March Madness is right around the corner.

College football is over, yeah I know its been over a month; that doesn't mean I'm not already nostalgic.  An incredible Super Bowl has been played and now its time to turn focus to college basketball, and soon March Madness will be under way.  March Madness is one of the top sports tournaments around and produces intense games and fans.  Fortunately, Salt Lake City gets the tournament every few years, with the West Regionals (3rd and 4th rounds) coming in 2010.  With this, I, family and friends have been able to see some incredible games, here are a few that come to mind:

• In 2003, Kyle Korver's Creighton BlueJays playing a very good second half, but falling short in the end.  I remember Korver being an incredible shot during that game and was very pleased when the Jazz brought him for another scoring option.  (For some reason, I remembered incorrectly that he played for the Vermont Catamounts, who also played that day... good thing I researched this a little bit.)
• Also in 2003, Arizona/Gonzaga's, 2nd round, 2OT game that had the entire arena standing and cheering for last 5 minutes of regulation and both OT's.  More incredibly, I would say even with the relatively close proximity to both schools I remember the crowd was locals cheering for the underdog Gonzaga.
• UNLV's 1990 Championship run started in Salt Lake.  This team has been dubbed the 'Best' tournament team by Rivals.com.  I was fortunate enough to see this team 4 times over the 1990 and 1991 seasons.  Both 1990 tournament games in Salt Lake, and then the following year when they played Utah State, we traveled both to Logan and Las Vegas to watch this team.  I may be biased, but I completely agree with the article... this team was dominating.  UNLV started the game in Logan on a 16-0 run that included a timeout.  This is significant only because at USU, the fans have the tradition of standing until the Aggies score.  Every UNLV player, including the guards, had a dunk in the game (I don't know why I kept this stat, I think it was because the game was so lopsided).  Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon were awesome to watch.   
• Along with these games in Salt Lake City, I also attended the 2005 Championship Game in St. Louis, between Deron Williams' Fighting Illini and North Carolina.  After this game, I told my brother-in-law that the Jazz HAD to get Deron Williams.  He will probably reluctantly admit to this, due to me reminding him ever since, probably monthly.

Check out ZipCodeSports.com to see if any March Madness games are close to your home town or plan a trip around one.  Also, get your 2008 March Madness Tournament tickets at