From Baltimore's version of The Fan to DC's 980 to four letter radio, I hear the same thing as it relates to the NCAA tournament.  People theorize that what we, the uninformed public want, is a chalk bracket.  A television personality was on 1570's "Playmakers" talking about how people want upsets in the first weekend, but chalk after that.

I guess I'm having a hard time reconciling all this chatter about what we want from the tournament.  I think we like tournament because it doesn't always provide us with a cookie cutter outcome.  If the five always beat the twelve, why watch?  What makes the tournament special is its unpredictability, yet at the same time, leaving the viewers satisfied with the conclusion.

Think about it. Since the tournament expanded to include at-large teams, how many winners left us saying "That's an undeserving champ?"  The two that I can think of are NC State and Villanova.  Even so, recall that in 1985, the Big East had three entrants into the final four.  Perhaps Villanova's loss ledger was slightly inflated due to the power of the conference that year.  NC State entered the tourney at 20-10 with two wins over Ralph Sampson's Cavaliers and a win over Jordan's Heels under their belts.  It should be noted that NC State may have been undervalued heading into the big dance, as Derek Whittenburg suffered an injury during conference play.

Even if "people" do want total chalk after the first weekend, let's examine who these "people" likely are.  For one, they're fans of the respective teams still in the field.  Fans are agenda driven.  You know who else is agenda driven?  Office bracket guy is driven by an agenda.  If our elite eights are going out in round two, we can't win.

In the end, to say that this tournament is "what the people wanted," is an insult to everyone and the event.  This is the first time that the top three seeds have gone this far in the tournament.  So if this is what we want, then the ratings will be markedly higher, yes?  The one conclusion we can draw is that the selection folks did a good job in seeding the tournament. 

Now, if they could have just organized the women's tourney, that would be great.  I'm all for Duke losing.  Even if it's tac-tac-toe.  But why was a #1 seed playing a true road game?