Bracket Body Count Mounts; Here's the First Batch of Busters

Other than completely screwing up my bracket, there is a common theme among the latest batch of bracket busters.

They went into their game swinging and didn’t stop.

More upsets are inevitable, but let's give kudos to the teams that have severly raised the body count of dashed office pool dreams:

Ole Miss .. The Rebels are one of the few teams that won their way in, their body of work this season confirmed their place in teh Dance, and when the ball went up, Mississippi certainly did a number on Wisconsin. The Rebels are riding a six-game winning streak, thanks to some high intensity play, in direct contrast to Wisconsin's slow, monotonous, predictable game plan.

La Salle ... The Explorers from the city of brotherly love had to beat Boise State in the play-in game known in politcally correct circles as the 'first round.' That victory gave them the privilege of being paired against Kansas State, who finished tied for first in the Big 12 and advanced to the conference tournament's championship game. That went well. LaSalle is now 2-0 in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1955. It's a shame their next opponent is fellow upstart Mississippi. (It was a good year for Philadelphia's Big Five, with three teams -- the Explorers, Villanova, and Temple -- getting to dance. Only Penn and St Joseph's were wallflowers.)

Harvard ... Not even the Crimson's brightest minds gave their school's team a chance to do anything at the Dance. As far as I know, my brother is the only one who had the men of Havaaahd beating New Mexico. But then again, he basis his bracket on academic prestige. Still, this isn't the College Bowl. They should be due for some lovely parting gifts any moment now.

Florida Gulf Coast University ... If nothing else, there's no doubting this school's location. Some hoops fans have been paying attention, as this was actually somewhat of a popular pick in terms of upsets. The Eagles had already beaten a Number 2 seed this season; FGCU topped Miami back in November. While they fell to all other competent non-conference opponents after that, the Eagles' fight was never in question.

It definitely isn't now.