The true Ark of the Covenant

It’s here. It’s finally here. A half-month of lost productivity, illegal betting, and Cinderella stories starts now. Check out BlogDailyHerald’s predictions below.

Midwest Region

The shoo-ins: Not many potential first-round upsets here. Both Middle Tennessee and St. Mary’s are pretty dangerous for First Four teams, so they might give Memphis a run for their money, but I’m going all top seeds in the first round. Don’t listen to any talk about Valparaiso as a potential Cinderella, Tom Izzo has the Spartans way too well-prepared—he always does—for them to lose so early.

The upsets: Creighton over Duke, second round. I’m sorry, I can’t help but root against Coach K and whoever happens to be playing for him. This is how much I don’t like Duke. Makes my day every time. For real, though, Doug McDermott has been averaging 23.1 points per game (2nd in Division I) with a near 50% 3-point shooting percentage. He’s my pick for mid-major breakout player of the tournament (see below). Also, as I mentioned before, Memphis might have trouble with its play-in opponent, but this is sadly a kind of boring bracket, especially compared with the South. Though Oregon is the Pac-12 champ, I don’t think this is the 5-12 upset to pick.

Player to watch: Wooden Award finalist Doug McDermott of Creighton. Just like Jimmer and Gordon Hayward before him, this guy is due to become a household name. Don’t expect him to carry the Bluejays to the national championship, but they might have an upset or two in them.

Regional champ: There are three perennial superpowers in this region, but Louisville isn’t #1 overall for nothing. The team is coming off a huge Big East Tournament victory over Syracuse, and there aren’t many teams who can stop them. Look for them to bounce Michigan State in the Elite 8 and maybe even take the whole thing.

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Not all of us are basketball fans, but when it comes to March, one thing rises above all the jibber-jabber of the world and stands as a glowing beacon of guestimation and lost productivity for all mankind: MARCH MADNESS. The first weekend of back-to-back-to-back-to… well, you get it… basketball has just gotten under way. Rather than discuss all the matchups (and delight in how early Harvard is going to bite the dust), we’re bringing you golden nuggets of prediction from our two literate people who occasionally browse ESPN.com resident experts in college basketball: Seth Kleinschmidt and Julien Ouellet. So kick back, pray for LIU-Brooklyn to pull off an upset, and get that CBS music stuck in your head.

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Instead of competing against millions of ESPN junkies for a random cash prize, why not help fight childhood obesity with your March Madness bracket? March to Health, a fundraiser started by Lex Rofes ’13, aims at doing just that. Before submitting their bracket to the school pools on the site, sports fans are asked to contribute to the charity ‘nPlay, a foundation supported by over 35 athletes (e.g., Grant Hill, Paul Pierce…) that promotes physical fitness in high schools. The added bonus here is that student-athletes are allowed to participate: the NCAA cleared the organization on the simple basis that “it doesn’t constitute gambling: there are no prizes except your own pride” and feeling of doing the right thing.

To Lex, starting March to Health “just made sense.” After starting a similar program in his senior year of high school, “it felt weird and shallow coming back to regular office pools.” So with the help of a few friends and the Sports Business Club, Lex raised about $5,000 last March in the fundraiser’s first year. “But people missed the smaller feel, being able to trash talk friends and compete in smaller subgroups,” he said. This year, 12 schools (including Harvard, UPenn, and Stanford) and a handful of companies have their own subgroups on the website — Lex hopes to add even more next year.

Since he feels that March to Health should keep its college vibe, Lex hopes his project will continue on after he graduates and looks to create similar fundraisers in future jobs. In this case, “it’s really students helping students. [People] try to push aside the positive value of sports, against what Brown is meant to do. But I think sports can be used in so many ways.”

Kim Perley / Herald

Waterfire is celebrating the NCAA tournament in Providence tonight along with Dunkin’ Donuts. The special edition of Barnaby Evans’ ’75 combustible art installation starts at 7:30 p.m. downtown and runs until 11.

UPDATE: Evans appeared on the Rhode Show today to talk about tonight’s event: