NCAA Basketball Tournament 2014: Why do we like the underdog?

Taken from WIKIPEDIA and NCAA.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament)

"An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules." - 2 Timothy 2:5

Hello,

It's March Madness and the stakes have never been higher as we prepare for "The Big Dance." 68 teams are getting ready to compete for the title of the nation's best collegiate men's and women's basketball teams.

Last year, we had one of the most exciting tournaments to ever take place. We had a lot of firsts, our fair share of upsets, and a gruesome injury that silenced the tournament.

Last year's big upsets

Midwest Regional - Round 2 - 12 Oregon: 68 - 5 Oklahoma State: 55

Midwest Regional - Round 3 - 12 Oregon: 74 - 4 Saint Louis: 57

South Regional - Round 2 - 11 Minnesota: 83 - 6 UCLA: 63

South Regional - Round 2 - 15 Florida-Gulf Coast: 78 - 2 Georgetown: 68
(7th win by a 15 over a 2)

South Regional - Round 3 - 15 Florida-Gulf Coast: 81 - 7 San Diego State: 71
(First time a 15-seed has made the Regional Semifinal)

East Regional - Round 2 - 12 California: 64 - 5 UNLV: 61

West Regional - 9 seed Wichita State making the Final Four? How about that?

West Regional - Round 2 - 14 Harvard: 68 - 3 New Mexico: 62
(17th win by 14 over a 3)

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But what marred the tournament was Kevin Ware of Louisville, he suffered an extremely gruesome injury that silenced the crowd, made players vomit, and was reminiscent of Joe Theismann's career ending injury. It was so terrifying, CBS only showed the replay once. The bone just burst out of his leg. Players were praying, crying, and it just brought both teams together at center court because they were so worried about him. I was too. You never wish any bad luck on anyone and that was something that would scare even the elderly and current athletes.

Ware got an incredible amount of support from everyone around him and I'm guessing his twitter blew up with a lot of support.

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But why is it: That we love the underdog, the no-name colleges trying to make a buck, why is it that we continue to support them? It's easy, we love seeing David slay Goliath.

Last year, 15th seed FGCU, who was a complete nobody in the NCAA championship tournament, was the feel-good story of the league tournament. Led by coach Andy Enfield who was propelled to national stardom because of his leadership, wife, fame from JHU, and the team led by guard Sherwood Brown. In their first game, the Vegas line refused to even put a line down because FGCU was supposed to get crushed.

But you know what, when I watched the game, all I saw was a nobody school drop a powerful school that produced greats like Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning, and Reggie Williams. FGCU turned into the feel-good story of the league.

But they weren't done yet... FGCU again, an underdog, made headlines again by making it to the sweet sixteen with an 81-71 shocker over the SDSU Aztecs. It made lower seeds believe that they could knock off the big dudes of the NCAA.

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Are we due for a 16 seed to beat a 1? Absolutely, the day is coming. Despite the 1 seed's 116-0 record. The day will come when a 16-seed will shock the world, be the feel-good story of the NCAA tournament, twitters and facebooks blowing up with followers and friend requests.

A few 16 seeds have COME very close to winning and I do mean VERY CLOSE.

Murray State in 1990 took a game vs. Michigan State in OT, and despite losing by 4 points, they remain the only #16 seed to take a team into overtime. They lost 75-71

Towson in 1990 did pretty darn good too vs. Oklahoma, they only lost 77-68 to Oklahoma. Oklahoma seemed to have been overwhelmed by the speed and quickness of the Towson roster

East Tennessee State only lost by 1 to Oklahoma in 1989, 72-71

Princeton also only lost by 1 to Georgetown in 1989, 50-49

Western Carolina lost by 2 to Purdue in 1996, 73-71

But why do we like the 9 and lower seeds plus the no name colleges that make it because it sparks the national interest of newspapers, brings in interest from students in high school, and also increases the school's revenues.

We like seeing the underdog win because it's so great. It's nice to see the nobody win.

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This year's field looks to be pretty modest and lots of upset potential in many games. All of which will be decided very soon as the tournament prepares to open up.

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~ Joshua