Does the best team win the NCAA tournament?

As a sports fan, you have to love upsets. This year's edition of the NCAA tournament has offered more upsets than our brackets can handle. But these upsets have got me thinking, does the best team really win the NCAA tournament?

Entering the tourny, Kentucky, Syracuse, Duke, and Kansas were regional number 1 seeds. Kentucky got beat by West Virginia in the Elite 8, Syracuse was ousted by Butler in the Sweet 16, and Kansas lost to Northern Iowa in the round of 32.

Does this sound like a tournament where the best team wins? Not necessarily, but some top teams are still surviving. West Virgina won the Big East title, Duke is still alive, and Butler looks like a legitimate contender.

How does this happen? Well, it is a single loss elimination tournament, the games are short, injuries can happen, fouls can happen, and upsets are inevitable.

Part of the confusion however, comes from the inability to accurately rank teams prior to the tournament. West Virgina won the Big East tournament, not Syracuse, yet Syracuse still entered the tournament with the number 1 seed while West Virginia was pegged as a number 2 seed.

As well, it is truly difficult to calculate who actually plays a more difficult schedule. Overall record has a large impact on rankings, but strength of schedule is also weighed in. Mistakes are bound to happen.

Will the best team in NCAA basketball win the NCAA tournament? Probably not, but that does not diminish how outstanding this tournament has been. Cinderella stories have been popping up from every corner of the country and top teams have been slayed by tiny schools from unknown conferences.

For the record, my official pick to win the tournament has been and remains the West Virginia Mountaineers, but I won't be surprised if they don't pull it off.

Will the best team win the NCAA tournament? Likely not. Has the best team already been eliminated? Probably. Will the most deserving team win? Definitely.

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Obama's bracket is boring

I've looked at the President's bracket, and I have to say...booorrring. It does seem like several teams have fairly straight forward routes to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 this year, but come on people, the President needs to be a risk taker...at least when constructing an NCAA bracket.

As a re-cap, Obama has Kansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Georgetown, Kansas State, Syracuse, Duke, and Villanova in the Elite 8. That group includes each and every 1 seed, and every 2 seed, with the exception of Ohio State which President Obama has getting "upset" by Georgetown.

If the tight conference championships were any indication, I think we can expect a little more Madness this March.

One team that has been getting a lot of press, and I happen to agree with, is Wisconsin. As a 4 seed, Wisconsin would not be a monumental longshot, but other than number 5 Temple, they have a relatively straight route and I think they'll upset someone in this tournament.

I do however, agree with President Obama that Georgetown is a threat. They have been playing great lately and could go even farther than Obama predicted.

One team I really like to make the Final Four and potentially squeak into the big dance, is West Virginia. West Virginia won the Big East title over Georgetown and seem to be carrying momentum. The Big East is a tough conference to win, especially this year with number 1 Syracuse and number 2 Villanova playing like contenders.

As for President Obama's NCAA tournament winner Kansas, he might be right there. I'm going to go with either West Virginia or Duke. Either way you look at it, March Madness is here and it's going to be an amazing ride. Still Mr. Obama, make it exciting for us. We're tired of the economy and health care, this was your chance to show some personality. Instead, you played it safe.

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Expanding the NCAA Tourny is a bad idea

I'm all for bringing great sporting events to a larger market, but expanding the NCAA basketball tournament from 64 teams to 96 isn't March Madness, it's March Insanity.

If this were for the sake of welcoming 32 extra teams with legitimate chances to advance to the final four, it would be a-ok with me, but it's not. This is about putting money in the pockets of the NCAA and its member leagues.

There is no way, let me repeat that, NO WAY, that the 65th ranked team, 80th ranked team, or the 96th ranked team will EVER win the NCAA tournament. When it truly comes down to it, the best teams are in contention every single year, and the rest are left in the dust.

This year, just as in any other year, it will likely be one of the top 10 teams entering the tournament that walks away with a National Championship. Even more likely, it will be one of the top four teams, Syracuse, Kentucky, Kansas, or Duke that wins.

If there were an ounce of logic behind expanding the tournament for competitive or even developmental reasons, I would be on board with this, but there isn't. The NIT tournament has been created for teams that aren't able to crack the top 64, and that is where these teams belong.

Expanding the NCAA tournament to 96 teams would be ridiculous. It would dilute the pool, add additional length to an already substantial tournament, would make the regular season almost meaningless, and create games that the average fan would be less than interested in watching. I don't want to see a blowout in the NCAA tournament, I want to see Cinderella teams with a legitimate chance to win a game.

That is what makes it March Madness. The NCAA should learn not to mess with a good thing. The NCAA tournament is popular for a reason and needs to be left just the way it is. What would we even call it? Sweet 16, Final Four, Numbing 96?

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