The NCAA basketball championship tournament, for all practical purposes, begins today with its traditional 64-team field. This year four teams were added and played against four others a couple of days ago, officially creating an initial 68-team field. Why they did that, I don't know. But now we're back to that mathematically comforting sixth power of two, eventually to whittle down with each round of play to the supreme "zeroth" power of two at the end of the final championship game.
The Florida Gators are seeded #2 in the Southeast Region. They play #15 University of California/Santa Barbara tonight in what for all practical purposes is a home game at Tampa. They should win tonight and also the following game. But upsets happen, and that is one of the appeals of this tournament: things don't always turn out the way the "experts" predicted.
Florida State, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina all made the tournament this year. I root for them as long as they're not playing Florida. However, I am a little puzzled by Tennessee's inclusion in the tournament as I don't think they are all that good this year. Now watch them do well!
Chandler Parsons, Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Alex Tyus, Vernon Macklin...the Gator starting five, they have a chance to go down in NCAA basketball history as another great championship lineup, next to the great teams of 2005-06 and 2006-07 featuring Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Joachim Noah, Lee Humphrey, and Taureen Green. Yes, they are good enough to win the whole tournament this year (although right now I think Kansas is the best team). Whether they will or not is another matter.
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