My beloved alma mater bowed out of March Madness in the first round.

Bye-bye, Maryland Terrapins, to this campaign that began with so much promise. Now that 20-2 record carved by junior guard Melo Trimble and the trio of surprising freshmen – Anthony Cowan, Kevin Huerter and Justin Jackson – is nothing but a historical footnote. Best start ever. The fall as a six-seed to 11th-seed Xavier came while I was bowling Thursday night, sneaking looks at the screen behind us. Ouch.

My hometown Syracuse Orange wasn’t even good enough to make the NCAA Tournament, losing in the first round of the ACC Tournament to fall to 18-14 and end up on the down side of all that bubble talk, earning instead a top seed in the NIT. We’re No. 69! OK, not even. Not after a second-round loss to Ole Miss.

My dear wife Karen and I filled out our brackets in Steve’s pool as is our annual tradition with great anticipation nevertheless.

After round one, we were not riding high this year.

Better than mine.

Worse than most.

Karen had more possible victories remaining than I do. I did not pick Maryland to win the whole darn thing, by the way. Kansas was my choice. But with 173 folks ahead of me after round one … Karen also picked Kansas, and we did not talk about our choices beforehand. She only had 91 players ahead of her …

And we fell more behind after the second round. I now stand in 222nd place. Karen looks positively brilliant up there in 108th.

If you’re in a bracket pool, how are you doing?