When the brackets were unfolded on Sunday, Maryland fans everywhere couldn’t believe their luck.

Despite the catastrophic loss to Miami in the ACC tournament, the committee rewarded us for the previous month with a four seed in the Midwest region. On top of that, the five is a struggling Butler team, who looks like they peaked right after Thanksgiving. Within two minutes, every Maryland fan was cautiously glancing toward the Sweet Sixteen to see who their probable opponent would be.

Florida.

Ew.

But before we start worrying about how Gist is going to match up with Joakim Noah, we should probably take care of Davidson first. Just a thought. After all, Davidson is a good team with a legitimate star (Steven Curry) who can shoot the living crap out of the ball. It should also be noted that Curry will probably play with a heart full of vengeance (basically the way he’s played all year) since he’s ticked off that every ACC school spurned him, told him he was too small, and sent him on his way. Well, now he averages 22 points a game, and gets an ACC school in the first round of the big dance. Wonderful.

I don’t believe in a thing as a “good loss”, mainly ‘cause I hate to lose. But, part of me wants to believe that the Miami game wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for this Maryland team. First, it knocked them off whatever high horse they were on. Second, they shouldn’t (no guarantees on whether or not they actually will) take any game for granted or overlook their opponent in the future. And since 80% of all tournament upsets come from the higher seed looking past the lower seed, this is a good thing.

This Maryland team can go deep (if you look at the staff predictions, you’ll see how crazy I am), but they have to get back to the way they were playing late in February. They have a good draw, SHOULD make it to the Sweet Sixteen, and CAN beat Florida if they play a near perfect game.

But in order to have that conversation, we have to get by Davidson first.

Drexel and Syracuse being left out of the tournament is an absolute crime. Every year it seems like the committee screws up and someone gets screwed over. Do you think it’s time to expand the tournament?

The Syracuse snubbing really baffles me. I don’t care that they didn’t play any games away from home till Presidents Day or that they had to play the unbalanced schedule the Big East game them. If you finish with 10 wins in a major conference, you have to screw up in every other category in order not to get in. That or you play in the Pac-10.

That being said, tournament expansion is probably the worst idea since some genius came up with the BCS. Say you expand the field to 80 teams, that would let Syracuse and Drexel in, but you know what? Some one else would get snubbed, only that team would be a lot crappier. There will always be snubs, someone will always be upset and Jay Bilas will never be happy with the Selection Committee on selection Sunday. That’s just the way it is. Expanding the field isn’t going to change that.

Plus, by expanding the field, you render the regular season pretty much pointless. Think of how bad some of the teams on the bubble are (Michigan). Do you really want to be watching that level of basketball in March? I don’t. But if you make it so that everyone can get in, every team just has to shoot for .500 in conference play and that’s it. There won’t be any reason to play tough out of conference games, or to play mid majors, or even play in early season tournaments. In an effort to make March a little better, are you willing to screw up the other three months of the season?

Plus, why mess with a good thing? Are the 30 minutes we spend whining about who got left out on Sunday night really that big of a deal, that we would be willing to change the greatest three weeks in sports? Changing the current format of March Madness would be like breaking up with Mandy Moore because you think you can get better. In other words, the biggest mistake ever.

Give me your top 5 teams you wouldn’t want to see in the tournament

In no particular order:

Louisville: Like every Rick Pitino team, if they heat up from 3, they’re unstoppable. Plus, like Maryland this is a team who has played their way in to the tournament. You always want to bet on teams like that.
Texas: Two words – Kevin Durant. Quick, name anyone in the country that can stop him. If the only guys you came up with currently play in the NBA, then it might not be a bad idea to hitch a ride on the Durant bandwagon.
Winthrop: My worst fear was that Maryland would drop to a 6 seed and have to face this scary team again. They’re battle tested and not afraid of anyone (also should’ve beaten Tennessee last year). I would not want to be Notre Dame right now.
VCU: I saw the last five minutes of the CAA championship game against Mason, and haven’t seen a point guard play better than that Maynard kid did in that game. He will victimize Greg Paulus (maybe not on the levels that Tyrus Thomas did last year) and it could be enough to get them past the Blue Devils. If they do make it in the second round, Pitt better not take these guys for granted or else they might sneak up on the Panthers too.
Vanderbilt: This is just a gut feeling. I actually know relatively nothing about them, but like their draw enough to think they might pull off a couple upsets in this thing.

Chris, I’m bummed about having to work on Thursday and Friday and miss all the games. What should I do to pick myself up?

I would watch this. And this. And this and this and this. End with this. If this doesn’t put you in a good mood, then nothing will.

Chris DiIonno loves this weekend more than Christmas. He can be reached at .

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