March Madness is usually one of the most exciting times of the year in the entire sporting world. The first weekend alone is such a big deal the Vanderbilt wireless network nearly crashed in one of my classes because so many people were trying to watch the games online.

One of the best parts of March Madness is that it gives people a chance to fill out their brackets and join pools with their friends and coworkers to play for bragging rights and often, money.

But something is different this year. The tournament has been exceedingly boring, as there have not really been any huge upsets. For the first time ever, the top three seeds in all four regions made it to the Sweet Sixteen. It is not very fun to make bracket picks when the guesswork has been all but taken out of the process.

In my pool, my friends and I are losing to my own girlfriend, who needed me to explain to her what it meant for a team to have a higher seed.

But this is not an isolated incident.

Look online at the national standings in various bracket pools, and the leader board is chock full of people who basically picked their winners by which teams had the higher seed.

This sort of scenario takes all the magic out of March Madness, as there is a dearth of "Cinderella" teams that make improbable runs through the tournament and capture the hearts of a nation.

March Madness always makes for great television, but this year, it is devoid of any great stories. Sports fans like to adopt underdogs once their own teams have been eliminated from the tournament. But without any real underdogs (no, I do not count Arizona as an underdog just because they are a No. 12 seed), I expect interest in the later rounds to flag, leading to lower ratings.

Order has been restored within the college basketball power hierarchy with all the top teams still in contention. But that is not a good thing when it comes to the magical world of March Madness.