March Madness: My pick? Georgetown!

It is undisputed that the most exciting day in professional football is the day when teams play semi-final games (conference championships) to make it to the Super Bowl. (Just as the most exciting day in my favorite spectator sport, women’s tennis, is the day when semi-final matches in the majors are played.) Likewise, the most exciting day in college basketball is the (Final-Four) day when semi-final games in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship are played. And no doubt today’s match ups pitting Florida - v- UCLA and Georgetown -v- Ohio State - to make it to Monday night’s championship game - will continue this trend; notwithstanding the absence of a bona fide Cinderella team.

But it would be disingenuous of me to give the impression that I’m a big fan of college basketball….I am not. Although few people I know are. After all, their interest in college basketball seems limited to picking teams on a whim from brackets in their office pools.

That said, I can at least claim a sentimental reason for my pick to win this year's championship: Georgetown! And my reason can be summed up in one name: John Thomspson III – the team’s coach. Because notwithstanding the brilliant play of his team, Thompson is on an historic odyssey to emulate his Daddy, John Thompson Jr, who became the first African American head coach to win the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship when Georgetown defeated the heavily-favored University of Houston in 1984.

And, how’s this for a little more sentimental attachment to Georgetown: Just as Patrick Ewing was a pivotal player on his father’s championship team, Ewing’s son, also named Patrick, is the point player on Thompson’s team this year. Now, what mortal coach or player could upset this fateful symmetry?!

(Incidentally, imagine how exciting this NCAA tournament would have been if Thompson Jr’s other son Ronny, the head coach of Ball State University, had led his team to the championship game against Georgetown…)

Go Georgetown!


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NCAA Men's Basketball