Me, I don't really get March Madness. I mean, I get it as a journalist and armchair shrink, but I don't get it. But I'm happy to feed your madness. Here's a quick guide to Northwest teams and coverage.
First, for those uninitiated in the ways of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its 70th annual Division I Men's Basketball Championship tournament, bear in mind that these guys don't know much about geography. Teams get assigned willy-nilly to all corners of the country. Michigan State plays in the first round of the South regional – in Denver. Connecticut plays in the first round of the West regional – in Tampa, Fla. The so-called Final Four, where the four surviving teams play, sometime this summer, I think it is, will be in San Antonio.
If you download the "bracket" of the pairings of 65 teams (don't ask about that odd number), maybe you can make sense of it. I can't.
The Northwest teams:
Regional Seed First victim Where and when Washington State University (24-8) East 4 Winthrop University (22-11) Denver, Thursday, 3/20 Gonzaga University (25-7) Midwest 7 Davidson College (26-6) Raleigh, N.C., Friday, 3/21 University of Oregon (18-13) South 9 Mississippi State University (22-10) Little Rock, Ark., Friday, 3/21 Boise State University (25-8) East 14 University of Louisville (24-8) Birmingham, Ala., Friday, 3/21 Portland State University (23-9) Midwest 16 University of Kansas (31-3) Omaha, Thursday, 3/20The coverage:
Seattle Times
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Spokane Spokesman-Review
Oregonian
Eugene Register-Guard
Idaho Statesman
Official NCAA Web site
