Let the Madness Begin!

I will delve more into my March Madness predictions in my next post, but I'm just excited that it's this time of the year.  We were already treated to some crazy hoops games tonight in the "first round" as we saw Western Kentucky rally from a huge deficit to pull out an amazing 59-58 win over a stunned Mississippi Valley State team that thought they had a free pass into the second round.  President Obama was on hand to witness the action, and he saw a dandy in the second game as well as the high-scoring Iona Gaels, led by star point guard Scott Machado, played the BYU Cougars.

I listened to the first half on the radio driving back to school, and it sounded like this game was going to be a bloodbath after 15 minutes of play.  The Gaels simply couldn't miss and dazzled with their play.  They were proving they belonged in the field, as they eclipsed the 50 point marker in less than 15 minutes of play.  BYU, however, did not give up and finished the half very strong to close the gap to 55-40.  The second half was a remarkable turn of events as the Cougars outscored the Gaels 38-17 in an amazing turnaround to win 78-72.  The Gaels scored over 50 points in 15 minutes, and in the final 25 minutes, they were only able to score around 20 points.  I don't know if both of these games would be considered great comebacks or monumental collapses.  The deficit of 25 points the Cougars overcame was the biggest in NCAA Tournament history, a pretty remarkable feat.  The Cougars had the experience and returning players from a squad led last year by Jimmer Fredette, so this shouldn't have come as a huge shock that this team would have it in them to muster a comeback.  They are experienced, but I am not optimistic they can knock off Buzz Williams' Marquette squad on Thursday.  Despite this, tonight was a great effort and start to the tournament.

In my next post, I will delve into my bracket, predictions, and other random tournament thoughts.