Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery: The Best Bromance in Sports

          When March comes around you can count on the madness that comes with the NCAA tournament: A 15-seed upsetting a 2-seed, an 11-seed reaching the Final Four. What is more predictable than the games themselves is the greatness of two of the men that call some of those games, the broadcasting tandem made up of play-by-play announcer Verne Lundquist and color commentator Bill Raftery.

VCU: First Four to Final Four

Beating the Goliaths

The single greatest run to the Final Four in NCAA history. 11 seeded VCU, thanks to the introduction of the First Four games, became the first team ever to make it to the Final Four by winning five games. Of those five wins only one, their Sweet Sixteen matchup against 10th seeded Florida State, was the only close one. In beating USC (by 13), Georgetown (by 18), Purdue (by 18), Florida State (by 1 in OT), and Kansas (by 10) VCU of the Colonial Athletic Association defeated members of 5 of the 6 power conferences: Pac-10, Big East, Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12 respectively. It is too bad that the Rams could not play an SEC team in the Final Four, then maybe they would have won. But fellow mid major Butler gave the Rams all they could handle in a 70-62 win for the Bulldogs (a score that really does not represent how close the game truly was).

Duke Wins the 2010 NCAA Tournament

Chalk in the End

When is it a surprise when a #1 seed (Duke) beats a #5 seed (Butler) in the NCAA championship game? Usually the answer is never, but after the large string of upsets throughout the first 4 rounds of the tournament, why shouldn’t it continue into the championship game? At the beginning of the tournament if someone had asked you who would win between Duke and Butler if they were to meet in the national championship game there wouldn’t be a doubt in your mind that Duke would win. What if someone had asked you that same question right before the game started, I bet you wouldn’t answer as quickly. Chances are if you didn’t have Duke in your bracket you were rooting for Butler because who doesn’t want to see an underdog come out on top? But there is a difference in terms of rooting for 

NCAA Experts

A Tournament of Unpredictability

It’s been a wild NCAA basketball tournament thus far. In the first weekend alone, 8 double digits seeds moved on to the 2nd round. 3 of those; #12 Cornell, #11 Washington, and #10 Saint Mary’s; moved on to the Sweet 16. Those don’t even include the biggest upset of them all, when #9 Northern Iowa beat #1 overall seed Kansas in the second round, ruining an unbelievably large amount of brackets country wide. Now the Final Four consists of #5 Michigan State, #5 Butler, #2 West Virginia, and #1 Duke. So raise your hand if you got this Final Four right. That’s what I thought.

The Experts

I woke up this morning and, as usual, put on Sportscenter where I saw Doug Gottlieb making his predictions on who is going to the championship game in Indianapolis and who will eventually be holding the trophy. I sat there and thought to myself “What do I care what Doug Gottlieb predicts, did 

NCAA Tournament Opening Round Game

         In honor of the start of the 2010 NCAA tournament, it’s time to discuss one of the most pointless games in one of the best sporting events of the year, the opening round game. The first game of the NCAA tournament is played on the Tuesday after Selection Sunday between the two lowest seeded, automatic bid teams. The winner has the honor of playing one of the number one seeds in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. If you ever wondered why 65 teams, as opposed to 64, make it into the tournament, it’s because of this extra game. This year, the opening round game is between Winthrop, winner of Big South Conference, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, winner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The victor then plays Duke in the first round. Is it me or is this game 100% useless?

The Play-In Game

Originally named the “play-in game,” the NCAA now refers to it as the “opening round game” because technically the two teams playing in it are in 

NCAA Tournament Expansion

Argument For

Over the past few years, there have been serious talks about expanding the Division 1 NCAA Tournament from 65 teams to 96 teams. The argument is that with the increase in parity among teams, it is getting more and more difficult in deciding which at-large teams are worthy of playing in the prestigious postseason. Every year it seems like the NCAA committee makes at least one mistake in selecting a team that doesn’t deserve to get into the tourney along with neglecting one team that did deserve it, and that’s where the argument of expansion stems. But I am here to argue the other side of this debate.

The Cinderellas

March Madness is arguably one of the greatest sporting events in the world. There are few other events that may be able to top it. What makes March so mad is the single elimination system. This gives underdogs a much greater chance to do well in the tournament than any other type of playoff format because they don’t have to be the best team in the country,