March Madness Predictions: "And The Crowd Goes Wild!"

A Girl Wins the “Upstairs Teacher’s Lounge” March Madness Basketball Pool.  When Tournament Time came, we all added to lesson plans the notion of game plans.  The bracket was hand-scribed by one of the football coaches and it cost moola to play. The pay-in price was probably $1.00, back when that amount could buy 4 Cokes or quite a number of cups of coffee.
Much discussion centered on who the top teams were, but there was no big complicated math that went into the selection process, at least none that we knew of.  The girls were (and still are) basketball fans and Love the Memphis (STATE) Tigers.  During one of our after-school chat-fests prior to the drive home, we determined how we’d fill out our brackets.  Don’t be alarmed, but those decisions were NOT based on conference record, common opponents, or strength of schedule.  No.  Our determinations were exceedingly more complex than that.

Cuteness of Point Guard or Head Coach, Style and color of Uniforms, Long-time preference for or against a team or coach, regional stereotypes, and Natural Selection:  a cat will eat a bird every time ( relevancy of mascot match-up).
I am here to tell you” for real” -  A girl WON the pool!  …and the Crowd went Wild!

With that said, here are my First Round March Madness selections:

WEST REGION:
Michigan (has anyone heard of Brooklyn outside of baseball?)
Memphis (of course – better Ba-ba-cue and view of the River)
New Mexico (surfers don’t do well on basketball court)
Louisville (Petino Mob puts horse head in bed with private small college)
Murray State (proximity)
Marquette (The French over the Mormans)
Florida (Gators chomp gentlemen from Virginia; have you seen Swamp People?)
Missouri (where Mike Anderson was the coach; now at Arkansas)

SOUTH REGION:
Kentucky (western Kentucky is a directional school with a losing record)
Iowa St (“U-con” does the name Calipari sound familiar?)
Wichita State (common wealth is UnAmerican)
Indiana (Hoosiers is a great movie!)
UNLV (ties to our own Suzanne Sugarbaker)
Baylor (Love the Camo Uniforms)
Notre Dame (better Catholic connections)
Duke (can beat a college that sounds like a chocolate drink)

MIDWEST REGION:
North Carolina (love the Carolina Blue and Roy Williams)
Alabama (Elephants stomp “croutons”)
Temple (S. Florida has Stan Heath former fired Ark coach)
Michigan (I could never be for anyone or anything from Ohio)
NC State (Surfers can’t jump)
Georgetown (big boys in prison attire beat tiny Belmont)
St. Marys (Gene Cady has a really bad wrap-around)
Kansas (Detroit won’t suit up the Pistons)

EAST REGION:
Syracuse (even without their 7’ guy, for now)
So. Miss (conference ties)
Vandy (two brainiacs, but only one from around these parts)
Wisconsin – (not enough people in Montana to field a team)
Cincinnati (“Eyes” of Texas = 0; “Eyes” of Cincinnati = 3)
Florida St (Tommahawk massacre of saints)
Zags ( can West Va even spell Gonzaga?)
Loyola (going for the Catholic connection against anything Ohio)

My predictions for the next round will include Memphis beating Michigan State, just so you’ll know.  You can use my “bracketology madness” or design your own.  The whole reason I fill out a bracket:  Simple Fun!  Ya’ll Have Some!!