This has been one of the most exciting weekends of college basketball in recent memory. Over the last few days, the number of edge-of-your-seat, too-close-to-call, down-to-the-wire thrillers has been unbelievable. With the omnipresent war looming over every aspect of our lives, the tournament has been a delightful diversion.

On Friday, Butler pulled off a miracle and upset Mississippi State, a team that many predicted would advance deep into the tournament. Despite harsh criticism by experts like Dick Vitale (and me, for that matter), Auburn knocked off St. Joe’s in overtime. In one of the ugliest games of the tournament, ninth-ranked Utah held on against an inconsistent Oregon team despite losing Britton Johnsen to mono and having a trio of players foul out. And in the game of the day, Maryland showed why they are defending champs by overcoming UNC-Wilmington on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Drew Nicholas.

Yesterday, Gonzaga and Arizona played the best game I’ve seen all year, a double-overtime thriller that proved to me that both ‘Zona and the Zags are the proverbial real deal. Wisconsin’s two teams were both involved in amazing games as well. Marquette got all it could handle against Missouri and had to rely on some clutch shooting to force the game into overtime. The Badgers came from behind and beat Tulsa on a last-second three by Freddie Owens, a Junior from Milwaukee.

It would have been hard to believe that Saturday could match Friday’s level of suspense and intensity, but it did. The announcers on CBS have often commented over the last several days that “these games don’t matter in light of the conflict with Iraq”. I beg to differ. This tournament is filled with stories of perseverance, overcoming hardship, and succeeding against all odds. In short, it is emblamatic of all the things that we want humanity to be. Young people putting all they have into a competition that they care passionately about are not “heroes,” but they are representatives of non-violent competition and sportsmanship. Sure, there are “bad apples” in every activity and professional basketball has more than its share. But this tournament, despite all of its commercialism and big money, is sure a lot of fun. And that, unlike the invasion of Iraq, is a reason that I am proud to be an American.