Since a lot of people have asked about bracket challenges, I have created the following group if anybody wants to play along. It's public and you should be limited to one bracket that, if I follow correctly, must be submitted before the official start of the tournament on Thursday:
Play ESPN's Men's Tournament Challenge for FREE and create your brackets.
fantasy.espn.com
Whether you fill out the bracket in time or not, I have some fun questions, with my answers below.
1) Who do you have in your final four? Why?
2) How far do you have Illinois making it, and, if you don't have them going all the way, who trips them up and why?
3) Will the ghost of Adam Morrison appear dancing on the scoring table while wiping away tears of joy this time if Gonzaga wins? (Oh, who is in your final and who wins it all?)
1) Gonzaga, Michigan (I know), Oklahoma State, and Baylor; edit (I legitimately think these are the four best teams, with the exception of the Illini; one of the top 4 seeds likely won't make it...and I'm guessing it's us.)
2) Sweet 16, upset by OSU. Dominant players make a difference, Baylor is good, and OSU's victory tells me the team is catching fire at the right time.
3) No. Morrison isn't dead, for one. The *actual* Adam Morrison will be there, and he will not cry when his team loses a squeaker to Oklahoma State 88-84.
I hope I'm wrong, but I remember reading this about the 2005 team: "Any team can get picked off in the tournament, but this team is something special." I think this year's team is equally "something special," just have a hunch they will get tripped up by a player who seems ready to go off.