There’s a reason they call it March Madness.

The NCAA men’s basketball Tournament is always good for a major storyline or two. There are two surefire ways to make headlines at the big dance: One, play extremely well; and two, do something shocking. George Mason might not be around this year, but we’re still not lacking in the surprise department.

The near-total absence of Cinderella teams has been the main theme of the 2007 Tournament. The Sweet 16 was filled with excellent clubs – the lowest seed was No. 7 UNLV, and the Rebels could easily have been placed higher. That makes this year’s Tourney the first since 1995 to feature no double-digit seeds in the Sweet 16.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t some head-scratchers in the opening rounds. No. 6 Notre Dame wasn’t generating a lot of confidence heading into the big dance, but to lose by 10 points to No. 11 Winthrop in Round One? South Bend is going to be stewing over that one for a while. Duke fans won’t be terribly pleased about losing to No. 11 VCU, either. At least the 2007-08 Blue Devils will be forced to learn how to escape full-court pressure.

With so many great programs battling for college supremacy, it can’t be considered much of a shock that top seeds and Final Four candidates Kansas and North Carolina failed to make it to Atlanta. There is, however, one big surprise that could affect the No. 1 Florida Gators, and that is the breakup between the Kentucky Wildcats and their longtime coach, Tubby Smith. Speculation has begun that Florida coach Billy Donovan may want to return to Lexington, where he was an assistant under Rick Pitino. This is a lousy time for the Gators to face such distractions.

Sticking with Kentucky, let’s round off this list of Tournament oddities with Randolph Morris. On Mar. 18, he scored 22 points in a second-round loss to Kansas. Five days later, Morris was a member of the New York Knicks. They sure grow up fast, don’t they?

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