0 8B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 31, 2003 MickiganDaily.com/Pizza House Challenge NCAA MEN 'S BAS REThALL TOURNAMIE NT First Round March 20-21 Second Round March 22-23 Regionals March 27, 29 Regionals. March 28, 30 Second Round March 22-23 First Round March 20-21 1 Kentucky 1 Kentucky 16 IUPUI 1 Kentucky ...::..:.: 8 Oregons 9 Uta9 Utah 5 WisconsWn 12 Weber State 5 Wisconsin t 4 Dayton 13 Tulsa u Midwe 1 Kentuk Texas 1 Soutt Texas Texas 1 Purdue Connecticut Connecticut 5 Ah Stanford I Texas 1 TX So./UNC- Ash. 16 Louisana State 8 Purdue 9 Connecticut 5 * st 3 Marquette 6 Missouri \inneapo 6 Missouri 11 Southern Illinois a 3 Marquette 3 Marquette 14 Holy Crass 7 Indiana 7 Indiana 10 Alabama 2 Pittsburgh 2 Pittsburgh- - ~~- 2 Pittsburgh 15 Wagner 1 Arronan 1 Arizona 16 Vermont 8 Cincinnati 1 Arizona 91Gonzaga j. 5 Notre Dame as, Mlinn. Texas 1 San.Antonio,'Te as 3 Marquette Mich. State 7 Maryland Maryland 6 Xavier Michigan State Michigan State 7 Florida 5 BrI ham Youn 12 Stanford 4 San Diego 13 Maryland 6 6 UNC- Wilmingtoni11 Xavier 3 Troy .State 14 Michigan State 7 Colorado 10 Florida 2 Sam Houston 15 Oklahoma 1 Ne9w 4~ef 1A 12 Wisc.-Milwaukee 4 Illinois 1 3 West. Kentucky 6 Creighton 11 Central Michigan 3 Duke 14 Colorado State 7 Memphis 10 Arizona State 2 Kansas 15 Utah State 5 Notre Dame I5 Notre Dame West Anafeim, Caif 11 Central Michigan 3 Duke 3 Duke 21 2 A naSat <2Kansas 2 Kansas rizon a Kansas Oklahoma 1 East Oklahoma 1 South Carolina St 16 Oklahoma 1Ma= California 8 California &-i ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~ North Carolina St. 9 11.,Mississi i State b u tle r .. ..._:........:...:.1 . ..... Butler 12 Butler 12 Louisville 4 Lo ivil 2 Kansas Ausiin Peav 13 !'', I I I I ''I I'll ''I F, g r Syracuse 3 Alban* NY~/ . . a, 0 'r ., *, f£ S racuse 3 Oklahoma State 6 Syracuse 3, Syracuse 3 Auburn 10 Auburn 10 Wake Forest 2 Oklahoma State 6 Pennsylvania 11 Syracuse 3 Manhattan 14 St. Jose 's 7 Auburn 10 Wake Forest 2 E. Tennessee St. 15 n- ,, . , I / V Ann Arbor: 'Should have been a Spartan Who are we gonna beat? The Widas J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGH All About the Cause T o ssteal a phrase from the pop- ular t-shirt campaign, Ann Arbor really is a whore some- times. Friday night at Scorekeepers, there were countless University stu- dents and Ann Arbor residents valiantly cheering for Michigan State in its NCAA Sweet 16 battle with Maryland, and it made me absolutely sick to my stomach. When Maryland point guard Steve Blake missed his last-second 3-point attempt to tie the game, the bar erupted with elation. The rest of the night saw many students drinking in celebration, not drinking off their sorrow. This is inexcusable for any Michi- gan man or woman. Can you imag- ine a bar in East Lansing filled with people in their Michigan No. 4 C- Webb jerseys, throwing down brews in support of the Wolverines? If you can, you don't have an accurate view of the average Sparty, because they would never put their voices behind Michigan basketball. A rather plastered friend of mine asked one of the many Sparty sup- porters what in the world he was doing Friday, and this Michigan stu- dent replied, "We suck." Yes, that's we, as in the Michigan basketball team. The same team that beat the Spartans just two months ago and revived Wolverine hoops when no one thought there were any signs of life in Crisler Arena. Sure, our Wolverines were not able to put their tremendous season to the test in the NCAA Tournament, but that should not be an open invi- tation for the entire city to adopt Michigan State as its tourney flavor of choice. The argument of these traitors is simple: Big Ten schools must sup- port other Big Ten schools. By the Big Ten doing well, it makes Michi- gan look better. But this guy's assenine comment further proves my point. If a Michi- gan student is still under the impres- sion that the Wolverines "suck" and aren't worth more support than Tom Izzo's clowns, then how could the rest of the country gain more respect for Michigan by Michigan State making a run in the tournament?! It does look good for the Big Ten, but it in no way does it help the way Michigan is perceived nationally. In fact, it further erases what the Wolverines did this season from people's minds. Michigan lost the official title of best team in the state when Central Michigan beat it like a drum at Crisler, but the real test was won by the Wolverines, 60-58, on Jan. 27 against the Spartans. Aside from the loyal few, that win didn't sink in. Izzo's boys are still the class of the state and the Big Ten, and that should never be something that any Michigan student wishes for. When your arch-rival wins, it should pierce you. That feeling of enmity is what major college sports are built on. The same thing con- fronted all of us when we had to watch Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes sing "Carmen Ohio" on the Sun Devil Stadium field after their stun- ning victory over Miami (Fla.) for football's national crown. Now, any person who considers him or herself a "Michigan man or woman" should never cheer for Buckeye happiness, regardless of whether we share the same confer- ence. The only good thing about Ohio State winning that title for Michigan fans is the extra urgency it will provide the Wolverines next sea- son to try and do the same. How could anyone be happy for those damn Buckeyes? I can tell you for sure that Colum- bus was not cheering Michigan onward in 1997 when the Wolverines captured the national title. Many of my own friends and roommates are traitors as well. It's a problem that this whole campus is facing. One friend feels that "it is better for our rivals to do well because if we beat them, it will be more fun." Last time I heard, beating your rival is always the most enjoyable feeling you can have. Contributing to the demise of Ohio State's foot- ball program by knocking it off in 2000 at the Horseshoe was the best feeling. Kicking a rival while it's down - see Michigan State football this season - is what it's all about. In my three years at this school, I've seen John Cooper and Bobby Williams fired right after embarrass- ing losses to Michigan. I've also watched Ohio State celebrate on the field at the Big House and Michigan State students rub it in my face in the Sparty student section after their last-second 26-24 miracle win in 2001. While the rivalry may have "improved" by those gut-wrenching defeats, that should be the last thing on anyone's mind. The problem is that many Michi- gan fans seem to enjoy the idea that they are "above" all of this petty , competition with their arch-rivals._ To put it bluntly, that is why Michigan fans are disrespected by the rest of the Big Ten for being apa- thetic. That is why the largest foot- ball stadium in the country with 110,000 seats usually sounds like a 50,000-seat stadium. It's why Purdue's "Gene Pool" basketball student section, com- prised of about 200 members, can come into Crisler and make more noise than 13,000 Michigan support- ers. Everyone will read this column and laugh it off. How immature of him to say these things. And that's fine. I would expect nothing less. In fact, there are riots going on in East Lansing as we speak! Just throw on that Mateen Cleaves jersey, make the one-hour drive North and keep living vicariously through your rivals. And to think I always wondered why "Ann Arbor's a whore?" J. Brady McCollough can be reached at bradymcc@umich.edu. The dust is starting to settle and, like closing time at Scorekeepers on a Thursday, only the diehards'and drunks are left on the dance floor. But not all of the Kentucky and Arizona fans were accepting of their fate and refused to take their courteous bow out. Instead, they opted to whim- per and pout in dis- belief, like a Yankee fan crying that hisW almighty team lost to the underdog Angels. But worse than the Yankees, the Wildcats were put into a world of pain by Marquette, which used its "Holy Mackerel" slogan much like the rally monkey to carry it to the Final Four. Entering the NCAA Tournament on a 23-game winning streak and No. 1 in the nation, dreams of a championship were dancing in the heads of Lexingtonians like sugar plum fairies in the mind of a child on Christmas Eve. But soon into the first half, those plum fairies turned into hippos per- forming Swan Lake. Kentucky's leading scorer Keith Bogans suf- fered an ankle sprain against Duke on Friday night and was only half strength for the Elite Eight. Not even Bilbo Baggins could have helped Kentucky dig out of their double-digit hole or find an answer for Dwyane Wade or his first career triple-double. Out in the West Regional, the Jayhawks were doing the dirty bird over Lute Olson and Arizona. The Wildcats came into the season with more talent than the Cleveland Cav- aliers and join Kentucky as overly talented Wildcats who went home on Saturday with their tail in- between their legs. Kansas will be making a second straight appearance in the Final Four and the fourth for coach Roy Williams. A Ms> With an .807 win- ning percentage, Williams has the highest career win- ning percentage among active coach- es. Unfortunately, his Jayhawks are no more destined to win the championship than the Detroit Tigers are to win 50 U Special rebate offer: games this year. In the meantime, "students" out at Michigan State are dancing around burning couches in a riot that can only be matched by their first 16 basketball riots. At this point, riots after NCAA basketball games occur about as frequently in East Lansing as anti-war rallies in Ann Arbor. One would think that by this point the East Lansing Police Department would have the riot drill down better than the Spartans do the weave and be able to quell the riot before it starts, but one can only conclude that incompetence is contagious. All this despite the fact that Michigan State overachieved by reaching the Elite Eight as a No. 7 seed and only managed to muster 10 wins in Big Ten play. Meanwhile, if there is a reason that Oklahoma looked completely out of its element, it is because they were. Playing Syracuse in front of a sea of orange, the Sooners played catch-up the entire game. And so now, with a crowd of 65 paired down to four as quickly as an episode of "Joe Millionaire," we embark to find out just who is the best team in college basketball. There are the Orangemen, led by Carmello Anthony, who is so money 0 Enroll now and get $100 back!. 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