March Mendacity
A guy like me should never have 16 teams left in the Sweet Sixteen. In fact, nobody should. Hell, Barack Obama is kind of a busy guy and even he managed to get 14 right.
A word that can never be associated with something branded as "madness" is "predictability," yet here we are.
There were precisely one "upset" in the second round of this year's NCAA Men's Basketball tournament.
One.
Perdue beat Washington, but it wasn't that much of an upset seeing as it was a #5 seed over a #4. There is lower ranked team still left alive -12th seed Arizona made it past upstart Cleveland State. But Arizona's ranking is out of whack considering they have two players on their roster who are both projected 1st round NBA draft picks and as a program they are set to tie the record for all-time tournament entry bids next year.
Otherwise, everyone who should have made it on paper - did. For the first time since the seeding process started in 1979, all of the #1, #2 and #3 seeds advanced and two #4's are still alive as well.
If you were a bit of a bore and kept most of the favorites in your pool, you probably think you may have a shot this year. The problem is, you (and I) are not alone. As I mentioned, on my CBS bracket, I have all of those 16 teams remaining.
That only leaves me in 87,112th place.
Why is that? Seriously, what kind of tourney is this? The first round was more like the first week of U.S. Open tennis than anything close to "madness."
Well, it's all due to the NCAA tournament selection committee.
Not much was made of it at the time, but for reasons that today appear kookoo for coconuts, they left out a ton of the potential Cinderella's and instead weighted the thing heavily in favor of the major conferences. Only four mid-majors were given at-large berths. The other thirty slots were filled with the likes of seven teams from the Big Ten. Only two of those teams remain, Michigan State and Purdue. Couldn't any of those five spots been left out for, say, St. Mary's or San Diego State? Or everyone's favorite from recent tourney history, George Mason?
But no, they went for the big schools in the best slots leaving us with what many are calling, "March Blandness."
The thing is, true Cinderella's are exciting but it's not like they ever win the whole enchilada. At #8, Villanova remains the lowest seed to ever win when they upset Georgetown in 1985. That was amazing, but Villanova were an established program and didn't have that "out of nowhere" cred. George Mason, the Cinderella poster boy, did make it to the Final Four in 2006 - and then got slaughtered by the eventual champion Florida 73-58.
This weekend's Sweet 16 is different. Only the highest ranked made it leaving us with the lamentable task of watching only the best teams with the best shots left fighting for the title.
Looking at it that way, what's with all the complaining?
No real huge underdogs in any of the eight games, all fighting on neutral courts. Put in those terms, for the NCAA purists, it's more like sports Mecca than mundane.
The only problem is, the majority of March Madness's audience are tuning in for the craziness, not the actual basketball. For casual fan, what's the hook?
Following consensus #1 Blake Griffin, and Oklahoma?
Focusing on Tarheel Ty Lawson's toe?
Nope. For the casual fan it's all about the pools - because that early round predictability means there are hundreds of thousands still in this thing.
And who knows? If the games go just right, many of us can get to say, for probably the only time in our lives, we're better than President Barack Obama.
At least at something.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
A guy like me should never have 16 teams left in the Sweet Sixteen. In fact, nobody should. Hell, Barack Obama is kind of a busy guy and even he managed to get 14 right.
A word that can never be associated with something branded as "madness" is "predictability," yet here we are.
There were precisely one "upset" in the second round of this year's NCAA Men's Basketball tournament.
One.
Perdue beat Washington, but it wasn't that much of an upset seeing as it was a #5 seed over a #4. There is lower ranked team still left alive -12th seed Arizona made it past upstart Cleveland State. But Arizona's ranking is out of whack considering they have two players on their roster who are both projected 1st round NBA draft picks and as a program they are set to tie the record for all-time tournament entry bids next year.
Otherwise, everyone who should have made it on paper - did. For the first time since the seeding process started in 1979, all of the #1, #2 and #3 seeds advanced and two #4's are still alive as well.
If you were a bit of a bore and kept most of the favorites in your pool, you probably think you may have a shot this year. The problem is, you (and I) are not alone. As I mentioned, on my CBS bracket, I have all of those 16 teams remaining.
That only leaves me in 87,112th place.
Why is that? Seriously, what kind of tourney is this? The first round was more like the first week of U.S. Open tennis than anything close to "madness."
Well, it's all due to the NCAA tournament selection committee.
Not much was made of it at the time, but for reasons that today appear kookoo for coconuts, they left out a ton of the potential Cinderella's and instead weighted the thing heavily in favor of the major conferences. Only four mid-majors were given at-large berths. The other thirty slots were filled with the likes of seven teams from the Big Ten. Only two of those teams remain, Michigan State and Purdue. Couldn't any of those five spots been left out for, say, St. Mary's or San Diego State? Or everyone's favorite from recent tourney history, George Mason?
But no, they went for the big schools in the best slots leaving us with what many are calling, "March Blandness."
The thing is, true Cinderella's are exciting but it's not like they ever win the whole enchilada. At #8, Villanova remains the lowest seed to ever win when they upset Georgetown in 1985. That was amazing, but Villanova were an established program and didn't have that "out of nowhere" cred. George Mason, the Cinderella poster boy, did make it to the Final Four in 2006 - and then got slaughtered by the eventual champion Florida 73-58.
This weekend's Sweet 16 is different. Only the highest ranked made it leaving us with the lamentable task of watching only the best teams with the best shots left fighting for the title.
Looking at it that way, what's with all the complaining?
No real huge underdogs in any of the eight games, all fighting on neutral courts. Put in those terms, for the NCAA purists, it's more like sports Mecca than mundane.
The only problem is, the majority of March Madness's audience are tuning in for the craziness, not the actual basketball. For casual fan, what's the hook?
Following consensus #1 Blake Griffin, and Oklahoma?
Focusing on Tarheel Ty Lawson's toe?
Nope. For the casual fan it's all about the pools - because that early round predictability means there are hundreds of thousands still in this thing.
And who knows? If the games go just right, many of us can get to say, for probably the only time in our lives, we're better than President Barack Obama.
At least at something.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
