March Madness begins

This year‘s men’s college basketball tournament is going to be one of the most wide open in a long time. There is no obvious favorite to win the tournament. I took a significant risk in picking Kansas to repeat as champions for the first time since Florida accomplished it in 2007 and 2008. I think it will be interesting if the University of Houston gets to play in their home state in the Final Four. The semifinal and final games are being played at the Houston Texans’ stadium. The University of Houston’s Phi Slama Jama teams were well known back in early ’80s, when they had hall of famers Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon on the same team.

Just to prove how open the tournament is, Furman from South Carolina has already upset the University of Virginia. I picked Virginia to make it to the Elite Eight. That just shows you how much I know. No. 15 Princeton has also upset No. 2 Arizona. 

Last week in golf was the Players Championship. Scotty Scheffler continued his great play over the last year by winning his sixth tournament in that span. He won by five shots over Tyrrell Hatton. He is now the No. 1 player in the world again. He is one of the longest hitters in the game right now and has a very strong short game as well. Next week, he’ll have a chance to defend the match play championship in Texas. Two weeks after that he will defend his championship at the Masters. The Masters defense will be harder because of the pressure of being the most famous tournament in the world and the fact that only three players have won back-to-back years: Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

I hope the 76ers can finally start to get some respect from national media in terms of being a serious contender to win the NBA Championship this year. They haven't won in 40 years. They have won six straight games, and 10 of their last 11, and are only one game out of second place in the Eastern Conference. It seems like the media only considers Boston and Milwaukee as contenders for the Eastern Conference Championship.

The Western Conference seems a lot weaker this year. The best team is the Denver Nuggets who have never won a championship in their history. If the Sixers’ big three stay healthy and continue to play at this level and the bench contributes, watch out.