Derrick Tuskan, Photo Editor

Despite San Diego State’s gut-wrenching loss in the first round to Indiana on Thursday, this year’s NCAA Tournament has been one of the best in recent memory.

I got so carried away with March Madness that I actually spent four minutes viewing game action from the women’s bracket before I realized what I was watching. More on this later.

The rest of the nation apparently agrees with me, as the ratings for March Madness (the men’s version) have been through the roof – the highest since 1997.

Some sports commentators believe it’s because the two best players (Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison and Duke’s J.J. Redick) in the Tournament are white. I, on the other hand, say it’s because www.facebook.com has a free March Madness pool.

The NCAA may have gotten the field right for basketball, but some people (Canadians) are up in arms about the selection for the NCAA Hockey Tournament.

In a surprise move, the NCAA left out defending hockey national champion Denver when it announced the brackets for the Road to the Frozen Four.

The NCAA released a statement yesterday explaining that this is payback to the state of Colorado for Air Force getting in as a 13th seed in the Big Dance.

This whole month seems to be about rankings. The World Tennis Association just released its latest standings, with Amelie Maueresmo taking the No. 1 spot in the world from Kim Clijsters.

Of course, these were also skewed. Everyone knows that the real No. 1 is Maria Sharapova, followed closely by Anna Kournikova at No. 2 and Billie Jean King at No. 3.

In other news, the Miami Heat’s Shaquille O’Neal and the Detroit Pistons’ Richard Hamilton were tagged with $5,000 fines – O’Neal for a flagrant foul and Hamilton after he was ejected.

Meanwhile, Morrison has appealed his fine for having the world’s worst mustache.

Speaking of the world’s worst, the four minutes of women’s basketball I watched this weekend included Candace Parker’s “amazing” dunk.

Correction: “dunk.”

I’m really tired of hearing people say that Parker’s dunk is going to revolutionize the women’s game. First of all, calling that a dunk is like calling Easy Cheese food. Sure, technically it counts, but come on.

I guess it was a dunk in certain technical terms, but I’m pretty sure any high school player could have thrown that down with ease.

(Somewhere Josh Smith is nodding, and women’s rights activists are searching for my address on Google.)

I’m off to make sure the Freedom of Information Act doesn’t include addresses.

-Devin Kunysz is an accounting junior and assistant sports editor of The Daily Aztec

-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec