Final Sickness: Retro

Hey y'all, before we get to the final installment of our silly little experiment, and before we're all forced to endure one more airing of "One Shining Moment" (and by the way, did Tom Izzo actually reference that song in his pre-game speech prior to the Louisville game? Was he serious? Perhaps more importantly, did this inspire his team to play so damn well in that game? Let's hope not...), I wanted to get in my two cents.

The tourney has generally been surprise-free. No crazy upsets of which to speak (Wake sucks so they don't apply). Nova is somewhat of a surprise, but if you've been watching them over the last few months, then you shouldn't really be that surprised. Michigan State is a surprise only because I am trying to figure out how they lost to any Big 10 teams this year. They're WAY better than any other Big 10 team. Or maybe they're just peaking at the perfect time.

Not a lot of very close games in this tournament either. I mean, what did we have 2 sweet 16 games that were hotly contested? The other 6 were lop-sided. Elite 8, well we had 1.5 good games. If Missouri decided to pull the trigger once in a while, then maybe that game would have been better. Although if you ask my ornery bar partner Stick, the refs were the only reason the Tigers were in the game to begin with.

How could the tournament have been better? Well for one, if Western Kentucky beat Gonzaga. Then at least we would have had one "smaller" school in the Sweet 16. And it wouldn't have mattered anyway with the cake walk UNC was provided with. KY Jelly would have at least put up as good of a fight as the Zags.

Also, if Nova was in the South with UNC. I think they would have put up a better fight against UNC, than Oklahoma. Or maybe this is just me lamenting my broken bracket (Yes, I had Pitt. And yes, you can fuck yourself). Either way, we'll find out on Saturday if Nova CAN actually match up with UNC. But let's not get into that right now. Essentially there were a lot of ways this tourney could have been cooler... Namely, if there were actually upsets. It's much cooler when dudes brackets are ruined earlier than later. With the exception of all those who made the Wake Forest mistake.

Top 3 games of the Tourney:

Western Kentucky - Gonzaga

Friggin heartbreaker for this guy, but whatever. Gotta love a game that comes down to the wire like this.

Purdue - Washington

This was, in fact, a pretty sloppy game, and I almost picked Michigan St. over Louisville simply because of the awe with which the Spartans struck me. But this game was close, and it was exciting.

Nova - Pitt

You know why... Because I was thehhhhhe! Check out the photos below:

At first I was close...

And then I wasn't...


Break out the ladder!



Oh, and after the game, I saw Shaughnessy at the Four's... He's the big red blur in the background, left. Next to him, is my boy Willy, right before Shaughnessy's thugs brushed him aside. The dude in the foreground? I have no idea.


Final Sickness Four Real is on the way!