It's my own fault. I should have known better than to trust the Cyclones.
Growing up in Davenport, Iowa, there was one thing I knew for sure: I was an Iowa Hawkeye fan.
Actually, I knew two things. Because I was a Hawkeye fan, I automatically came by the second fact: I hated the Iowa State Cyclones.
It might be a little bit hard for fans in this state to understand the level of the rivalry, since there's really no good foil for the Missouri Tigers inside the state's borders. But in a state where you had the choice of rooting for the Black and Old Gold of the Hawkeyes or the Cardinal and Gold of the Cyclones, you picked one and hated the other.
But now that I've lived more of my years on this planet inside the borders of Missouri after spending the first 18 in Iowa, I must have forgotten that fact. That's the only way I can explain my decisions last week when it came to filling out my bracket for the NCAA Tournament.
I must have been way too enamored of the way Iowa State used late-game rally after late-game rally to storm to the Big 12 Tournament championship, because I had way too much faith in them when it came to the NCAAs.
Picking the Cyclones to win their first game, against UAB, came easy. After that, the floodgates opened.
Winning in the Round of 32? Sure.
Dropping Gonzaga in the Sweet 16? You bet.
Posting a win in their Elite Eight matchup with Duke? Of course.
Beating Michigan State in the Final Four to earn a spot in the national championship game? It seemed like another no-brainer.
It turns out I was the one with no brains, because the tournament was roughly three hours old when my bracket - with its national championship pairing between Iowa State and Kentucky - got blown up.
Those Cardiac Cyclones, who had mastered the art of the comeback in the Big 12, were a big dud in the Big Dance. Just two games into the tourney, I had already lost one of my two finalists.
Don't get me wrong. UAB, a 14 seed, played great and deserved to win. The Blazers racked up tons of offensive rebounds to make Iowa State, a 3 seed, pay for its aversion to playing tough defense. Still, with roughly 1 1/2 minutes left, the Cyclones were in control of their fate, holding a four-point lead. But it wasn't to be.
Part of me was extremely happy for the Blazers, seeing as how former Rock Bridge Bruin Nick Norton is the starting point guard for UAB.
Norton's dad, Randy, is the women's coach at UAB and early in his coaching career, he spent 14 years as the boys basketball coach at Assumption High School in Davenport, my alma mater, winning a pair of state championships during his tenure.
So while I was happy for the Norton family, it was kind of crushing to know I could shove my bracket into my desk drawer so soon into the first full day of action.
But it did serve as a reminder of why I love the NCAA Tournament. Thursday was a magical day for upsets, with a different 14 seed (Georgia State) beating another 3 seed from the Big 12 Conference in Baylor. Then you have another 3 seed (Northeastern) putting a big scare into a 14 (Notre Dame) before falling by four, and a different 14 seed (Harvard) losing by just two points to another 3 (North Carolina).
A total of four upsets in Thursday's 16 games more than made up for just one lower-seeded team winning on Friday.
So what do you do when your bracket gets busted so early on? Start rooting for the underdogs, naturally. And along those lines, start rooting hard for anyone to upset seemingly unstoppable Kentucky.
And what else do you do? Remember to never, ever, ever put your faith in the Cyclones when you're a Hawkeye.