The Madness & More

Starting tonight one of the greatest tradition's in all of sports will play out for the 75th time. Of course I am talking about the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. My thoughts on this wonderful three weeks of sports will be continued later.

Ryan Miller sure sounded off upon hearing about Patrick Kaleta's disappointment over being a healthy scrath. While Miller has since recanted what he said and apologized to Kaleta, you can sure see the frustration in his eyes and hear it in his words. That is one unhappy goaltender. One must wonder if anything else has been said or done within the locker room that hurts Miller's credibility in the eyes of his teammates? Do the Sabre's consider moving him at the deadline or in the summer? There are a few teams out there who would surely improve with the services he can offer between the pipes.

The Edmonton Oilers continue to struggle in their youth movement. While they are obviously playing better hockey this year than they have in the past, they continue to 'lay an egg' at unfortunate times. One needs to look no further than the debacle that was the third period and overtime of Friday night's game against Detroit. An undisciplined and generally speaking, poor period cost the Oil the extra point. While getting a single point is better than nothing, in this era of three point games, losing a point like that to a team you are trying to catch for a post - season berth is almost inexcusable. Those who want to point the finger at Jeff Petry for his play on Datsyuk in OT; a lot better blue liners have been victims of Datsyuk's in the past and it never should have gotten to that point.

Sergei Kostitsyn's play on Sunday night was truly embarrasing. Even as an Oiler fan watching Lenart Petrell bury the short - handed goal to give the Oilers a lead they wouldn't relinguish I was still terribly embarrased for Kostitsyn. Who abandons the back - check for a line change at such an inopportune time? Reports say Kostitsyn won't play tonight in Columbus. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the press box into the weekend.

The talk continues surrounding Jarome Iginla and whether or not the Calgary Flames should trade their seventeen year veteran on or before April 3rd. As an Oiler fan I obviously detest the Flames, but not Iginla. He plays the game with heart and the way it was meant to be played. He leads by example and is as loyal a professional as you will find in sports. That being said if the Flames don't move forward and trade Iginla they are simply putting their club back a few years. They could get a combination of youth and draft picks in return for their long - time captain; something that organization sorely needs. One need look no further than their desperate attempt to sign Ryan O' Reilly to prove their own cognizance of the fact they need to get younger. Iginla, Kiprusoff and Bouwmeester should all be active at the deadline simply for the sake of the organization. In addition there is nothing saying that Iggy wouldn't return as a UFA come July 1st.

The Vancouver Canuck's have struggled over the last two weeks like we haven't seen them do so in nearly a decade. I can't help but think the goaltending issue is partially to blame for these struggles. In my opinion, it would be tough to play night in, night out with a revolving goaltender, and not only for the goaltenders. For the sake of the team, one of those goalies, presumably Luongo needs to go. The state of flux the Canucks are in is desperate need of some form of continuity. I would wager a significant sum of money if Mike Gillis could make the deal with the Leaf that was on the table at the draft (Luongo for Kadri, Bozak and a 1st) he would noe hesitate to do so.

The New England Patriots will not be the same team without Wes Welker. He along with Tom Brady have been the achilles heel of that team for the better part of the last decade. Allowing him to go was a mistake that I am sure Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and the entire organization will antagonize over for a few years. At the same time what a tremendous acquisition by the Broncos. Without hesitation I would say that the Broncos instantly became the odd's on favorite to win the Super Bowl in New York next February.

And let the madness begin.....

The play - in games of the NCAA tournament take centre stage tonight which will officially fill out the bracket for the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. Given the parody that we saw in the NCAA this year, anything is possible. There is no clear cut favorite to win it all, and with a little bit of luck and solid play, I would suggest there are no less than 20 twenty teams who could win it all.

While Gonzaga may be the nation's top ranked team at season's end, they are certainly not the favorite to win it all. I don't even have them in the Final Four in my bracket. If you ask me the most rounded team moving on is Indiana where the likes of Zeller and Oladipo have not lost often, and never by a large margin. The Big Ten is very well represented in this year's tournament with seven berths. In fact, Michigan was the fifth seed in the Big Ten tournament, but a fourth seed in the Big Dance and a team who has a legitimate chance to win it all.

I made my picks today, and took Michigan, Michigan State, UNLV and New Mexico to reach the Final Four. When all is said and done the maize and blue of Michigan will be victorious over their state rivals in the Championship game. While I could once again be guilty of picking with my heart, (something I often do), here's to hoping the next three weeks are as exciting and dramatic as they are expected to be.