BonnerSprings.com

Whoever called the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship "March Madness" hit the nail on the head.

The tournament has become the top sports spectacular in the country and is more popular then the World Series or Super Bowl.

This year's installment of the NCAA tournament has been no different and has featured a strong showing from local schools.

The Big 12 teams that played represented the conference well.

Locally, the Kansas Jayhawks have peaked at the right time with wins over Portland State and UNLV.

The Jayhawks play Villanova on Friday.

Back in early February, when asked about the Jayhawks, coach Bill Self said he would like to have them peak in late February or early March, which they have done.

The Jayhawks have pretty much played up to their potential in the last four or five games and are in contention to play in the Final Four. I am still sticking with my prediction that the Jayhawks will make it.

It was also a great to see Kansas State gain some prominence in its basketball program that has been led by Michael Beasley. Beasley gave the Wildcats a much-needed shot in the arm, leading his team to a second-round win. K-State coach Frank Martin has the task of finding good recruits to replace Beasley, who without a doubt will not return for his sophomore year. It will be a difficult task for the K-State coach to recruit another Beasley.

As usual the NCAA tournament has had its share of upsets. One of the top collegiate basketball programs, Duke, has been ousted from the tournament by Coach Bob Huggins' West Virginia team.

The selection committee can expect to hear numerous complaints about the way it set up the tournament. I believe the lowest seed still in the tournament is Western Kentucky.

Personally, I feel the selection committee has done a commendable job in setting up the tournament. As always, there have been upsets in the early rounds.

Looking forward to next season, Kansas University has already received verbal commitments from athletes to attend KU. Self has proved he is a good recruiter and for the first time has gone into the junior college ranks and has two good players with national recognition coming to KU next year. One player is a top-ranked point guard.

In a where are they now moment, many local Bonner Springs high school fans can well remember Coach Carl Taylor, who took the Braves to state and won the championship.

Taylor has been a successful coach at Wichita Southeast, where he once again won a state title in Class 6A. When playing Portland, one of the players KU faced was coached by Taylor at the Wichita Southeast.

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