The Front Row with Jason Elliott March 24, 2010

After the first weekend of the NCAA men's tournament, it seems as though my "March Madness" has turned itself into some "March Sadness" with my overall champion Kansas dropping out of the running last Saturday.

Either it is the parity of college basketball or the underdogs getting the best of the big guys everyone once in a while.

NORTH IDAHO College held a nine-point lead in its opening-round game against Monroe, but could not hold the advantage and ended up losing 63-58 to fall into the consolation bracket. The Cardinals went on to win the next two days to play for the consolation championship last week, but were unable to capture one more win in a 73-61 loss to Copiah-Lincoln of Mississippi on Saturday.

Had the Cardinals held on to win their first game, who knows what could have happened. The team has made the trip to nationals in two straight years with completely different rosters.

It is safe to say that with most of the roster returning intact next season, the third time could be the charm.

Eastern Utah's men placed third in the nation, following up its upset win over North Idaho in the Region 18 tournament.

If the NJCAA tournament went the same way as big brother's, there is a chance that the Cardinal men could have advanced to nationals as an at-large team, and from that point, who knows.

You could have seen the same situation as with the volleyball national title game where two teams from Region 18 (Salt Lake and Southern Idaho) competed in the title match.

LAST YEAR, I picked North Carolina to win the NCAA tournament and the Tar Heels beat everyone in their path on the way to a national title over Michigan State at Ford Field in Detroit.

This year, three of the four in the Final Four are sitting at home as UNC and Connecticut both played in the NIT, Michigan State is into the Sweet 16 and Villanova lost to Omar Samhan and Saint Mary's in a second-round upset in Providence.

Chances are, by the weekend, none of them teams will be dancing anymore.

MAYBE IT was the overwhelming feeling that Kansas was the best team in the nation, considering the Jayhawks were the No. 1 seed, but since they lost to Northern Iowa, my picks are starting to plummet.

On the bright side, three of my Final Four picks are still alive (Duke, Kansas State and Kentucky), but since I didn't have Gonzaga getting past Syracuse (whoops), my chances of winning this year are probably slim and none.

But considering that half of my friends within my pool also took Kansas, maybe making a pick such as Murray State over Vanderbilt wasn't such a bad idea.

Not picking Washington, Cornell or Purdue to win a single game in this year's tournament, that is where I've lost.

All these teams advanced to the Sweet 16 and are in the process of taking my bracket and tearing it to shreds.

Parity, good for basketball. Bad for a bracket pool.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached via telephone at 664-8176 ext. 2020 or by e-mail at jelliott@cdapress.com.