That first weekend is frenetic. The field of 64 hopefuls, chopped in half and then whittled down by half again for good measure. It’s my favorite four-day span on the sports calendar, a wall-to-wall feast for the college basketball fan. It’s the best, and it’s over now, leaving 16 teams still playing meaningful basketball.
Now the real work begins. This time, these workdays separating beacons of college basketball, is interminable to me. The days drag by, bleeding one into the next while we move ever-so-slowly towards getting to watch our team tip off once again. There’s an anxiousness to watch the Tar Heels take the floor once more, yes, but there’s also that nagging feeling that I should be enjoying this part more.