On Friday, March 18, 2005, No.3 Kansas was upset by No.14 Bucknell, and No.4 Syracuse was upset by No.13 Vermont in the 2005 men?s NCAA Tournament. Both of the upsets were the first major shocks in this year?s tournament to go along with No.5 Alabama?s first round loss to No.12 Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

These games have left some people joyous over the unpredictability of March Madness, while it has some already throwing away their hard-thought brackets. For me, just watching the little guys pull out these victories beats out my concerns for my personal brackets.

What do these type games mean though?

Kansas is not supposed to lose to Bucknell. Kansas has the ?cream of the crop? in terms of recruiting each year and has been a basketball powerhouse for decades.

They entered this year?s tournament on a slight down note, but were still recognized as a legitimate pick to possibly be the national champions at the end of the tournament.

Where is Bucknell even located? I don?t know? do you?

That?s my point, how can one begin to explain such a puzzling upset?

Then you take a look at Vermont beating tournament dangerous Syracuse, which is led by Jim Boeheim, one of the all time great coaches with 700-plus wins.

This Syracuse team had extremely high expectations going into this year?s tournament. They have two of the best players in the country in Hakim Warrick and Gerry McNamara. Warrick could be the best player in the nation in my opinion, and just reminds me of Phoenix Suns NBA star Amare Stoudemire every time I watch a Syracuse game.

The Orange also were peaking just at the right time of the year. Yet none of this seemed to matter when Vermont came out and got their first ever NCAA Tournament win.

So what is the deal with these types of upsets today?

Some would point to the fact that today?s college game is terribly watered down. With all of the guys jumping out of college early for the NBA draft, and some high schoolers by-passing college all together, perhaps there isn?t the same consistency in the level of play in men?s college basketball.

Programs such as Kansas and Syracuse once were able to get the best recruits and groom them to be senior superstars. Now, many of these big time programs bring in guys knowing they might only have them on the team for one or two years.

Then there are the star high school players who, after committing to a major basketball program like Kansas or Syracuse, ditch them to go for the millions of dollars they can make in the NBA.

That?s what happened to Duke.

Look at the Blue Devils this year? While they are a solid No.1 seed in the tournament, there is still something very different about Coach K?s team this year compared to other year. That difference is a lack of depth, which they lost when players jumped to the NBA early and a top recruit decided to go play in the NBA.

Another reason the NCAA is watered down is because it is almost impossible to stock pile talent onto your roster in college basketball anymore.

Why? Because there is a shortage of great players being replaced by less consistent and worse players.

So, while we watch some big-time teams like Kansas and Syracuse fall early, perhaps we should not compare them to their teams from 5, 10 or 15 years ago, since that was such a different era in the game back then.

Today when we look at these teams, often a Keith Langford or a Hakim Warrick, paired with a great coach like Bill Self or Jim Boeheim, automatically equals a championship contender in our minds.

Perhaps, though, a more well-rounded team like Wisconsin-Milwaukee or Bucknell, which has more depth, is actually the better team these days.

However, none of this makes a strong case for teams like Kansas or Syracuse to fall to mid-majors, but it does perhaps offer some insight as to why these upsets occur.

Just by looking over the next rounds match-ups after this weekend?s games, it looks as though there could be another string of upsets to go along with the ones that have happened so far.

So put down your brackets and office pools aside, and cheer for the underdogs.