Weekend Roundup: Beaming Edition 3-25-13

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Players develop.  They start chubby, winded after a few minutes of going up and down the court.  But they grow up, get tougher, drop the Freshman 15.  Sometimes it takes four years.  Sometimes you think it's never going to happen, and there's 50 cheeseburgers in the way.  Sometimes it happens overnight, and it can be really special if that night is the night before the 3rd (2nd dude, c'mon) round of the NCAA tournament.

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Mitch McGary has arrived at the perfect time.  He's a leader.  He's exciting and excitable.  He is willing this team to success in ways the strong silent killer that is Trey Burke can't.  ​

I thought I remembered what it was like to make it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, but I guess I don't.  I would have never thought it was my senior year of high school the last time we made it this far.  Nearly 20 years later, and I feel like a kid again.  I'm happy to say I couldn't give a shit about my bracket.

Speaking of the brackets, kudos to the group as a whole as only 6 of the 108 participants lost their champion in the first weekend.  That's about as good as it gets after the unceremonious removal of 48 of the 64.  Congrats to my old buddy Steve Watters who holds a 2 point lead on the field.

A quick roundup of the internets from the weekend:​

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Jackrabbits Thwarted, Madness Takes Down 9 Brackets

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A good box-score victory for the Wolverines, and lots of chalk for a day one.  The big upset didn't come until it was technically day two (on the East coast).  But old friend Tommy Ammaker and his band of tuition paying dorks managed to knock off New Mexico and put a red 'X' a final four team for 9 of the 108 participants in the 2013 UMTailgate.com tournament challenge.  

Pretty good day overall though....nobody lost a champion, or even a semi-finalist.  That's a very collectively successful first day of the tournament, so kudos to you all.

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Note that the following links will work for participants only, but Steve Watters,  Patrick Higgins,  CJ King,  Digger's Green Highlighter,  and Allison Kopf are all sitting pretty with 14 points, missing only 2 on day one.  Respectable.  

On with the madness...

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Weekend Roundup, NCAA Tournament Home Game Edition: 3/18/13

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Note: The 13th Annual UMTailgate.com Tournament Challenge is ON. Brackets are here. Don't have the password and think you deserve it? Shoot an email to tourney2k13@umtailgate.com.

​For most of the life of this waste of internet space from which I randomly spout snarky bullshit, the Michigan Men's Basketball Team has not been in the conversation for NCAA tournament glory.  It would be around this time of year that we would grasp at football spring practice videos, recruiting rankings, and organizing some kind of winter reunion.  Not so any more.  Michigan is alive and well in the world of college basketball, and has earned the right to not only play in the NCAA tournament, but also host the opening rounds in its backyard.  This is fun.  It's fun to care.  It's fun to really get involved in the tourney, to have a rooting interest beyond your office bracket.  Hoping your team won't make an early round exit, dreaming of Atlanta, and rooting for schools that you have never heard of with mascots you can't picture to upset your rivals on the big stage.  (Consequently, Go Crusaders!) Going home at lunch on Thursday if only to catch the first moments of the tourney, butterflies in your stomach as you hear the CBS college basketball jingle, quelled only by the desire to punch Buckeye-lover Clark Kellogg in the face.

Ahhhhh...tourney time.  

​Anyway, here's the weekend that was around the internets that you missed while you were trying to convince yourself that losing early in the conference tournament provides much needed rest for the big dance....