I'm Upset!

     Talk about being mad! In the first round alone of the 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Tourney there were 10 upsets.
Not surprisingly, #5 Temple lost to #12 Cornell in the first round to extend their first round losing streak to three years. Cornell on the other hand snapped a streak: the Ivy league has lost in the first round every year for the last 11 seasons. Until now: enter Cornell. These guys are for real. Shooting 56% for the game this scrappy Ivy League team has proved that they plan to stick around, and stick those shots.
     NOT so surprising is the loss of #3 New Mexico to #11 Washington. Personally I don't believe New Mexico should have been seeded so highly to begin with. Coming from the Mountain West Conference, New Mexico has no real competition throughout the year to even get to the playoffs; besides BYU (who have also already lost). Darington Hobson, Mountain West Player of the Year, padded his stats with 11 points and 9 rebounds but did little else while playing with a sore wrist on his shooting hand.
     St. Mary's? Are you kidding me? They're not. Go big or go home? That is just what they did, knocking down big shots all night with Mickey McConnell nailing a 3-pointer that essentially cinched the game for St. Mary's. Now that they have knocked off a #2 seed, they are going to have to go big again against #3 Baylor in the next round,or go home.
     And now here we are. Who would have ever thought I would be writing about this one? That's right, #1 Kansas has been defeated. Spanked if you will, considering it was #9 N. Iowa who beat them 69-67. Thitry three wins, basically all for nothing. But you have to look at it from my perspective....because this is my blog. 25 turnovers? 6-23 from 3-point range? I'm sorry, did they think this tourney was going to be handed to them? Curiosity killed the cat and overconfidence killed Kansas. But hey, if you look back it is only a case of history repeating itself. Kansas now has lost in the second round of the tournament three times as the #1 seed, which is thee most of any school, so this shouldn't really come as a shock. N. Iowa, however, played brilliantly, shooting 40% from the field. And, if you watched, you will not soon be forgetting Ali Farokhamanesh netting a 3 pointer with 30 seconds left in the game to put N.I. up 66-62. Not only did Kansas blow it in the tournament, but they blew it for millions of fans who were playing their bracket with ESPN.com. According to their website, out of 4.8 million brackets, 98% had Kansas advancing to the Sweet Sixteen, 59% to the Final Four, and 42% winning the National Championship.
     Just goes to show you, nothing in life, or basketball, in guaranteed, and Cinderella stories really just might come true.

Photo from ESPN.com