With 68 teams on the men’s side and 64 on the women’s, it’s time for NCAA Division I March Madness. Full disclosure, you don’t want to take any of my picks as I’m a well-known bracket buster. Now, I have picked St. John’s to win it all. There’s just something about that ’80s team with Chris Mullin that never made it over the hump and now Head Coach Rick Pitino is there working his magic. I usually have an ACC or SEC or what used to be the PAC 10 bias with North Carolina, my Rebels and UCLA getting lots of love in my brackets. But Ole Miss’s incredible run crashed out in the semis and they are home looking for NIL money to bring in some talent. At least, I hope they are out shopping.
There is a Mississippi team that’s in March Madness, the NAIA version. Rust College in Holly Springs put up a 14-17 record but won the 2026 HBCUAC Championship Game against Talladega, 67-60, to put them in the NAIA Big Dance. They traveled to Tennessee to take on Freed-Hardeman but lost in the first round. One brief shining moment.
March Madness fever and the Survive and Advance mindset are fun to be a part of on any level from high school to each and every division of college play. But the tough part is that only one team goes home happy in the end of all the 64 (or 68) that begin the journey. I’ve never been on the court for that last win from high school to college and beyond. And as a reporter having to take photos and talk to those whose heart and dream has been shattered is always the worst day on the job. The post-game press conference where reporters are dissecting every move a losing coach made is just wrong on so many levels. Let them say a few things with dignity and go back to the locker room and console their players. After an off-the-wall question like, “How will the team that just beat you do against the XYZ team they’ll face in the next round?” came one of the best comebacks I’ve ever heard.
At Western Kentucky, after those god-awful Hilltoppers took down my Lady Rebels to advance to the Final Four, a reporter asked just such a question. And Lady Rebels Head Coach Van Chancellor opened up.
“That’s one of the most asinine questions you could ask me right now,” Coach Chancellor said.
He was right and I’ve never forgotten the moment and I’ve always kept my mouth shut mostly in those post-game spots. Get a decent quote or two from the losing coach, give some congrats and get the story done and hope for a better next season where you Survive and Advance beyond the previous year.
The only cure for March Madness is winning. And only one team gets that magic pill while the rest are tormented with the loss.
