NCAA Tournament: Best Four Days in Sports

Today begins the four day stretch that is the best four days on the sports calendar. The NCAA Tournament's first two rounds are arguably the best consecutive stretch of sports days we get each year. The tournament has everything, and today and tomorrow are the days we see the upsets that shock the world and find out if we're getting a Cinderalla story to root for for the next 2 weeks.

Over the next four days, we can be sure that a higher seed is going to fall to a lower seed. We're not always guaranteed to see the crazy upsets in the first round. Only two 16 seeds have beaten a one seed, University of Maryland Baltimore County knocked top seeded Virginia out, and Fairleigh Dickinson sending top seeded Purdue home destroying brackets across the country.

We can be sure to see a nine beat an eight, or the usual five losing to a 12 seed. It's these games that make the NCAA Tournament's first two rounds exciting television. For the most part the games are close until the last minute, and if we're lucky, the final few seconds. With no Philadelphia teams involved it makes it easy to root for a certain Cinderella that may emerge from this weekend. Yes, eventually you want to see the top teams playing in the most important games, but until then let the chaos ensue!

So starting today, get yourself a bracket, fill it out and prepare to be disappointed in your picks! If you're all in on seeing a top seed go down today or tomorrow you should be rooting for Stetson, Longwood, Wagner and Grambling State. Good luck, and enjoy the best four days in sports! Check out my bracket here.

We're into March, and it's official championship time in the 2024 men's college basketball season. Right now, games are being played that will help determine which teams will make it into the much-coveted NCAA tournament and March Madness. So, which teams should top your bracket?

The No. 1 seeds are no surprise, for the most part. There's no way any other teams will be able to top Purdue, Houston and Connecticut. But, the rest is up for grabs.

Before we get into the rankings, let's learn some fun facts about the NCAA Tournament. The very first March Madness started on March 17, 1939, according to BleacherNation.com. They also note that the first tournament in college basketball history had only eight teams. Oregon won the NCAA Division I Championship that year, with a 46-33 win over Ohio State. As for huge upsets, and I remember this one, during the 2018 NCAA Tournament, UMBC beat No. 1 seed Virginia 74-54. That marked the first time in NCAA history a No. 16 seed beat a number 1.

What are the odds of you getting a perfect bracket? Not good. Not good at all. According to the NCAA, you have a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (9 quintillion) chance to make a perfect bracket. If you really know nothing about college basketball knowledge, your odds become 1 in 120.2 billion. So, don't bet the house or first born on your bracket. That's so crazy. For years, I was really good at doing brackets and even won in some bracket pools with coworkers and friends. But, then I stopped doing brackets for a few years, because I wanted to enjoy the game. Now, I'm back and ready to do a bracket again this year. My team, the Michigan State Spartans, have not been doing well lately. But, there's time, and hopefully they can turn things around. Fingers crossed.

Let's get into our March Madness 2024 power rankings.

Marquette has performed consistently well all season, and they have been falling around the No. 10 mark when ranked against the other NCAA teams. When their defense is weak, their offense is strong, and you can flip that, too. Now, if they can get both going at once, we'll have something extra special.

I remember the Coach K era of the Duke Blue Devils, so it's definitely not the same watching Duke without him in action. But, they're still a solid team with legacy. They're especially strong this year.

The Creighton Bluejays have some star players in Trey Alexander, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Baylor Scheierman. What's even better is that these players seem to be getting better as the season progresses. That's especially true of the latter.

The Iowa State Cyclones have been strong all season, and they're not letting up now. They also have a star player in Demarion Watson, who kind of broke out of nowhere later in the season.

While the North Carolina Tar Heels aren't quite at the level of Purdue, UConn and Houston, meaning they aren't a No. 1 seed, they're close. They have great stats and when they shine, they really shine. They could surprise everyone in the tourney.

The Tennessee Volunteers are having a great season, and star player Jonas Aidoo is largely to thank. But, Aidoo has fallen a bit short lately. Hopefully he's just resting up for a big tourney season.

The Arizona Wildcats are one of the big teams to beat in 2024. They've been dominating both in offense and defense. There's no question that the Cats should be contenders for the Final Four.

The Houston Cougars will be a No. 1 seed, and they've earned it. They have an incredible record and are very difficult to trip up. Will they go all the way? Time will tell. But, their most recent wins were all close, so there's that.

The UConn Huskies have a solid coach in Dan Hurley, and he's really helped shape this team into champions. The Huskies have a legacy, and he's carrying that forward. They could absolutely go all the way this year.

Okay, so Purdue has some weaknesses. But, I follow the Big Ten closely (since Michigan State is in there), and they just always seem to pull off a win. The Boilermakers could really make this their year. Fletcher Loyer and Zach Edey are some of their stars.