NCAA March Madness 2010: The Year of the Underdog or Sign of the Times?

There has been nearly another round of March Madness completed. By the way, how has your bracket held up?

For the teams left standing, the quest from "sweet" to "elite" has come to fruition. 

For the teams that are not, well, there is always next year—right?

One of the squads that were a virtual shoo-in to make it to Indianapolis was Jim Boeheim's Syracuse Orange.

Boeheim's team was dealt the card that a handful of contenders have been given—the injury card (Michigan State, West Virginia and Purdue).

Orange standout Arinze Onuaku's surgically repaired knee must have not been repaired to the extent that his coach had hoped for—and that knee turned out to be a key to 'Cuse's lack of March success.

Onuaku went down in the Big East Tournament, and he failed to partake in the madness of March.

The Orange's meeting with Butler in the Sweet 16 was of a different variety of sweet—bittersweet.

The Horizon League champion Butler Bulldogs disposed of Boeheim's boys in Salt Lake City, 63-59.

Another one bit the proverbial dust, just like the song said. 

The Orange aren't alone, there were other Big East powerhouses that met an early demise.

Georgetown, a potential Elite 8 in most's bracket and No. 3 seed, stumbled when it met No. 14 seed Ohio in the first round.

Greg Monroe and Chris Wright weren't enough to handle the Bobcats, who were shown the door in aggressive fashion by Bruce Pearl's Volunteers in the second round of the melee.

Is this the year of the underdog?

Ask Jay Wright's Villanova Wildcats that question.

The 'Cats were exposed to a healthy dose of St. Mary's College's Omar Samhan last weekend—all 6'11" of him. 'Nova, which was another Final Four contender, was dropped by the Gaels 75-68 courtesy of Samhan's game-high 32 points.

Ouch.

At least the Big East still has Bob Huggins' Mountaineers.

Third-seeded New Mexico didn't live up to its hype, either. The Lobos drew the Huskies of Washington in the round of 32 and were blown out by 18 points.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

And in one of the biggest upsets that college basketball fans will ever witness, the Northern Iowa Panthers; yes, Ben Jacobson's Northern Iowa Panthers, shocked the world last weekend in their 69-67 thriller over Bill Self's heavily-favored overall No. 1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks.

The birds weren't just favored to win that game, they were favored to win the game.

Now, names like Jordan Eglseder and Ali Farokhmanesh have become synonymous with the word "upset." The Panthers will look to continue their "Miracle on the Hardwood" against Tom Izzo's fifth-seeded, hobbling but still standing, Kalin Lucas-less Michigan State Spartans.

Is that duel another Cinderella story in the making, or will the buck stop in the City of the Arch?

Only time will tell. About 40 minutes of it.

Cornell added to the madness' underdog-esque story line in 2010.

Brains vs. Braun: Guys that aced their SATs, against guys that confuse those letters for the abbreviation of Saturday. Young men that did well on their ACTs, against those who think ACT is a body spray.

It happens.

Cornell's roster is full of future six-figure income guys. Guys who will likely develop a cure for diseases, enhance bio-fuel technology or invent useful gadgets to benefit mankind—but in 2010, those guys chose to play iron-clad solid hoops.

The Big Red beat Bo Ryan's fourth-seeded Wisconsin Badgers 87-69, only to be overpowered, but not outplayed by John Calipari's hyper-talented Kentucky Wildcats.

The 'Cats used one of their nine lives, and escaped by a whisker's length (by Kentucky standards) in a low-scoring affair, 62-45. No 50-point blowout there, it was a hard-fought game on both ends.

Coach Cal's roster is full of NBA Lottery Picks, it was bound to happen. However, Cornell had a great run.

Even No. 13 Murray State slipped on its "Cinderella slippers," and danced by No. 4 Vanderbilt by a point, 65-66. The Butler Bulldogs then cut the Racers' party short by a bucket's-margin, 54-52.

Who will be the next to fall?

No. 9 Northern Iowa over No. 5 Michigan State or No. 10 St. Mary's College over No. 3 Baylor?

Those are the only two the madness has left in the underdog department.

As seen on Barking Carnival's "Sparty On" blog.