March Madness 2019 Edition

Post yer bracket.

Harder than usual to put together a Richard III medieval Catholic warlord (MCW) bracket. He's going with his annual heartbreak of Gonzaga in the Final Four, but will also set aside lands and titles for Duke as the likely champ. :/

From there, he's dealing with potential holy war between two other MCW teams. Saint Mary's has French ancestry (De La Salle order), so that's bad, but it beat Gonzaga for the conference title and faces Villanova (Augustine order/Italian) in the first round. Villanova is reigning champ, but Saint Mary's has a good offense (and upset Villanova in the 2010 tournament with the same two coaches). RIII's leaning Villanova in a fun game that either way could produce a Cinderella, in his opinion.

Of the other MCW schools, Saint Louis U and Marquette are unredeemably French, so no. St. John's and Seton Hall could win their first rounds, but probably not much beyond. Bless Iona's heart against North Carolina.

Of the heretic schools, Old Dominion has Tudor ties via Charles II, so go Purdue.

BUT, there's one heretic team whose campus Richard III may have visited, so he's rooting for them in the First Four. Fairleigh-Dickinson has a satellite campus at Wroxton College in England. The college was built on the site of a monastery that existed in RIII's lifetime (but was later trashed by Henry the Unnecessary VIII). It's in Oxfordshire, which Richard is known to have visited, and also is somewhat near some Roses' battlegrounds, so, close enough. Go Fairleigh-Dickinson.

For me it's easy. I'll just root for the Big Ten. Even for the newbie additions.

Unnecessary may be the nicest honorary he's ever collected. I wanted the post participle to be earned, but no.

The Elite Eight starts tonight, with 3 1 seeds, 2 2 seeds, 2 3 seeds, and a 5 seed - Tater's beloved Auburn took down first 4 seeded Kansas then the 1 seed Tarheels. In a tournament that had started off chalkier than a billiards hall, a couple 3 seeds beating 2 seeds and Auburn are giving a ray of hope to those who love underdogs.

RIII's beloved Gonzaga plays Texas Tech in tonight's first game, and they're favored, so perhaps that annual heartache will finally end. Duke survived a strong challenge from Virginia Tech last night and will face 2 seeded Michigan State tomorrow evening in the E8's only 1-2 matchup this year. Duke has been an interesting pick for BIG WINNER - "superstar" and "freshmen" aren't words we see paired all that often. I think MSG would make a great home court for Zion Williamson next year. (*prays*)

In other news, Purdue (3) v. Virginia (1) late tonight; i think Purdue just might be able to win this one, but they will have to play solid defense at some point in the game to do so.

And the Zags fail again. It's a Rite of Spring, like Sakura in Japan, Swallows in Capistrano.

Homg that technical foul at the end was a straight-up heartbreaker.

As for Purdue, they managed to play some good defense, but it wasn't enough.

Auburn is headed to their first ever Final Four appearance. Their E8 game against Kentucky today was a lot of fun to watch. I couldn't help but wonder if Locke Push-Ups and Tater weren't thinking of each other.

Michigan State advances and knocks out Duke in the process. Win win.

 

Wonder how LPU and Tater are doing right about now. Probably feeling pretty good. Knowing Tater, I just might tell LV to keep his eyes peeled if he happens to be driving through the touristy areas of Waikiki. If he sees a too-well-tanned-to-be-visiting haole in an Auburn shirt too drunk to walk and ecstatic as an 17 year old in a Vegas brothel on a fake ID to let us know that Tater's doing just fine.

TBC wrote:

And the Zags fail again. It's a Rite of Spring, like Sakura in Japan, Swallows in Capistrano.

Or like a Tudor shooting you in the back. Inevitable.

What a fun Final Four, despite the dearth of warlords. Any of the Four would be a worthwhile winner, imo. Am slightly rooting for Virginia, only because UMBC has run a very entertaining social media campaign in support of the Cavaliers. The Retrievers are right -- those two teams are bonded for lyfe now.

Points to Mr. Maturin, who called both Texas Tech and Michigan State. I never want to go through another emotional upheaval like Purdue-Virginia ever again. It's too much.

I have no favorites left in this F4. Auburn's a 5 seed, which is nice, but they're SEC while 1 seed Virginia is ACC. I generally prefer the ACC. Michigan State is a 2 seed from the Big Ten and Texas Tech is a 3 seed from the Big Twelve - slight advantage to MI State there. Michigan State and Virginia are also both closest to my part of the country.

The semi-finals are on Saturday and the championship game will be a week from now. I'll probably want to watch all three games, or at least Virginia-Auburn, which features the last 1 seed standing vs the lowest remaining seed, and the championship. But i feel like i have nothing in particular left to root for. Maybe i'll find something as the games unfold, but if so it will be at best fleeting.

Congrats to Virginia!