basketball

basketball
Originally uploaded by Good Brownie

I took this photo of Hinkle Fieldhouse a few years ago, but I thought it would be appropriate to post it now. Good luck, Bulldogs!

Jesus and the Dawgs

Jesus and the Dawgs
Originally uploaded by Good Brownie

Butler Bulldog

Butler Bulldog
Originally uploaded by Good Brownie

I lived in Indianapolis for over eight years altogether. My girls are both Hoosiers, born at St. Vincents Hospital. Of course I'm going to root for the Bulldogs.

Do the Butler Bulldogs compare to the "Hoosiers" team?

Butler University Police Chief Benjamin Hunter described the increasing interest in the Northside campus via Twitter this morning: "Looking forward to a busy week at Butler. Never seen so much media on campus. Go Dawgs!"

Why is Butler a darling of the press? The small private school is making its first appearance in the Final Four and is the first school since UCLA in 1972 to be playing in the Final Four in its hometown.

But there's more: the players are bracing themselves for a week full of "Hoosiers" references. They are piling up.

See the comparisons?

Georgetown out!

I know I should be ashamed to have picked Georgetown over Ohio University since I'm a native son of the Buckeye state, but honestly, who would have thought it? I'm not alone.

Happy March!

I am so very thankful whenever March gets here, because Spring is three weeks away!

And, of course, there's this:

The Final Four

We now know the four teams that will play for the NCAA basketball championships - the #1 seed from each section. North Carolina will play Kansas, and Memphis will play UCLA. I was hoping that Davidson, this year's Cinderella, would make it through to the end, but it was not to be. San Antonio plays host to the games this year.

Sweet Sixteen

How are your brackets for the office pool? (A non-gambling one, of course....)

All four #1 seeds are still alive, as expected. No Cinderella teams this year, with the lowest seed being Vanderbilt (#6). What happened to you, George Masons of the world?

Those Purdue guys may have acted tough when they met with Indy Star reporters over the weekend, but Florida showed them how to play a game in the Big Dance: you play tough and you win it. Will Florida go all the way like they did last year? First, they have to get past the Butler Bulldogs, the only Indiana team remaining in the tournament.

OSU is the only Ohio - and Big Ten - team to make it, beating out fellow Ohio university Xavier in overtime. My Wright State Raiders didn't get past the first round.

March Madness brackets

The brackets have been filled. The office pools will start later today.

I find it humorous how they decide to place teams in the location categories: Midwest, West, East, and South. Maryland is close to the Atlantic Ocean and Oregon is close to the Pacific, but somehow they both are in the Midwest section. Wright State, one of my two alma maters, is in the West section - I suppose there was a time when Ohio was considered Out West, but that was 150 years ago or so.

I'm from Ohio but I currently live in Indiana, so let's see how teams from those states fared:

Ohio: OSU (#1-South), Xavier (#9-South), Wright State (#14-West), Miami (#14-Midwest)

Indiana: Butler (#5-Midwest), Notre Dame (#6-Midwest), Indiana (#7-West), Purdue (#9-Midwest)

Raiders defeat Bulldogs

Living in Indianapolis, I'm surrounded by Butler fans. I hope they don't mind that I am rejoicing in this victory! Special congratulations to DaShaun Wood.

For those who don't know: I received an M.S. in mental health counseling from Wright State in 1995. And I was only 8 years old!

I wonder if the Bulldogs like seeing this banner in Hinkle Fieldhouse now!