The Northwest and March Madness

This year the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is turning out different than we have ever seen before. Those living in the Carolina’s must be as joyful to seeing South Carolina and North Carolina the possibility of facing each other in the final in the same way those of us in the pacific northwest are excited about the chances of Gonzaga and Oregon going head to head in the final. Of course they have to take care of business in the semifinal games first.

North Carolina is the only team that has the history of going to the final four multiple times while I believe it is the first time for South Carolina well as Gonzaga. Since they will be facing each other in the semi-final one of them will be in their first championship game. Gonzaga being a number one seed will be favored in this game however South Carolina has nothing to lose other than the game itself. This puts them in a dangerous place that is for sure. You can say the same for the Oregon Ducks who haven’t been in a final since 1939 which is by the way the first time the NCAA men’s basketball tournament took place and they won the game however there were only eight teams in that first tournament.  The Ducks are a higher seed than South Carolina but they have nothing to lose either against the Tar Heels so they are in a dangerous position as well.

Whatever the case the final four will be one that many of us will remember for a long time especially those on each coast; we will be excited if the final has Gonzaga facing Oregon. I will be rooting for Gonzaga in this case though it won’t be easy since I am a Husky fan. Actually won’t be easy for a Cougar fan either. We can only hope that both the Huskies and Cougars in the years to come can find their way to the final four.

If you go by the favorites the championship game will be between North Carolina and Gonzaga however we all know that the other two will want that to be different. All I know whatever happens the semi-final games will be exciting and may turn out to be better games than the final. Whatever the case enjoy the final four this coming weekend. Yeah!