Conor remarked after the first weekend that this was shaping up to be a boring NCAA tournament. Has it been?
 
Gary Cole, Photography Director: I don't agree unless you think it is boring that the higher seeds fairly consistently thumped the lower seeds. There have been so many incredible comebacks--Ohio State's snatching victory from the jaws of defeat against Tennessee, Kansas slipping by Southern Illinois in a great game, Georgetown coming back against Vandy and then against North Carolina. The three-point shot has totally changed the name of the game. There was a time when I would have turned a game off if a team was up by 20 points in the first half. Blow out. Now, three possessions, three quick 3-pointers and you're right back in it.  And how about human interest. John Thompson III with Patrick Ewing, Jr. against North Carolina? Florida trying to repeat. A chance for Florida and Ohio State to play for a national championship in basketball when they just met on the field for the national crown in football? Boring? I don't think so.
 
Conor Hogan, Fashion Assistant: The tournament is never boring, it has just lacked the suspense that usually comes with the NCAA's. There haven't been many massive upsets or shocking buzzers beaters and no Cinderellas advanced past the second round. That being said, I've loved the number of high profile games down the stretch, and there are three more guaranteed for this weekend. Like the Duke-UConn semi-final in 2004, the tournament's most exciting game will happen two days before the true championship, with the Florida-UCLA rematch.
 
Rocky Rakovic, Junior Editor: As I stated in the previous discussion sure there is no Cinderella story but most games have been to an extent evenly matched and competitive; isn’t that part of the beauty and excitement of sports?
 
It’s actually nice for a change that an underdog didn’t progress far in the brackets. Normally around this time SportsCenter is running one of their long segments on the “little school that could.” While the features can be interesting they cause the entire country to back George Mason or Vermont and I feel uncomfortable rooting (loudly) in bars for the higher seed. In this Final Four there really isn’t a dark horse and that makes for competitive games and evenly matched rooting sections (save for watering holes in Gainesville, Los Angeles, Columbus and D.C.) and isn’t that part of the excitement of watching sports?
 
Josh Robertson, Associate Editor:  I do think it’s been a little boring, or at least repetitive. A lot of the high seeds played stretches of pretty weak ball (Wisconsin’s 19-point first half against TA&M-CC being the rock bottom), but too few were made to pay for it. And to me, that’s not fun tournament basketball to watch. I’m not a fan of Cinderellas for their own sake, but I think that if you’re a 1 or 2 seed and you’re not playing like one (or worse, you look like you aren’t taking the game seriously), I don’t want to see you wake up with five minutes remaining and win it. Ohio State should have lost to Xavier. UCLA should have lost to Indiana. Memphis should have lost to Nevada. Pitt should have lost to VCU. Oregon should have lost to Miami of Ohio. Kansas should have lost to Southern Illinois. Ohio State should have lost to Tennessee. We spend too much time and ink heaping praise on the little guys for their noble efforts, win or lose, but I’ve never seen a basketball David that didn’t win without a hell of a lot of help from an inept Goliath. The little guys are pumped at the thought of winning one game. The big guys seem blasé about the chance to win the whole tournament. I’m not tired of seeing high seeds win, but I am a little tired of seeing them win ugly. Tennessee-Ohio State was when it really hit me. Tennessee looked so good—but even though they were up 17 at the half, given the way the tournament had been going, I couldn’t convince myself the Vols would actually win. And they didn’t. I’ve never felt this fatalistic about a tournament, and I’m actually feeling a little depression.
 
Of course, I could just be depressed because every bit of “wisdom” I have posted to this blog turned out to be wrong. (Here I must give a tip of the hat to Stanford, Texas, Boston College and Kentucky.) Oh, and I’m also depressed because my team stunk this year. Yes, folks, I am … [takes off mask] a Dukie!