RIP: my 2010 NCAA Tournament bracket

My bracket is fucked.

Well, it only looks that way.

Congrats to Northern Iowa for knocking off the overall #1 seed; it’s always nice to see a team from the Hawkeye State — led by a fellow Iowa Citian, to boot — prove the prognosticators wrong. Sadly, one of those prognosticators is me.

I picked Kansas to win the tourney, and their loss today is just another familiar disappointment. Every time I’ve picked the Jayhawks to win it all, they get upset. In ’03, they were defeated in the title game by a spunky Syracuse squad lead by Carmelo Anthony (I’ve despised the Orange ever since), and in ‘07 they were bounced out by UCLA in the Elite Eight. In both instances they were heavily favored, and stocked with experienced, talented, and athletic players. However, in ’08, when I picked against them, they won the whole thing. Go figure.

When I filled out my bracket, the Kansas-UNI match-up was a tough pick. As perennial underdogs and overachievers, I knew the Panthers would probably give the Jayhawks a scare, but thought Kansas would prevail. Nope.

One consolation is that I’m probably in the same boat as 70 percent of bracketology participants, including the Commander in Chief. A number of my Sweet 16 and Elite Eight teams are still alive, as are three of my Final Four. So there’s hope. I could still claim another title in my dad’s work pool (I won it in 2000).