Gearing Up For The Big Dance!

"Who has the moves to get to Houston?"

 It's the greatest two weeks of basketball of the year. Everyone sits around on selection Sunday and waits to see who's in and who's out. This year the field has been expanded to 68 teams. I'm not sure why but whatever. It's still a good time watching this tournament unfold but the best part about it all is the first day.

The reason the first day is so much fun is because all the alumni get to put on their gear i.e. T-shirts, sweat shirts etc(except IU fans for now) and show up to the sports bar and cheer for their respective teams or at least for the first half. Depending on where you hang out, the place will be packed. Not only that, the couple of days before the tournament starts everybody will become an expert. Folks have filled out their brackets, picked their final four and their champion along with commentary. Most people haven't watched a game all year and will roll up on you with their final four and talk like they've been dialed in since November.

I enjoy watching the smaller conference tournaments the week before the madness begins because it's great to see teams that have to win the conference tourney in order to get into the big dance. These guys are scrapping to make the field of 68 so they put it all on the line. There are so many last second shots and great story lines along the way.

Now that the regular season is complete and the major conference tournaments will get underway this week, I'm getting more and more excited! The Tar Heels knocked off the Blue Devils last night, Pitt, Kansas, Arizona, Florida and Ohio State all clinched their regular season conference titles as well.

It's gearing up to be a great couple of weeks. Who will make it to Houston? It's wide open this year. My sleeper team to go deep is Pitt, I know that they won the Big East but nobody is talking about the Panthers and I just wanted to let you know that I have for the past three months. Even before the brackets are unveiled who do you think will go far in the tournament? It's hard to say who'll win because we haven't seen the brackets and who they'll have to play yet. Be an expert before the brackets are printed and talk to me now! WHO'S GOT NEXT?
















Jay Graves
jaygraves@thejaygravesreport.com
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport