DANCING DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN

Will the Bruins Bring It On Home this time?

What Is and What Should Never Be:  Whole Lotta Love Plants UCLA at #1 in the West, and troy gets Paged Over the Hills and Far Away, but both teams are Jones-ing to Ramble On to the NCAA’s  Stairway to Heaven

How the West Was Won —

The NCAA announced the Brackets for the Big Dance yesterday, and as expected, UCLA got to stay in the West Region, as the #1 Seed.  They are the 3rd of the 4 #1’s, following North Carolina and Memphis, and ahead of Kansas.  If all four miraculously make it, the Bruins would play Memphis before the NC/Kansas Winner. 

The #2 in the West is Duke, who hasn’t looked impressive in two recent losses (albeit to very good teams), so the Bruins are being considered a heavy favorite to reach their third consecutive Final Four, something only three other Coaches have done in this era.

The Bruins start out looking to avoid making the History books for the wrong reason:  No #1 Seed has EVER lost to a #16.  The team that will have a chance to immortalize UCLA is Mississippi Valley State.   The Delta Devils have a 17-15 Record, and have never won an NCAA Tournament game.  The point spread is already set around 30, which might sound excessive until you see that MVSU lost to Washington State earlier in the year, 71-26.

Another tip might be their web site.  As of 2:45 Monday morning, they still hadn’t updated it to show their Bracket match-up.  Maybe they didn’t want to publicize the fact that they are facing such an improbable mission.  Of course, crazy things always happen during March Madness, and the Delta Devils are on a 9-game winning streak.  The way the Bruins go into Offensive droughts, they could be in a close game with ANYONE.  Lucky for the Bruins that they THRIVE in close games.  Of course, that ability will probably be more important in Round 2, when the Bruins WOULD face BYU or Texas A&M, both of whom have played the Bruins tough in the recent past.

Just to do what the Bruins SHOULDN’T and “look ahead,” if the Bruins get past Round 2, then then would probably face UConn, and then Duke.  Other possiblitlites if Duke falters:  Xavier, Purdue, and West Virginia.  Arizona is #10 in the West, but will have to get by Duke before engaging UCLA.  Sadly, Arizona State, who beat the Wildcats twice and had a better Record than them, did NOT make the Dance.  The other controversial snub was Seth Greenberg’s Virginia Tech, who just missed against the Tar Heels this weekend.  After that game, Greenberg screamed that anyone who felt his team shouldn’t make it, is mentally insane.  Apparently, the NCAA is mentally insane.  But anyone who is following Bushgate already knew that.

And speaking of SCum, the trOJans are off to Omaha as a #6 Seed, where they will face Freshman Phenom Michael Beasley and 20-11 Kansas State, in an obvious made-for-tv match-up between O.J. Mayo and Beasley.  It also matches up Mayo with KSU’s Bill Walker, who happens to be an old buddy of O.J.’s (but we don’t think he was one of the homies from the car that O.J. got pulled over in, while cruising around the Drug Dealers’ house).

After the trojans dispose of those Wildcats, they will overwhelm Wisconsin, who won’t be able to score enough to keep up with them.  Then, it should be Georgetown and their 7-footer to send O.J. to the Pro’s, but it is quite possible that little Davidson, who gave UCLA fits early in the year, could be the Cinderella in that Midwest Region.  If sc gets Davidson, they will move on to play Kansas, or maybe Clemson, for the right to play in the Final Four.   The trojans already played Kansas to a virtual dead heat earlier in the season, and the trojans have improved quite a bit since then.

So… What we are trying to tell you is that the Final Four could very well be UCLA, North Carolina, Memphis (or Texas), and southern cal —  When Dreams and Nightmares Sleep Together.

Trying to forget the Nightmare and concentrate on the Dream, here are a half-dozen long-overdue Cheer shots, just because we are Dazed and Confused as always, but today it’s okay, because it’s a Celebration Day.  Take us to Kashmir, Bruins!  The Hammer of The Gods…

“Valhalla, I am coming…”

“All of my love, all of my love, all of my love, to you.”

“Heartbreaker, your time has come…”

“Oh let the sun beat down upon my face…”

“The sky is filled with good and bad, that mortals never know…”

“And she’s buy-y-ying, a Stair-r-rway to He-a-ven.”