Bracketbusted

The Midwest was supposed to be the bracket of death; it has turned into the bracket where high seeds go to die.

Georgetown: Out

Kansas: Out

Just shows how unpredictable college basketball is. On Selection Sunday, most keen observers of the game automatically pegged the Midwest as the “bracket of death,” the one that was completely stacked.

I was one of them. How could you not? You have Kansas, the #1 overall seed with 32 wins and 2 losses; An Ohio State team fresh off a Big Ten title; Georgetown, riding a hot streak falling a buzzer-beater short in the Big East Championship; Maryland, which has beaten Duke; Michigan State, which seems to always play better in March; And Tennessee, with wins against Kansas and Kentucky.

Quite a lineup for a region’s top six seeds.

Three days in, and two of the six are already out, and in shocking fashion. First, Georgetown falls to 14-seed Ohio in the first round in one that not even most Bobcat fans saw coming. Then today, maybe even more shockingly, Northern Iowa beats the vaunted Jayhawks, the team most had going to at least the Elite Eight in their bracket.

2-seed Ohio State hasn’t even played its round of 32 game yet. And 10-seed Georgia Tech is no slouch. They reached the ACC Championship game and played top seed Duke tough.

Parity is alive and well in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. The Midwest region that was supposed to be chalk now sounds more like fingernails on the chalkboard to millions of Americans crumpling up their brackets.