NCAA Tournament: Wacky First Weekend Sets Up Monster Rematch

It was a week ago tonight that I said, on Facebook, "If these first two games are any indication, we're in for a pretty nice tournament." I was referring to the huge comeback wins for Western Kentucky and BYU in last Tuesday's play-in games. Sure enough, the opening weekend was full of upsets. And the coming weekend will feature one doozy of a rematch.

It was bizarre to learn that the NCAA Tournament's first weekend of games came and went with nary an overtime game or buzzer beater in the bunch. But, boy, did we make up for it with some unthinkable upsets.

It had been 11 years since a team seeded 15th beat a 2-seed. And, then, on Friday, it happened twice in 3 hours when 15-seed Norfolk State upset 2-seed Missouri--a team, predicted by many, to reach the Final Four--and Lehigh shocked Duke. The fact that 13-seed Ohio beat 4-seed Michigan barely registered on anyone's radar.

And then you had the two games everyone in the Ohio Valley had their eyes on--Kentucky/Iowa State and Indiana/VCU. UK manhandled the Cyclones while the Hoosiers beat VCU by two. And, just like that, a rematch between Kentucky and Indiana was set.

If you'll recall--and of course you will--Indiana beat the 'Cats at the buzzer in Bloomington back on December 10th. It was the first of Kentucky's only two losses this season. And now, the game is set. UK vs. IU in Atlanta's Georgia Dome this Friday night. It's a game between two teams with what I believe are two of the top three most passionate fan bases in the country.

And, it's because of this, that the Georgia Dome has had to open it's upper deck due to high ticket demand. Central Georgia will be rocking! The earth will move! The Georgia Dome will turn into the Thunderdome on Friday night as it hosts one of the most anticipated matchups in NCAA Tournament history.