Ohio State, Duke, Syracuse, Kansas, Villanova, and Wichita State all have something in common and it isn’t something to be proud of. They all have been upset thus far in the NCAA tournament — sent home packing much earlier than many people expected. March Madness is known for its crazy shenanigans, but so far this tournament has been the craziest that I can remember. There are still many good teams left in the tournament, but what has transpired thus far is unexplainable.

Despite this picture being from 2009, not even Barack Obama could have predicted what would transpire thus far in the 2014 tournament, Pete Souza [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

#1 Florida vs #4 UCLA

#1 Virginia vs #Michigan State

#3 Iowa State vs #7 Connecticut

#1 Arizona vs #4 San Diego State

#2 Wisconsin vs #6 Baylor

#4 Louisville vs #8 Kentucky

#2 Michigan vs #11 Tennessee

This NCAA Tournament has given us some really good match-ups in the Sweet 16 and it’s looking like more of the same in the this weekend. Now here is my preview for what will transpire in the next few weeks:

Sweet 16:

#1 Florida vs #4 UCLA (Florida),

#10 Stanford vs #11 Dayton (Dayton)

#1 Virginia vs #4 Michigan State (Virginia)

#3 Iowa State vs #7 Connecticut (Connecticut)

#1 Arizona vs #4 San Diego State (Arizona)

#2 Wisconsin vs #6 Baylor (Wisconsin)

#4 Louisville vs #8 Kentucky (Kentucky)

#2 Michigan vs #11 Tennessee (Michigan)

Elite Eight:

#1 Florida vs #11 Dayton (Florida)

#1 Virginia vs #7 Connecticut (Virginia)

#1 Arizona vs #2 Wisconsin (Arizona)

#8 Kentucky vs #2 Michigan (Kentucky)

Final Four:

#1 Florida vs #1 Virginia (Virginia)

#1 Arizona vs #8 Kentucky (Arizona)

NCAA Championship Game:

#1 Virginia vs #1 Arizona

I’ve got Arizona holding up the trophy after its all said and done with the final score being 76-69.

What do you think? Did I even get close? Comment below.

Russ Smith is the kind of player who can lead Louisville into another deep tournament run this season. By Owen Main

The last two NCAA men’s basketball National Champions have come from the state of Kentucky. Louisville and Lexington are 77 miles apart and this state is clearly the center of today’s college basketball universe.

Attend one game in downtown Louisville and you’ll quickly learn. The defending national champion Louisville Cardinals are not just a championship team — they are a championship program.

Pregame

The KFC Yum! Center, Louisville’s home for the past five years, is a first-class facility, sitting on the water in downtown Louisville. On game nights, there is a palpable buzz, with thousands of fans magnetically streaming toward the arena — all adorned in red and white. The Yum! Center is only a few miles from the University — a relatively straight-shot for students who come to games. For alumni and fans from the community, the Yum! Center sits in a prime downtown location. Restaurants abound for pre and post-game festivities and everything downtown seems within walking distance. Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky, but it’s a manageable city to be sure.

In-game atmosphere

The Yum! Center seem like an NBA-caliber arena and the team that plays in it has lots of players who are soon to be pro’s. It holds over 22,000 fans (fifth largest college basketball arena in the country) and is only three years old. It feels brand new.

After visiting the Yum! Center, I’m beginning to think that probably every mid-western college basketball fan base must be really good. The sea of red and white throughout the arena undulated with every big Louisville play. When Hofstra made a run to cut the lead to seven points early in the second half of Tuesday night’s game, the fans came even more alive — willing their team to defensive stops and giving energy with every bucket.

In about five minutes, Louisville’s lead that had been whittled to seven points quickly ballooned to 15, 20, and 25 points. The crowd of 20,112 at the Yum! Center was rocking and things were back in balance.

The Team

The Louisville Cardinals are the national champions, and they play like it. They ooze confidence on offense and are held to an insanely high standard defensively by their coach, Rick Pitino.

Guards Russ Smith and Chris Jones both put in very good all-around performances — defending about as well as they were able to score. Particularly impressive to me was the inside play of forward Montrezl Harrell. Harrell plays bigger than his height (he is listed at only 6′ 8″) and has a pretty polished game for a 19 year-old. He will be a force. One thing I always appreciate about Rick Pitino teams is the mental and physical pressure they put on an opponent. Hofstra’s guards looked like they were used to being in complete control. Up against Smith and Jones, though, they were frazzled at times. Pitino’s teams are always deep and they never let-up the pressure.

Recommendation

If you’re going to a game at the Yum! Center, make a night out of it. Dress warm and get downtown early for dinner. Rumor is that you might pay a little more on game day (night), but it’s probably worth it. Strike up a conversation with someone wearing red. Fans of all ages fill the streets before and after a game. Whoever you talk with you’re likely to get someone’s opinion on the state of college basketball. Culturally, it seems nobody is immune — and everyone has picked a side in this state. Red or Blue.

Two seasons ago, the University of Kentucky won the national title. Last season, it was Louisville’s turn.

As you drive in Kentucky anywhere near Lexington and Louisville, you are bound to see cars, houses, t-shirts, and flags adorned with Louisville red or Kentucky blue. Truly, this has to be the hub around which the world of college basketball spins.

Photos by Owen Main

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

The bright orange of Syracuse and head coach Jim Boeheim joined Pitt in bolting the Big East for the ACC. By Briles Takes Pictures (Flickr: Scoop and Jim), via Wikimedia Commons

Are you a College Football fan who is excited for the new conference alignment?  Good, I hope you’re satisfied, because this process of realignment virtually destroyed the greatest sports conference that College sports has ever seen.  The creation of the Big East as a basketball conference is one of the most significant events to take place in the history of college sports. Current Big East schools have been to 16 Final Fours. The dissolution of the original Big East that has taken place over the last eight years should be considered one of the most significant travesties American sports have ever seen, and it was all because of the desire to make the most money off athletes who are, first and foremost, considered students.

Student athletes, that’s a dynamic term, isn’t it?  Can anyone actually explain to me how we should accurately classify a student athlete, because it seems as if the individuals in charge of college athletics have forgotten about the student portion of this dynamic term.  When describing why they are leaving the conference, monetary gains are a driving force. So you’re telling me that a school is willing travel farther, subsequently taking a chance on the academic success of their students’ grades, just so that they can make more money?  That sounds absolutely disgusting if you ask me.  I’m one of the biggest College Football fans you will ever meet—I bleed orange for my Beavers—but I start having problems when school officials start sacrificing a student’s grade just so their schedule looks appealing to the voters who decide the weekly rankings.

The Big East’s basketball pedigree rivals the football dominance of the SEC. The Big East had a 16-team basketball super-conference years before the SEC moved to 14 schools.

Since 1979, the Big East has produced six National Champions and 15 of the 16 teams—South Florida being the lone exception—have made it the Final Four — the most of any conference. In 1985, six years after its creation, the Big East sent three schools to the Final Four—Villanova, Georgetown and St. John’s—with ‘Nova beating Georgetown 66-64, in a game that many consider the greatest College Basketball game ever played.  Villanova, as an eight-seed, became the lowest seeded team to ever win the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament, a record the stands to this day.  Of course, Wichita State will have a chance at breaking this record when they take on top seeded Louisville—of the Big East—in this year’s Final Four on Saturday.

Fast forward over two decades to 2009 and you can find the historic game between Syracuse and Connecticut in the Big East Tournament which lasted six overtimes.  Syracuse beat Connecticut 127-117 in a game that started at 9:30 PM ET and ended well beyond 1 AM in the morning; Syracuse did not lead in any of the previous overtime periods.  102 of the 244 points came in the overtime periods, in a game that is the longest game in the shot clock era.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3koPRFXzi3o

Unfortunately, the opportunity for fans to watch games of similar pedigree involving the iconic Big East has ceased to exist.  Nevertheless, the Big East name will continue to exist through a new conference created by the “Catholic 7” universities—DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, and Villanova—along with the recently added powerhouses of Butler, Creighton, and Xavier.  Even without schools like Syracuse, Louisville, and Connecticut, the “new” Big East still has potential to bring excitement that may one day match the historic competition that the Big East provided for over the past 30 years.