The Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Vikings of Cleveland State.
Le Dayton Flyers.
The Xavier Musketeers.
And the Akron Zips.
Sure, the highest seed may be Xavier who surprised many by landing a four- spot, but is anyone else surprised by the representation that the state of Ohio received. The Musketeers were a lock. But until the Vikings upset Butler for the Horizon League championship, followed thereafter by Akron winning the MAC out of the fifth seed, the other teams were all considered to be on the bubble.
Joining Xaver in terms of representing the A-10, the Flyers of Dayton. These kids play some stellar defense, and could be in line for an upset of West Virginia if they can someone learn how to score between now and this weekend. Cleveland State upset the Hoosiers of Indiana during their last stint in the tournament; could they repeat against Wake Forest?
The Evan Turner-led Buckeyes landed the dreaded eight-nine game, where the “winner” gets rewarded by playing the top-seeded team. In this case, said team is the Louisville Cardinals that would surprise absolutely no one if they won the entire tournament. I was hoping for a higher look after making it to the conference finals, but it was not the case. The team they lost to, the Boliermakers of Purdue, received a five-seed in the West.
Sure, it may not exactly be in the cards for any of the Ohio teams to go very far in the tournament, but I guess stranger things have happened. If I had a magic genie (I picture my genie as a chair-throwing Bobby Knight in a tube top) could give me one guaranteed win, I’m all over the Vikings. Just one win would be very, very cool.
Given that, feel free to profess your love for any of the abovementioned teams in WFNY’s March Madness challenge. The prizes will depend on how many readers we get to register. The more, the merrier. One bracket per person, please.
WFNY March Madness Pool – Welcoming All Readers!
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