What a season!

     The Madness started on Tuesday November 5th, 2019. I don't know how it happened or why but parity struck men's college basketball this year. You have to take pre-season rankings with a grain of salt of course but the prognosticators got much wrong this time around. I can't blame them, predictions are impossibly complex. I like it though, it makes my own wild predictions seem not so ridiculous. Keep this in mind when I advise you on your bracket in a few weeks. Hey we're all wrong and that's okay, this is why they play the games. 
     Let's start with what's fresh in my mind. Just recently on Saturday February 8th, I watched a good Duke team that started the season ranked #2, currently #7, barely, and I mean got real lucky (there is luck in sports, ask Eli Manning) in beating the worst UNC team in decades. But it took double overtime. Now I know a lot of people have the attitude that you should count a win a win, but if you have aspirations of going deep into March and you narrowly squeak by a very average team it speaks volumes about your weaknesses. It says you're beatable and not just by highly ranked teams with sparkling records. It says you're vulnerable and a one or two point game could always go the other way with just one more possession. 
     A #16 seed finally ousted a #1 seed in the last dance and it's only gotten worse this year. The #1 ranking looked like a turnstile until Gonzaga and Baylor got into the meat of weak conference schedules and seem to be locked comfortably in at #1 and #2. They could swap positions and no one would bat an eye. Also, any one of teams #3 through #25 could beat either of them so good luck with those brackets this year. Your grandma's gonna have a better bracket. She saw one college game this year and she thought it was the Bucks vs. the Wizards.
     As if to make my point, I am watching a scrappy Alabama at 13-10, on the road, push a really good two-loss Auburn team to overtime. I mentioned UNC, who have reached the title game twice in the last four years. Well, coach got drunk and the car is now off in a tobacco road ditch, burning down. They are well below .500 and are behind the likes of cross-state rivals (rivals? not) UNC Greensboro and Northern Colorado in BPI. The ACC currently has only three ranked teams while the Big Ten is looking as though they will have 11 schools make the tournament. Yes, more schools than are even in the conference (not actually but that's another story).
     Every night gives us great games. Kentucky lost to Evansville (where?). Duke lost to Stephen F. Austin (Who?). I can't even begin to go down the list of close games and upsets between teams that are very closely matched or just as often, not close, in record, talent or perception. The rankings have an element of perception of course because for all the data and evidence we're still just guessing at who we think is better, until the day they play each other and we find out. 
     We have Dayton, San Diego State and Gonzaga, all mid-major programs, high in the rankings while perennial powerhouses like Kentucky are clinging to the bottom of the top 25. Anyone who tells you they saw Baylor doing what they've done is not being honest with you. They have been really good this year, sitting at 21-1. Their one loss? Not even remotely ranked Washington. A bad Washington team that also narrowly lost to Gonzaga and beat a USC team that had only 2 losses at the time. Anyone can be beat on a given night this season and it's going to make 2020 a really fun tournament to watch. We're going to see some great games that's guaranteed. I'll be here to help you pick 'em.
     Oh, so 11-13 Georgia Tech just beat #5 Louisville. What a season.