A Little Vandross on a Thursday Morning.....

As usual, very excited for the NCAA tournament to begin. Absolutely wide open field and anyone (okay more like 10 teams) can win the tourney. As much as I like the tournament, it is a bit of a buzz kill to have to work on the opening Thursday and Friday. College was by far the best time for NCAA tournaments. It was literally a couple of Thursdays that I would not do anything but basketball. Which reminds me of my favorite NCAA year: 2005. Let's take a trip in the way back time machine and reminisce.

The year was 2005 and Zach was a wide-eyed freshman at UW-Whitewater. Not truly wide-eyed because it was second semester and by that point I realized how much work was required to excel at school. The answer was not a great amount, which worked out well for the impending tournament. Illinois was the #1 team in the land at 32-1 and the number one seed in the tourney. As a fan I selected them to go to the title game against North Carolina, and my bracket was crisp.

The first Thursday I had a class at 8:50 with the one and only Brian Lucas. I had thoughts of not going and prepping for the games that started at 11:15. Yet, I went to class, because I knew I would be awake, and if I stayed in I would drive myself crazy for two hours. Went to class, which was not very eventful, but after everything I had discussions with the Blues Man about the radio station and basketball. We chatted and at 10:30 I was out the door, and headed back to my dorm. After returning I searched for other people who were around and one of my buddies was sitting in his room watching a little ESPN pregame. We noticed that the first game of the day was UW-Milwaukee against Alabama, a classic 12/5 match up. We went downstairs, got a little pizza from Drumlin (YUP!), came back upstairs and it was on.

When the ball is tipped on that first game, a little magic happens. Being a great basketball mind, and a Wisconsin resident, I knew that UW-M had something special that year and a chance to do real damage. It was true, and they blitzed Alabama to head to the second round. I don't remember much else about the day, except it was about 11 hours of constant basketball, and during the afternoon break (4p-7p) everyone gathered to play poker. It was a fantastic day.

The weeks and games passed, and then came spring break. I had no where to go, but did head home and was accompanied with basketball. By this time Illinois was in a regional final with Arizona. It is quite possibly the best game of any kind I have watched that I had an actual rooting interest in. Illinois erased a 15 point deficit in the final 4 minutes, and eventually won in overtime. I picked 3/4 of the Final Four correctly in my bracket. I was in first place in both of my basketball pools. All being told, I was in line to pull down about $1,200 from a $30 investment. Not too shabby.

Fast forward one week, and I am back at school, staying in on a Saturday to watch Illinois/Louisville ball. Illinois crushed them to advance, and North Carolina followed suit. I had them in the title game, and lead both of my pools. I did some recon with those who ran the pools and it was simple. About 10 guys in each one had picked North Carolina to win. I was the only one who had Illinois, and also had a shot to win. So it was that easy. An Illinois W, and I don't have to worry about cash for a little while.

Well Illinois lost and Zach was very sad, more so about the team than the bracket immortality. North Carolina wins a lot and it would have been Illinois's first title. They finished the year 37-2, and have earned the moniker of the best team this decade to not win a title.

Nonetheless it was a whirlwind of a tournament. Great highs and lows. Exactly what the tournament should be. What does this year have in store for us? I won't be able to watch those first games, but you can bet I will be home at 5:30, TV on, and bracket in front of me.