Spring Insanity

It's March Madness time, ladies and gentlemen. I've already filled out my bracket for one tournament pool I've been invited to participate in, and I won't tell you who I picked to win it, but I'll tell you it almost rhymes with "stem fist."

Naturally, I'm disappointed that Ohio State didn't get in, after those big wins over Purdue and Michigan State. But the Buckeyes didn't get very far in the Big Ten tourney, falling to those same Spartans in the quarterfinals. I noticed in the last couple of days that ESPN's Joe Lunardi had OSU in his "last four in" for a while, and then on Sunday, after the Georgia Bulldogs pulled the SEC tournament title out of their collective posterior, the Bucks had moved to "last four out." I think it kind of stinks, but there are only 65 spots, so every time somebody gets one, somebody else has to lose one. And every team, Ohio State included, had a chance to earn an automatic bid by winning their conference tournament.

Florida also missed the cut, which means it's the first time since 1980 that both NCAA Tournament title game participants got shut out of the tourney entirely the following year. That was the year after Michigan State and Indiana State met up in an epic final, and respective stars Magic Johnson and Larry Bird went pro.

Ohio State's not the only Ohio school to be snubbed. Dayton went 21-10 despite some injuries, and beat Pittsburgh and Louisville. The Flyers finished with the nation's 32nd-best RPI. They got hosed.

Anyway, with no Ohio State in the field, I'm pulling for Kent State (which got a 9 seed) and whatever underdogs might happen to emerge. It should prove interesting.