Marching through the Madness

The Bruins, Tar heels, Hoosiers and the Huskies will be spectators later this week when the first steps are taken at the dance. These basketball dynasties have 23 titles amongst them and North Carolina will not get a chance to repeat from last year’s title. All four will be wishing for a Genie while watching the North Texas Mean Green, the Vermont Catamounts, and the Murray State Racers grind through the weekend looking for their glass slipper before the clock strikes twelve.

The Yard will make our prognostications on Thursday. Last year, Spuddy took our Wednesday recommendations all the way to the winner’s circle in the Yard pool. The Yard pool is not a radio game show. Management can win! If BYU could win a first round game, then the Yard wins the prize last year.

You are on your own Spudmeister. 1 Gator is still trying to find the magic after winning the inaugural Yard pool. Raja Gogo is a mysterious 320 pound creature who makes illogical picks but has finished ahead of his Yardness the last year he participated. Rbenton will fire up the trash talk and has finished in the money almost every year. In two weeks the ardent will separate from the beguiled. We will all be blessed with a slice of Americana that buys our daily allegiance to the likes of Sienna, Old Dominion and Cornell. A story that will persevere will become our common history.

After the Sunday selection show, Dick Vitale was outraged that Virginia Tech did not get in and Wake Forest did. Neither team was going to win more than one game so easy there Dickie V. There has never been a bubble team that got into the tournament and won the whole thing or even won a first round game. No 16 seed has ever won a first round game. Only four 15 seeds have won one a single game and none have won two games in tournament history. If the event was expanded to 96 as some have suggested this year, the Big East would have had 13 teams in the tournament.

There only 8-10 schools who have a real shot at winning any year. Bringing more teams into the madness enlarges the pool but not the talent. Schools are unhappy being left out and their fans are outraged. But who is happier than Arkansas-Pine Bluff who will be dancing after opening the season 0-11? The Golden Lions earned their first tournament bid in school history. They get one game with Winthrop with the winner playing Duke. Those are tournament threads of a 65 team tournament story from the heart and the land.

Why are the major powers struggling this year? Why do the mid-majors get more teams in each year? The “one and done” rules of college hoops are hurting the majors and helping the mids. The NCAA and the NBA should allow anyone who is talented enough to go directly to the NBA to go directly to the NBA. Do not pass go, do not spend a year in the dorms, do not put your school on NCAA probation. Forcing them to play one year of college basketball is not fair to the school or the player. Basketball should embrace baseball’s rules. If you show up for class as a freshman, you are there until your junior year. If you are good enough to play in the NBA instead of going to college, have at it. If you go to college for a year then you stay a minimum of three. There is some discussion that is unfair to the player but it has been very effective for baseball.

The problem with the “one and done” is that these kids are already done before they enroll. They barely go to class, they check out after the basketball season and have an entourage with at least one AAU coach who is being paid for more than coaching. Many of these AAU types have been hanging on to this freshman since he was twelve. He is their meal ticket that they can deliver to an agent and get their pay day. For the freshman, only playing one year, he takes chances with the rules because by the time the NCAA finds out, he is in the NBA and the school is the one left vacating the season.

It is rare that anyone gets caught in the act of accepting illegal incentives. It is later when the infighting begins and depositions are being taken that the stories come out. By then, the player is wealthy, the AAU coach has his new ride, and the school loses scholarships and money. Kentucky head coach John Calipari has vacated more Final Four berths than most coaches have earned. It has never cost Johnny a nickel or a scholarship. Calipari is the coach of the year when it comes to the one and done kids. He creates a home for them and their AAU coach. He might get to the Final Four this year and Kentucky might vacate it next year.

The traditional powers attract these kids because of the dance. There is no better exposure for your NBA resume. Since no one is sure who will stay and for how long, recruiting gets hurt year over year. The feast of athletic youth leads to the famine of constant inexperience when the talent leaves. North Carolina saw their entire starting line-up go pro and finished last in the ACC this season. The mid-majors got four at large bids last year. They received ten this year. Is it an anomaly or a trend? Kids that go to mid-major schools play basketball usually graduate. When you read about them in the USA today special insert, they are discussed as senior laden or experienced teams. The kids stay and end up playing together for years not months. Exceptional talent can take over a five person game. Experienced teams win when youthful talent has an off night. Eighteen year olds do that under pressure.

The NCAA tournament is best sporting event of the year. Everyone likes Kansas but everyone liked Memphis in 2008 when Kansas won. Kentucky is talented but young. Duke has all of the talented white kids…again. West Virginia has snarky Bob Huggins and a Big East Title. Villanova was getting their brains beat in the Big East but could flip the switch in the tournament. One or two 12 seeds will win one or two games. A six foot point guard will weave through traffic with seconds remaining to win a game that will resonate across America. A fifth year senior will shed tears while the seconds tick off the last basketball game he will ever play that matters. We will feel the joy and the pain.
There is a link to the Yard pool on the blog site. There are free pools on Yahoo and ESPN. Put some skin in the game, saddle up a Cinderella, and get busy…tick tock, tick tock…