Top Fives of the NCAA Tournament

The recent talk of expanding the NCAA Basketball Tournament to 96 teams makes me shiver. This tournament is unquestionably the greatest post-season tournament in all of sports. The drama filled games, Cinderella stories, and last second shots all contribute to making March Madness my three favorite weeks in sports. The cliche, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," certainly applies to the NCAA Tournament. How can something that is perfect become even better? With that being said, here are some of my "top fives" from the tournament. Mind you, this is not the top five best, but my favorites.

Top 5 Teams:

5) Saint Mary's: After watching several of the Gales games in the regular season, I knew Omar Samhan was the real deal. I loved how the offense revolved entirely around him. Seemingly, every offensive possession for St. Mary's gave Omar a touch. And for good reason: Samhan combined to go 24/32 from the field against Richmond and Villanova.

4) BYU: I knew very little about the Cougars coming into the tournament. They had been in the top 15 for much of the year, and came out of the competitive Mountain West Conference. Other than this, however, I did not know a thing about their top players or style of play. Jimmer Fredette changed this. Billy Donovan, the head coach of the Florida Gators, claimed: "Fredette is one of the best kept secrets in college basketball, and as a coach and a basketball fan and someone that loves the game, to be able to watch him on film was really, really — great treat to watch." Could not agree with coach Donovan more.

3) Northern Iowa: I didn't even think the Panthers would get by the athletic UNLV Runnin' Rebels, so for them to beat the Kansas Jayhawks...come on. Much of the nation had Kansas winning the entire tournament. Ali Farokhmanesh made me a believer after drilling the gutsiest 3-point shot I have ever seen.

2) Butler: How could one not like the Butler Bulldogs? They nearly brought the movie Hoosiers to a reality. If Gordon Hayward's off-balance shot falls, the Bulldogs would have made one of the most impressive runs in the NCAA Tournament. And, they would have been the smallest school, in terms of enrollment, to win the tournament since Holy Cross did so in 1947. One thing is for sure, Brad Stevens will have many lucrative offers to coach at a big time school in the coming weeks.

1) Cornell: I have said it since the beginning of the season. The Cornell Big Red will make some noise in the NCAA Tournament this year. This was the third year in a row they advanced to the Big Dance, and their senior leadership, experience, and exceptional talent  led them to the Sweet 16. Cornell will likely fall back into the middle of the pack in the Ivy League next year as they graduate virtually all of their impact players (most notably Ryan Wittman), but what a run did those Ivy Leaguers from upstate New York give the country!

I will share with you my "Top 5 Players" in my next post.