Unpredictabilitymakes the NCAA tournamentexciting

Now that the NCAA tournament is well under way, who could have predicted what has happened so far? It has been an absolute joy to watch the games so far. The past week or so has provided

BRIAN O'CONNELL sports fans with the most exciting basketban games all year. There were several upsets, blow outs, close games and come-from-behind wins. Top seeds knocked out and many lower seeds remain, and so the unpredictaple road to Indianapolis continues.

Everyone might as wen throw out the brackets and cough up the money for their office bets. ESPN.com, along with many other sports web sites, has a tournament challenge. About 50,000 people are participating in the ESPN contest., and guess what: 1\vo people remain for their correct predictions for the Final Four, the rest are out. That is a perfect example of how crazy and exciting

·this tournament is this year. Anyone who is missing out on these games should tune in this week, because it is time for the 'sweet 16', and from here on in, it only gets better.

Let's start off with the top seeds. Stanford and Arizona are now out. Duke and Michigan State are the only top seeds left. If I had to choose between the two for the championship, I would choose Duke. But, I am not choosing anyone right now, due to the fact that this is the crazjest NCAA tournament I have seen to date. There have been so many bizarre games and so many upsets, which makes you want to jump on the bandwagon and root for the lower seeds. Let's take that sweetheart team from Washington, Gonzaga. Last year's Cinderella team is on a roll and back into the 'Sweet 16. Let's see if they can make into the Final Eight again this year and hopefully move on to the Final Four. Doubtful, but then again, who knows what will happen with the tournament this year? What was very shocking was UCLA's blowout over Maryland. I expected Maryland to at least make the 'Sweet 16.

The most shocking game I saw in the tournament so far was Temple's loss to Seton Hall. After watching the game, I realized that Temple did in fact take the Pirates lightly, and they paid for it, The team lost. The very narrow loss put the Owls' best team in some years out of hope for a spot m the Final Four this year. This has some people wondering if John Chaney will ever get to the Final Four. The legendary coach is now 68 years old and time is winding down for his coaching career. It was especially sad for seniors Pepe Sanchez, Quincy Wadley, Lamont Barnes and Keaton Sanders. These are some great players Temple looses next season, but the team will no doubt recuperate somehow. It seems the Owls loose a lot this year, and they do, but Chaney always has a solution in his pocket to pull off another winning season and another trip to the NGA.A tournament. "':- "-.

But now that is all behind us, it is time to focus on"tbe Sweet 16, which starts this week. Who knows who will win? Who will pull off the upsets? How far will Gon_zaga really go this year? Will Duke.pr_l'yfie;.hjganState.be favored to win the championship? We~l!Jl-only~ait and see what happens. Most of us have probably given in the money for the bets and have thrown out the brackets, but that is fine. This is college basketball. It is March Madness. It is the road to the Final Four and there is nothing like it.