“No Bracket, No Pay” NCAA Hoops Update

It was the best week of college hoops since James Naismith emptied out a peach basket.

No let me go further:  It was the greatest week in the history of the world.  Consider:

1. My home team — my favorite squad in all of sports — the University of Kentucky Wildcats — overcame all of its freshman jitters and poor play to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, by upsetting the only 35-0 squad in the history of the game.  I haven’t rooted so hard for an underdog like this since 1992, and we all know what happened then.

1. 2. My alma mater — Harvard University — which I don’t believe had a basketball program when I attended in the late 1980s, announced itself as a legitimate, gritty basketball school on the 25th anniversary of my graduation by coming thisclose to beating Michigan State, which many of predicted to win the whole thing.

3.  The source of all evil in the world — the Duke Blue Devils — lost to Mercer in the first round.  With all apologies to anyone who went to Mercer, I still don’t know where it is located.

Meanwhile, our popular, No Labels-co-sponsored “No Bracket, No Pay” prediction tournament saw nearly 100 entries.  We have 5 people tied at the top (I’m respectfully tied for 15th place): check out the full standings here.  And don’t forget to vote on the prizes to be awarded to our winners.

So, it will all be a letdown from here.  All we have going on in Kentucky is THE BIGGEST GAME IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE on Friday.  Go Cats!