I'm confident there are only a select few people left in the United States who don't at least attempt to fill out an NCAA tournament bracket. It's to the point now where I half expect my grandmother to call and ask if I think Oral Roberts can pull off an upset from the 14 seed.
So, surely most everyone is looking forward to Selection Sunday, which is just 11 short days away. The problem with looking that far ahead is that some sports fans forget about one of the real crown jewels of March Madness, Championship Week.
Yes, next week many Virginia students will be relaxing on tropical beaches, sipping cocktails and getting sunburned. I, on the other hand, will return to Virginia Beach for one final break to mooch off my parents and take up residence on their futon for a week of high-energy college basketball.
Championship Week is tailor made for Spring Break. At a pace of about three games a night on each channel, ESPN and ESPN2 broadcast more basketball than any one person can hope to watch. From the Mountain Valley Conference to the Sun-Belt, championship games and buzzer beaters will be all over television next week. At least 17 men's championship games will be aired on ESPN and ESPN2 for eight days starting Saturday, featuring teams almost nobody has seen play yet, such as St. Mary's (West Coast Conference) and Niagara (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference).
This is the perfect opportunity to get an extra edge in your tournament pool. During Championship Week, fans have the opportunity to see many of the teams that will eventually appear in your NCAA bracket with numbers like 13 and 15 beside their names.
Championship Week is the best primer there is for the Big Dance besides a night at a bar with Joe Lunardi. Lunardi is ESPN's tournament expert, and he only seems to appear on television at this time of year, much like a middle-aged white groundhog. I think ESPN just pairs a person and an area, like Mel Kiper and the draft, and assigns them to be an expert on that event. I mean, had anyone even heard of Lunardi before this "bracketology" stuff started?
Anyway, Championship Week is a feast for any sports fan and always produces several half-court shots and a number of heroes. It also allows fans to get a look at players like Taylor Coppenrath of Vermont before the NCAAs, a major advantage when selecting those Sweet Sixteen sleepers in a week and a half.
Of course, I write this with the full understanding that this logic has never worked for me. I've wanted to make this line of thinking work because it justifies the hours I spend in front of the television during the week. For the past few years, I've enjoyed every minute of Championship Week, yet I consistently finish last or close to it in every pool I've been in.
See, the problem with this week of concentrated basketball is that it lures you in, and you begin to believe in teams that wouldn't even have crossed your mind to choose when looking at the very same bracket a week earlier. By watching events like the Ohio Valley Conference championship, I start to convince myself that all of these teams can pull off an upset like No. 15 seed Hampton's over No. 2 Iowa State in 2001. I seem to always end up with something like three No.14 seeds in my bracket's Sweet Sixteen each year, largely due to Championship Week.
So I encourage you to watch Championship Week. It's one of the more exciting periods in basketball, but beware: Don't get too enamored with every team that wins those lower-conference tournaments and scoops up one of those coveted automatic bids. Some of them will be a part of the upsets that mark the first few rounds of the NCAAs, while most squads that appear destined for greatness this week will just be happy to be there come time for the NCAAs.
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