriors and the Sacramento Kings have failed to secure a playoff seed, I won't be able to check in with either of the teams around the area. If I am lucky enough to get an opportunity to visit the near by seeded contenders such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns, rest assured I will grab that in a heartbeat. I want to try my best and visit one of the March Madness campuses around the area to see if I can get any ideas and post season coverage on the schools, most likely would be Saint Mary's University who had a fantastic Cinderella run starting from the tenth seed this year, only to be crushed by the third seeded Baylor University. Who knows, I might even get an interview or two.
On to the March Madness, I previously released my brackets for everyone to analyze and unfortunately they weren't as good as the ones I had last year, where I predicted a finals berth between Michigan State and North Carolina with the Tarheels winning the championship.
NCAA Bracket Analysis
First Round
I was quite impressed with myself after the first round passed, I went for a pretty impressive percentage even topping some professional analysts who threw their towels in early thanks to the numerous upsets in the first 32 games. The second day of the tournament was my best tourney day showing, I went 12/16 with not a single error in the West and Midwest sections, my entire Sweet Sixteen would have been alive and breathing if not for Utah State losing to Texas A&M. I knocked down 71.88% of my predictions in that round alone, that's a freaking 23/32 baby. In my opinion this was the most exciting round in the entire tournament, a bunch of the games really went down the wire. The one that made me jump out of my seat and spill my breakfast however, would have to be Murray State and Vanderbilt; Vandy had a 65-64 lead with 4.2 seconds on the clock, Murray State runs an offensive switch and hand the ball to Danero Thomas, who pulls up for a fade away jumper from the elbow and hits right at the buzzer. A game that may not have been as close, but still got my attention was Georgia Tech and Oklahoma, I filled that one out last in my analysis, but thankfully, I was right on with that, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets devoured Oklahoma State by a good five points.
Second Round
To my dismay, the second round wasn't as nice. I felt like I hit a wall on the first day of this round, when only two of my eight schools came through. I hoped the second day could lift me up, but it wasn't enough, the round was a terrible 6/16 effort for me, dragging down my total percentages to 60.42%, and with four rotations to go, things weren't looking so good.
Sweet Sixteen
The Sweet Sixteen wasn't so sweet for me either, as I witnessed Tennessee University send the phenomenal Evan Turner along with my Elite Eight contender Ohio State back home. Thanks to my already bombarded brackets, I hit a mere 3/10 in that supposedly "sweet" round. Upsets aside I still kept my hopes up, since my Finals teams Kentucky and Michigan State were up and running.
Elite Eight
Harsh, that's one word to get this round started. The Butler University I so ignorantly wrote off in the first round escaped Kansas State and now found themselves atop the West, while Coach Kryzweski and his magical Duke Blue Devils lived up to their seeded hype and marched into the Final Four. I breathed a sigh of relief once Michigan State slipped past Tennessee by a one point margin, it would have ended on a good note if not for another inconceivable outcome. Kentucky, the team I picked to win it all, the team filled with future NBA prospects, the team with two freshmen who perform better than most seniors, was knocked off by a second seeded West Virginia squad. I know it's all over for me this season, the best thing I can do is hope Michgan State wins their next game so I can at least add another win to my brackets, besides that, better luck next year Carlo.
You know what strikes me most in analyzing brackets like this? It's the time when some unknown force tells you to select a certain variable, but upon writing it down, you look at the statistics and doubt yourself, making you change your original conclusion. That right there is a common mistake among people. I read a book written by Malcolm Gladwell last year, it was entitled "Blink". The book spoke to it's readers about how the first, split second impression you have about a certain object, is usually the most accurate measurement of an event's turnout. I can't explain everything in such a short dialogue, but basically it's trying to point out that the power of the human brain is so remarkable that the information it processes within the first two seconds upon encounter is most likely a concise analogy. Even as I have had the advantage of studying that book first hand, I still made that very mistake during my bracket completion. I had come up with two remaining collegiate variables in the forms of the University of Kentucky and Michigan State University to face off in the finals. My original composition jotted down Michigan State in that last box, defining my supposedly "final" answer. After a little back and forth within myself, I double checked the probability between the two teams and became uneasy about the bold decision of choosing a 75.00% team over a 94.12% team in the final round of the tournament. So, I erased the fifth seeded Michigan State and went along with most sportswriters and analysts, I had Kentucky winning it all at the deadline.
Final Four
"It's Carlo, Joseph Carlo Herrera. I come before you today humbled, and humiliated as my brackets stand beaten down to a pulp entering the Final Four. "(You see the whole Spiderman drama I just injected there? It's so freaking genius right!?) I am hereby abandoning my March Madness brackets for 2010 and shamefully admit to the mounted errors. To wrap up the tournament discussion, let's throw out my previous predictions and analyze the outcomes of the current Final Four teams; Michigan State, Butler, West Virginia and Duke.
Michigan State I believe will be involved in a close and physical game with Butler, the probability of Butler winning holds a 12.50% deficit over Michigan State, but this time I'll go with my heart, which says the Spartans are going back to the finals. For the West Virginia and Duke match-up, I can see the game playing out as West Virginia will be trying to keep up with Duke the whole time, there may be instances where they can tie or get a slight lead, but in the last five minutes or so, Coach Kryzweski and his Blue Devils will emerge triumphant. The final game of that three game bracket is a very tough call, Duke and Michigan State? I think that's one even my statistics teacher cannot solve. The plain math says it's going to be Duke by a 10.29% margin, but remember, it's a one game thing, and as the older generations say, "The ball is round son.".
Conclusion
That was certainly a roller coaster ride of a tournament, and I had a lot of fun covering it despite the defeat in bracketology. I will try my best to get as much of the post-tournament hype once I get to California, and on a long shot maybe get some interviews with a couple players, but for now I can take pride in that fact that I improved the coverage big time compared to last year's article. I hope you all enjoyed the discussion and I look forward to closing out this season, to answer any remaining questions that may hang in the air, I am backing the Michigan State Spartans to win this thing despite the odds. The alma mater got destroyed last year, and if I know anything about losing, it makes you want to perform a do-over, this time, successfully.
For the closing statements, I want to address the people who may be able to provide me with an opportunity to cover a playoff game, the only thing hindering me from this is the failure of the Warriors and Kings to make the playoffs, so help a writer out please? Full playoff coverage will be conducted on The Lakeshow Express no matter what though, for as long as the Lakers are fighting, TLE keeps writing! Stay tuned to the chronicles as I compose my take on the Philippine national elections this month, it's going to be a very controversial article so you can't miss it! Oh and yes, follow me on Twitter @CarloHerrera.
Final Four bets? Love the improvement from last year? Hatemail? Have a pretty good bracket? mailto; thecarlochronicles@yahoo.com
