Bulldogs bitten...

It's the most wonderful time of the year...yeah I know we're a long ways from Christmas, but to any basketball fan it's true. March Madness, it just doesn't get any better than this. 3 1/2 teams from the great state of Indiana and two from Oregon. These two hoop heads will be busy this week. IU, Butler, Purdue, Notre Dame (the afore mentioned 1/2 team), Portland State, and Oregon all in the tourney that mercifully finally begins this Thursday. Time to break out the lucky pen and start filling out brackets, but before I do this let's look at the "home" teams. Purdue gets a well deserved 6 seed and should advance against a resurgent and very game Baylor team, the Hoosiers end up the dreaded 8 seed facing a tough and athletic Arkansas squad, and Notre Dame gets the biggest Cinderella in tournament history, George Mason. Look out Irish. Chicagoans everywhere will mourn their early exit. The Vikings of Portland State are welcomed to their first Dance by 1 seed Kansas. A 16 seed has to win sometime, right? And KU is prone to upsets. Somehow, the Ducks make it as an 9 seed, and could get hot and make a run...or get run, which is more likely by a very good Mississippi State team. And then there are the Butler Bulldogs. This team is 29-3 and winner of both the Horizon League regular season and tournament titles only to get screwed by the committee and end up a 7 seed. Not horrible until you see that they play South Alabama in Birmingham, Alabama. This makes absolutely no sense. The 'Dogs have a great tourney pedigree, matched only by fellow mid-major Gonzaga. Drake, yes the same team Butler beat a month ago is a 5 seed. The 7 seed is bad enough, but to have to play what amounts to an away game, is a travesty. And their reward if they do win, a probable date with 2 seed Tennessee, which by the way, is my sleeper team this year. Well, no use cryin' over spilt milk. A great tournament awaits us, let's hope we are represented well and that the Bulldogs will avenge this snub with a nice little run. So, Boiler Up, Let's Go IU, Go Vikes, Go Ducks, and whatever the hell the Golden Domers say. BRRS!!!

the Dude