Punching their Tickets to the Dance: Drake, Stetson, Longwood. Who? Where?

    Oh, yeah. And Morehead State, which is somewhere in Kentucky.

Drake beat Indiana State, which is a blow to Terre Haute fans and Indiana folks. Oh, Drake, wherefore art thou? 

    I looked it up in in my Lindy's Sports mag, purchased hopefully last fall. Des Moines, Iowa. I used to know that... I knew that! Like Butler is to Indy, or Belmont to Nashville, or something. Way to go, Drake. Crush the Sycamores for another decade, after finally making it to the top 25 for the first time since Larry Bird in 1979. The Missouri Valley Conference, by the way.

    Stetson. South Carolina, perhaps? Uhhh... Deland, Florida? The Atlantic Sun Conference. They were picked to finish in the top 2 to 4. Not bad... Still got to find out what their mascot is. They have a stud son of a former NBA baller, Blackmon..

    And where in Florida is Deland? It would be there where there is not so much Dewater, I suppose. Of course, we know that Florida pretty much has water every where you turn.

    Longwood! The Lancers! I know that this is the back Appalachian type way of southwest Virginia. They won the ... which conference? Lessee... The Big South Conference, of course. I knew some people who attended schools in this one.

    The name of the town is Longwood, I thin... Now, to get a map or geolocator!

    These might be the schools slaying the giants of hardwood in a few short weeks!

    PS: My formerly stinky Hoosiers eked out a win over Michigan State today. By a seven foot whisker.

    And March will move on, with more automatic qualifiers from little-known towns and areas and conferences. Long live the game, love the game.

    And perhaps the Sycamores of Vigo County, Indiana will have a respectable enough resume to be invited instead of automatically qualled. Ya never know.

    The Madness leaves us wondering.

    Maybe even the Boilermakers can win something nationally for once, since before World War II when they created this NCAA tournament.

    Basketball.