The Totally Random NCAA Tournament

Well it’s that time of year again.  March Madness is upon us which means it’s time for the totally random NCAA tournament.  This year the tournament has some excitement for me because the University of Hawaii Rainbows qualified.  To say that was unexpected would be an understatement.  The truth is, I don’t watch any college basketball anymore, at least not a complete game.  I believe the college game has gone to the dogs.  That is a result of the one and done philosophy.  I can’t blame anyone for leaving school and going for the millions available in the NBA.  I might do the same thing, but both the college and NBA game suffers because players who are not ready move to the NBA and then the freshman who take their place in college are not that polished either.

But the NCAA tournament is always exciting because every game is a knockout game.  One of the appeals of the tournament is that David can and often does beat Goliath.  Goliath always wins the tournament over all, but David can sometimes do pretty well along the way.  In the totally random universe, in which games are decided completely on a random basis, this is even more pronounced.

And in the first round, chaos reigned in the east with both top seeds going down in the first round.  Another highlight of the first round was Holy Cross taking out number one seed Oregon 94-90.

Unfortunately, my Hawaii Rainbows did what I think they will do in the real world, going down to California 74-70.  Oh well, at least I have the real world tournament to hope for.

In the second round, Hawaii is avenged by South Dakota State.  Meanwhile kansas as a number one seed cruises on into the Sweet 16.  Meanwhile in the Eastt, Florida Gulf Coast is unable to sustain its giant killing prowess going down and out.  Webber State, on the other hand, after knocking out second seed Xavier, continues into the Sweet 16 with another resounding victory over Wisconsin 77-57. 

In the round of 16, south Dakota State is rewarded for taking vengeance on California and shocks Kansas 87-79.  Another number one seed gone.  Webber State also continues its giant killing ways downing West Virginia.  Meanwhile Kentucky, seeded 4^th, rolls on as expected.  A lot of people think they will win the whole thing and so far, there is nothing to indicate otherwise.  Yale and Syracuse are two other Cinderella’s who do well and make it into the eight.  Of course it’s hard to think of Syracuse as Cinderella, but yale’s rise is certainly unexpected.

South Dakota State, after knocking off number one seed Kansas, has a tall order against the two seed Villanova.  But Cinderella rolls on as south Dakota State makes it into the Final Four.  Meanwhile Yale also continues its Cinderella story downing Texas ANM.    So we have a Final Four of South Dakota State, Kentucky, Yale and Syracuse.  Talk about Cinderella.  Many thought Kentucky should be seeded higher so chalk could still prevail.

But the story of south Dakota State does not end.  They shock the nation by downing Kentucky 103-82.  Not even close.  Meanwhile dark horse Syracuse downs yale putting an end to the Ivy League dream.  So in the national Championship game, we have everyone’s darling South Dakota State against a traditional power house team Syracuse.

And the 2016 random NCAA tournament winner is South Dakota State as they down Syracuse 106-60 in a route for the ages.

And that is what can happen in the totally random tournament.  Dreams can come true.