For millions of sports fans in the Western Hemisphere, ?March madness? does not mean Spring Break, or a silly weekend in a TV reality show. It signifies college basketball at its most intense, passionate stages. Several years ago, St John?s College and Felipe Lopez, a boy from the Dominican Republic, made it to ?the big dance?. This year, there are three teams, each with one Dominican star: Louisville and Francisco Garcia; Manhattan College and Luis Flores; and North Carolina State and Dominic Mej?a. Louisville is the highest ranked team, fourth is the East bracket. Manhattan will play Syracuse in a game televised by CBS, and NC State will go up against California in Oklahoma City on Thursday. Luis Flores from Manhattan College is the highest scorer among the teams playing this the NCAA Tournament with a 24.8 scoring average. CNNSI.com featured Flores on its web-site, yesterday. NC State is a #9 seed and Manhattan is a #14.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/college/2003/ncaa_tourney/