March Madness has provided thrills and spills but what's next?

March Madness has already lived up to its name

If you want pure, unbridled sporting craziness, then last week’s March Madness had it all. Our US sportswriter Alex Ferguson – who’s still trying to get his breath back – looks at the first four days of the NCAA Championships and previews the next four…

I'm not the only one who put all my focus in on the first day of the NCAA Mens' Basketball Championship last Thursday. According to US TV website MediaPost, 8.8m Americans on average sat down to watch the first two games - 32 games of action, while advertisers spent a tidy $378.9m over the first four days.

And what a bunch of games they had (I should know, I was up watching until around 4.30am on Saturday morning).

We saw stunning endings including a basketball equivalent of a Hail Mary - the half-court shot thrown by Northern Iowa's Paul Jesperson against Texas - and Cincinnati just failing to take their battle with St Joseph's to overtime on a game-tying dunk because they were trying to be too fancy.

Oh, and the wonderful athletes of Baylor were ousted by the slow and steady Wall St bankers of tomorrow at Yale. And Arizona were played out of the building by Wichita State - who lived up to their nickname… the Shockers. Stephen F. Austin, known as the Lumberjacks - chopped down No 3 West Virginia in one of the most painful games for the eyes you'd ever unlikely to see.

Paul Jesperson hits a half court three pointer at the buzzer

But the biggest upset was a stunner. I'd told everyone who would listen to me - including myself - that No 2 Michigan State were a guaranteed win, possibly a guarantee to make the semi-finals. So imagine my jaw hitting the floor when I watched No 15 Middle Tennessee State show no fear whatsoever in downing their bigger, "better" rivals. Such is the madness of March, eh?

Round Two

Remember Stephen F. Austin and Northern Iowa from Round 1? Remember how it couldn't get any crazier for those two sides? Well, remember this isn't called March Madness for nothing. Stephen F. Austin led No 6 Notre Dame 74-73 in a ding-dong battle with just a second left….and lost to a tip-in.

March Madness showcases the new generation of basketball talent

And Northern Iowa? They led mighty Texas A&M by 12 points - the equivalent of a 3-0 lead - in the last 44 seconds of their clash and lost in overtime. And all they had to do was waste time. And they didn't, and instead failed with the sort of suicidal plays that would make your local lemmings guffaw with derision.

You know who else made a joke at their expense? One of the best players in basketball, LeBron James, who said in an ESPN interview that he would probably "quit basketball" after a loss like that.

Oh, and then there was Wisconsin, who beat No 2 Xavier on a last second buzzer-beater with no time left on the clock to mark their dance card for Friday. What is it about Wisconsin beating favoured teams?

North Carolina are touted for future success by View From America

What's happening on Thursday and Friday?

We'd like to point out that March Madness should be renamed March-Complete-And-Total-Insanity, so please don't take my predictions to the bank or SkyBet.

If you do go on my predictions, take Kansas, Virginia and North Carolina - all favourites - to win on Thursday in a three-team accumulator. All three teams have looked good so far this tournament. £5 will win you £12.27 with Sky Bet.