Slowly getting excited for March Madness

It was like a punch to the gut. It felt like we were leaving a funeral when we made our way out of the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Saturday evening after watching our San Diego State Aztecs lose to Fresno State in the Mountain West Conference tournament championship game.

It’s become an annual event for myself and some college roommates to travel to Las Vegas for the MWC tournament to watch our Aztecs. It’s a fun weekend every year, and SDSU usually does well. The Aztecs have made the championship game seven of the last eight years.

Usually, the Aztecs have an NCAA Tournament bid already in the bag.

Not this year.

So we were gut punched a second time on the drive back to Merced on Sunday when the tournament field was announced and the Aztecs weren’t in it.

With no SDSU, I wasn’t as excited for the start of March Madness as I usually am. That was until I started out sending texts and talking to our local basketball coaches to remind them to send in brackets.

“I’m really upset San Diego State didn’t make it,” said Atwater coach Jason Boesch, who made no attempt to hide his sarcasm. “I’m heartbroken for you. You went to the tournament and everything.”

Boesch rode his beloved Duke to the championship last year in our annual Marci Stenberg NCAA Bracket Challenge.

And Boesch wonders why I hate Duke.

It took a couple days, but I’m over the snub of the Aztecs and I’m ready to pick a winner. Let’s face it, I’m due. This is the 14th year we’ve done the pool, and I’ve never won it.

Once again, we’ve asked our area basketball coaches to fill out their NCAA men’s basketball brackets to compete with current and former Sun-Star reporters and other media members. We’ll update the standings after each round in the Sun-Star.

I named our pool after former longtime photographer Marci Stenberg because she used to love filling out the bracket and competing against the coaches. She used to get so excited when a team she picked won.

There is no money on the line (thankfully), just bragging rights. And believe me, these coaches love to brag.

Since I’ve never won, I’ll save you from my advice.

Instead, we turn to last year’s winner. I asked Boesch for some tips when filling out the bracket this year.

Here’s what Boesch had to say:

Tip No. 1: Don’t pick upsets.

“We know there are going to be upsets,” Boesch said. “We just don’t know who.”

Tip No. 2: Duke will make it to at least the Sweet 16 (It’s always about Duke with this guy).

“Last year, I was able to role with my Dukies,” Boesch said. “This year, I’m not as confident with them, but they’ll still make the Sweet 16.”

Tip No. 3: He didn’t have a third tip yet.

“Every year is a crapshoot,” Boesch said.

With tips like that, you can clearly see why Boesch won a year ago.

On the other side of the spectrum was former Los Banos coach Joe Barcellos, who tied Buhach Colony coach John Bliss for last place.

“You’re hammering me again? Come on, I thought we put that behind us,” Barcellos said. “I thought you were going to call John Bliss next time you wanted to talk about this.

“I think I paid too much attention to the experts. I think this year, I’ll go with my gut a little more. It can’t be any worse. I don’t think you’ll see as many upsets on my bracket this year.”

A lot of the fun of this pool is watching the competition within the competition, especially the rivalry between Merced College women’s coach Allen Huddleston and Los Banos girls coach Danny Crosby.

“Allen beat me last year, and he definitely let me know about it on Facebook and everywhere else,” Crosby said. “We’ll see how enthusiastic he is this year.”

In our pool, we don’t count the play-in games, so coaches have until the start of games Thursday morning to submit their brackets. The points are doubled in each round.

For what it’s worth, my Final Four is Kansas, Oklahoma, Michigan State and North Carolina, with Michigan State winning it all.

So, if history tells us anything, stay away from those teams. Meanwhile, I’ll be watching my Aztecs in the NIT.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Slowly getting excited for March Madness."