Sonoma State Star

Issue date: 3/15/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Courtesy // www.espn.go.com Gonzaga's Adam Morrison.

Media Credit: Courtesy // www.jjredick.net Duke's J.J. Redick.

Media Credit: Courtesy // www.cardinalempire.com Villanova's Randy Foye.

Many students will gather together over the next couple weeks and make their educated predictions for the March Madness NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. The problem with predictions is that education and level of intelligence have nothing to do with the outcome of ballgames. With last year's upset of little-known Bucknell defeating the powerhouse University of Kansas, anything is possible. Upsets such as this are impossible to predict, therefore making bracketology that much more fun.

Every year, college basketball fans will place money on the brackets and decide which teams will eventually reach the Final Four.

"It adds more excitement to the tournament," said Aaron Inman, junior, "and there is some scrill (money) runnin' on it."

Many fans even prefer college basketball to the NBA.

"They play with so much heart." said Steve Sanderson, sophomore. "The energy level they play with is superior to any other, they are playing for the pride of their schools."

People across the country take pride in where they attend college, and that reason alone gives these athletes the inspiration they need to go out there and win basketball games. No amount of money is necessary here. Every year in the NCAA Tournament, tears will be seen on team members because they gave it all they had, but came up a bit short. There is no shame in crying during this tournament, they deserve it. These are things that will never be seen in the NBA, their egos are too high.

Teams that are favored to win it all this year include Duke, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Villanova, and Memphis. All five of these universities will be competing for a #1 seed for the tournament. March Madness will consist of a 65- team single-elimination tournament, which will require 6 consecutive victories for a team to be crowned national champion.

Duke star and National player of the year candidate J.J. Reddick has many believing that the Blue Devils have a shot to take it all this year. Reddick is averaging 27 ppg this season and broke the NCAA record for three pointers made in a career.

Others will argue that Gonzaga's Adam Morrison will have something to say about the player of the year award along with the national championship. Morrison edges Reddick and leads the nation in scoring with an average of 28.7 ppg. These two are intense competitors, however they are rumored to be great friends off the court. They have had arguably the best two scoring seasons in college basketball history.

Each team has their own star but it will come down to playing together as a unit and hitting the big shots when it counts. Every single member of the bench and on the floor is intensely involved in the game screaming and jumping up and down like little kids on every play. No one can deny what is at stake for these players; pride of their school, pride in themselves, and the fact that most of them will never play at a higher level again once that final buzzer rings at the end of each game.

The championship game will be held in Indianapolis at the RCA center on the third day of April. So fill out your brackets fans, but with a warning that it wont turn out like you expected, because it never does and probably never will. It's going to be another exciting tournament because no other sport is played with as much energy and heart than that of NCAA Basketball.

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