Once again we find ourselves in the midst of March Madness and as great as the tournament has been thus far, one can expect that it will only get better.

Heading into March I found myself more excited for this year’s tournament that any other before it. Not because I have a vested interest in any particular team or player but because as the regular season of NCAA men’s basketball wrapped up I felt that there where so many teams that were capable of playing at such a high level that this year’s field of 64 would provide the some of the best basketball we have seen in a long time. Now we’re down to the sweet 16 and to this point I think I was right.

I really started to follow the tournament this year with the conference playoffs, something I usually just catch up on with my nightly Sports Center fix. But I’m glad I did, these individual tournaments had tons of upsets, which made the seedings for the NCAA championship tournament interesting. It eliminated a number of “bubble” teams and placed all of the teams that are playing well right now in the tournament alongside the conference powerhouses that already had their spot locked up, win or lose. Additionally, the Big East conference tournament played host to what was the best, most exciting game of college hoops I have ever seen. UConn and Syracuse went into six overtimes in a game that went so long players from both teams were fouling out and walk-ons were being put in to score their first points of the season. It was one truly amazing battle and I hope everyone will get to enjoy it again in the near future on ESPN classic.

Since the field of 64 started play, there have been many exciting games, there have been upsets and overtimes, and only a few blowouts early on. The strong have survived and what is yet to come in the Sweet 16 should continue to be amazing ball. Left in the tournament are four number one seeds, four number two seeds, four number three seeds, two four seeds, a five and a twelve. Look at it this way, 12 of the top 12 teams in the nation are still alive and will be tossed into competition against one another. In what way can this possibly fail to be must-see basketball? Also, with two number four seeds you have the very next best teams and with Purdue, the number five, and Arizona, the number 12, you have two amazing programs that are as good as any and very well may knock off one the tournament’s top seeds.

This year may not have had an amazing Cinderella story to follow, the closest thing was Cleveland State at 13 upsetting Wake Forest at number four only to turn around and get thumped by Arizona. But it has been amazing basketball all the way around. With 14 games left to play there are many great match-ups left to drool over. If UConn can defend their number one status and Syracuse can manage to pull an upset in the South, UConn and Syracuse would meet in the Final Four for a Big East rematch. However, if Oklahoma defeats Syracuse and number one North Carolina fends off number four Gonzaga tomorrow night, we would get to see Blake Griffin match up with Tyler Hansbrough, another amazing battle I wouldn’t want to miss a minute of.

No matter which way you slice it the pack left in the Sweet 16 is poised to deliver a fantastic ending to what has already been an amazing season. I plan to watch as mush of these games as I possibly can and I would suggest you do the same.

Andrew McFadden can be reached at [email protected]