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48 + 1 thoughts from the 2010 NCAA Tournament

After watching 98.6% of the NCAA basketball tournament over the last 4 days (hey, the NCAA wrestling finals are on too as I discovered when I inadvertently switched to ESPN), I’ve concluded this has to be the best opening week in tournament history — well, at least in my tournament watching history. (There should be a rule that people who weren’t alive at the time should not be allowed to try to argue some nonsense such as YA Tittle was somehow the most underrated QB in NFL history or wax philosophic about the heyday of John Wooden. If you did not exist, you should not be able to comment on a team or player of that era.)

After upsets galore on opening day, the tournament gave us a tremendous OT win by Purdue over Texas A&M to end the weekend. Oh, and there was that little matter of Northern Iowa beating Kansas in between.

So, in honor of opening weekend, here are 48 + 1 thoughts (do the math) on the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Some are good, some are mediocre, and some are clunkers — yep, just like the games.

Closet Duke Fan: The time has come.

You know you love ’em. Somewhere deep inside yourself, in places you don’t like to talk about, there grows a strong and profound love of Duke basketball. I know, I know. There was a time when I too shared this shameful secret. I joined the groans that came with every Blue Devil win, year after year. I feigned disgust every time I saw Christian Laettner drop in that famous fade away. I cursed Coach K and made wild accusations of referee tampering and tournament committee bias with the rest of the Duke haters. Then, on one fine March evening, I realized that I liked the Dukies because of the way they focus on team basketball, the way they hustle on defense, and the way they always, always, ALWAYS win. It was that day that I stood up and embraced my inner Blue Devil, that little voice inside my head telling me what I already knew—I am a Duke fan.