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Brandon Moore
Outspoken and Underheard

The term "March Madness" has become a cliché when referring to the NCAA Tournament, but how can one deny the excitement and the well, madness that has taken place over the first weekend of the tournament? Bucknell (Where is that?) beat Kansas, Vermont beat Syracuse and West Virginia got the best of the Demon Deacons from Wake Forest. The Salukis even played themselves into another realm titled the high major by giving Oklahoma State a serious run for their money in the Cowboys' backyard. If the Salukis were able to tie up the left hand of Ivan McFarlin for at least 10 minutes, they would have been headed to Chicago with another shot at keeping the madness alive.

Besides that, last year's national champion UConn and runner up Georgia Tech both lost their mojo in Sunday matchups against North Carolina State and Louisville. The parody in college basketball is unbelievable and at any time, those office pool brackets can be disrupted by a T.J. Sorrentine crossover or an Ed McCants three-ball. Don't know who I am talking about? Well, believe me, Syracuse and Boston College do.

So far, despite all the madness, the four number one seeds are still alive. The Fighting Illini, North Carolina, Duke and Washington are in place. This is all great but who really believes that all four will make it out of this week's action to make it to the final four. ESPN reported that for 17 consecutive years, in odd-numbered years the number ones make it to the sweet 16; but in the even-numbered years a number one goes down early. Well, they all made it, but another historical bit of statistical info is that never have four number ones won four games in a row. So, with that in mind, prepare for the madness to continue in this week's race to the final four.

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My prognostications are as follows: North Carolina will take care of Villanova. Big surprise there, but the Wildcats have a legitimate backcourt and will give Carolina a good workout. Wisconsin will play Flintstone ball and beat N.C. State in the most unentertaining game of the week. Coach K. and Duke defeat Michigan State in a tough contest. Kentucky does its best 40-minutes-of-hell rendition and takes care of Aussie Andrew Bogut and Utah. The Illini paint Chicago orange and have their way with Cinderella UW-Milwaukee. Texas Tech and West Virginia keep up the madness with a game won by West Virginia on a Mike Gansey tip-in with 3 seconds left. Lute Olsen (Arizona) and Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State) face off in a made-for-television match-up, but Zona is a Salim Stoudamire three-ball better than the Cowboys. The game between Washington and Louisville will be the 16's best, guaranteed. Nate Robinson, Francisco Garcia, Brandon Roy, Larry O'Bannon, Tyquan Dean, guard play at its finest.

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From there, Carolina breezes past overmatched Wisconsin. Duke and Kentucky - in 1992 and 1998, the winner of this match went on to win the title - Duke holds on. Louisville ends West Virginia's cloud ride, and Arizona does the improbable, ousting the Illini from the Tournament in a game dominated by center Channing Frye. Arizona, Louisville, Duke, Carolina. Did I say that? Sure did. Be real, be you, BMoore.

Brandon is a graduate student studying professional media practice. Outspoken and Underheard appears every Thursday. These views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.