The March Madness Gods Have Spoken, And They Were Fairly Merciful

Oh, we've arrived friends. Your pencils are sharp, your knowledge of obscure basketball teams from Allegany, New York is keen, and your blind faith in your alma mater's ability to do the unthinkable is rapt as ever. It's March Madness alright.

First teams first, we've got the No. 1 seeds laid out: North Carolina, Kansas, Virginia, and Oregon. Lots of hollering about Michigan State being snubbed, not to mention Oklahoma, and Villanova. There's a lot of people head-scratching about Oregon. But with a combined 23 losses among the No. 1 seeds—the most ever—this is decidedly one of the weakest (or most competitive) top tiers we've seen in a long time.

So far, Wichita State and Vanderbilt are an enticing frontrunner for most anticipated first four games. I mean, the whole thing could come down to 0.7 seconds again. Michigan vs. Tulsa is a pretty hot ticket. Indiana and Kentucky are in the same bracket, which means we could witness a second-round matchup between those two historical teams. Oh, and then there's a potential of Temple vs. Villanova in the next round as well. Delicious.

As for the snubs: Syracuse got lucky, making it in the bracket after their lackluster past couple of seasons (they lost to St. John's this year for F's sake). St. Bonaventure, with their 22-8 season (despite their loss to Davidson in the A-10 Tournament semifinals) were robbed of a seat at the Big Dance. San Diego and Monmouth—despite their smarmy-ass bench—obviously are sitting in snub-ville. And I'm sure you're pissed whatever obscure-ass team you root for isn't on there too. (See you in the comments.)

Just in case you left your spectacles at home and can't read the top bracket image, here's a larger breakdown.

The South:

The West:

The East:

The North Midwest:

Well, that's it. If you're only just catching this bracket here, consider yourself lucky. You didn't have to sit through one-and-a-half hours of hearing all of Charles Barkley's ill-informed knee-jerk reactions to a level of basketball he doesn't even pay attention to anymore. Now let's let the insanity begin.