Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COMMENTARY: Welcome to the chaos of March Madness
By Alice Riddle
The Daily Vidette (Illinois State U.)
03/17/2008

(CSTV U-WIRE) NORMAL, Ill. — There's madness, and then there's insanity.

The real tournament hasn't even begun yet, but if championship week is any indication of what's to come, then this is going to be one crazy dance.

As we are in Redbird Country, let's start by remembering way back to last weekend in one of the first conference tournaments of the week. In case you were celebrating spring break in Acapulco and missed our school's big CBS appearance, let me give you the quick rundown. The Missouri Valley had everything sealed up the way it was supposed to; the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds — Drake and ISU — had safely made their ways to the championship game, and Bulldog and Redbird fans alike were preparing for an epic showdown. Winning this game would have meant an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for ISU, and having lost to Drake twice earlier in the season by a combined total of nine points, the 'Birds were looking for some sweet revenge.

Fast forward two hours from the 1 p.m. tip-off on Sunday. Drake, the No. 20 team in the country, was celebrating a 30-point victory over the 'Birds and their first Valley championship in over 30 years. A loss in and of itself may not have been so bad, but losing by 30 points pretty much killed any chance we had left of getting a bid.

The Big Ten tournament did not prove to be quite as orderly as that of the MVC; the Finals featured a No. 1 and a No. TEN seed. Now, I'll be honest — I've always had a soft spot for Illinois basketball. It could have been their run to the title game in 2005, or it's possible that it's because I went to high school with Shaun Pruitt, so I'm used to cheering him on. As I watched Illinois struggle up the Big Ten ladder on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, however, these feelings gradually began to fade away. Luckily, they didn't manage yet another upset on Sunday against Wisconsin, assuring that they wouldn't be stealing ISU's bid to the tournament. I mean, honestly, if they had won it all on Sunday, Illinois would have gone to the tournament with a 17-18 record in a major conference, slipping in just under .500 and potentially pushing out one or two bubble teams with over 20 wins and nearly as strong a record. Had this happened, then ISU's omission from the brackets would have been accompanied by countless taunts from our friends to the east.

Luckily it all worked out for the best: the Illini won't have to feel the wrath of angry Redbird fans, and Redbird fans won't be tormented by Illinois students for the rest of the year.

In keeping with my original fondness for Illinois, however, it certainly was nice to see Eric Gordon go down to Minnesota. This loss for Indiana was sweet not only because it prevented the Hoosiers and their questionable recruiting tactics from working their way to a Big Ten title, but also, as a sports fan, how can you not love the acrobatic, buzzer-beating shot by Blake Hoffarber? Again, this piece of NCAA history has been compared non-stop to Christian Laettner's historic turnaround shot against Kentucky, and Hoffarber's basket will certainly garner the same kind of acclaim.

Finally, I think this madness can only be capped off by acknowledging the wreckage that accompanied the SEC Tournament — and the bizarre resulting champion. Friday night's match-up between Mississippi State and Alabama was delayed for over an hour due to crazy weather conditions outside, which turned out to be a tornado through downtown Atlanta. Georgia may have built momentum off of the chaos that I'm sure followed the storm, and they went on to win the SEC and secure an automatic bid for the tournament. So now I want to thank you, Georgia Bulldogs, for screwing up the brackets substantially enough to officially knock ISU out of the picture.

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