The longest presidential campaign in history is off to an immediate bloodbath. Never have two presidents had a rematch in an election. God save us as we have eight months of these two snarling at each other in the press and on television. The Yard is turning our focus to March Madness. The outcome of either event is far from certain. Basketball is much more fun. The Yard does support many forms of escapism, some which are now legal. Our favorite distraction in our history is the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament aka March Madness. Beginning Thursday March 21 @ 9:10 PST, 48 D-1 single elimination games will be played over four days. By Sunday afternoon, it will be down to the Sweet 16. If you don’t know this already, the Yard might not be for you. This event only buys us three weeks of detours. I am hoping the Dodgers come roaring out of the gates and leave The Big BLT and Captain Aviator out of our dreams.
The tournament has never been as wide open as it was this year. Defending champion UCONN is the prohibitive favorite, UCONN has never won any of their five NCAA titles as a prohibitive favorite. The Huskies and coach Hurley are revving their engines and ready to throttle the field on the road to Phoenix. The other three number one seeds all lost their last game before this national diversion. Houston was to be the overall # 1 but come on Kelvin, you can’t lose by 28 on March 16 and be top dog on March 17. In 2023, Purdue was the second number 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson. This calamity had never happened prior to 2018 so the 1-16 game is not such a clear choice in your pool. The Boilermakers are seeking a championship after the agony of 2023. The Virginia Cavaliers won the 2019 title after their first round KO year prior. Possible big Zach and company are ready for that narrative. The Boilers giving up an uncontested layup at the buzzer to Wisconsin and losing the Big Ten Championship game in OT, does not foretell a deep run in my bracket. North Carolina lost to their rivals at NCST, that can happen. The first-round upsets by 16 seeds had never happened and now it has twice. Your bracket always looks good before the games start.
During the National Distraction, one of the bigger stories is Cal State Long Beach sneaking into the dance by winning the Big West tournament. CSULB Dan Monson had been coaching the 49ers since 2007. He did not know this was his last season. With his team mired in a five game losing streak to end the season, CSULB athletics let Monson know this would be his last season. He could coach the team until their final loss. The team has not lost yet and has the mighty Arizona Wildcats next. Coach Monson was an assistant coach at Gonzaga for nearly ten years before he became the head coach in 1997. He was the chief recruiter that convinced talent to come to Spokane and play basketball. Ever been to Spokane during basketball season? The Zags were on the uptick but not of national prominence. That came in 1999 when the 10th seed Zags beat Minnesota, Stanford, and Florida on their way to the Elite Eight. His record was 52-17 in his two seasons as head coach. He was a hot commodity and Minnesota came calling and Monson answered the call. His assistant coach Mark Few took the job and still is leading the program Monson built. Disgraced MN coach Clem Haskins had left the program in NCAA hot water for academic fraud, say what? He hung in there for six seasons of recruiting restrictions and scholarship reductions before he finally resigned in 2006.
Cal State Long Beach in the NCAA men’s tournament was not always a surprise. The 1970-71 49er team was ranked as high as 3rd in the final poll. CSULB was led by their irascible head coach Jerry Tarkanian and sophomore superstar Easy Ed Ratleff. They were an exciting team and fun to watch. Yard as a youth went several times over the years to see them play at the Long Beach Arena. We saw Led Zeppelin there a few times, but the basketball was fun without the haze. Long Beach could have contended for a national championship if the regionals were seeded the way they are today. Back then, they were truly regionals and the west coast teams were in a regional with other western teams. The only teams that made the tournament won their regular season title. There were no season ending tourneys. John Wooden was able to win seven consecutive titles, ten in twelve years because the Bruins won the league title 13 straight times. The 1970-71 USC team was 24-2, ranked as high as #2 in the country and did not get in the dance as Pac-10 runner-up. In the 1970 regional final, Tarkanian had his best chance to unseat the legendary coach. He had a young Ratleff and a rebound machine named George Trapp. UCLA was down 11 midways through the second half and Sidney Wicks was on the bench with 4 fouls. UCLA did what they did back then and pulled out the win 57-55. UCLA shot 29% for the game but they fouled Ratleff out with five to go and that was the difference. CSULB would face UCLA again in the regional finals, but Walton and Company had arrived by then and the outcome was never close again. Tarkanian needed to get away from UCLA and Wooden so took his show out to the desert and UNLV and won a title. Interesting side note, Lute Olsen replaced Tarkanian at CSULB before taking his show to the Arizona desert and won a title. Both coaches had legendary success in their deserts. Go 49ers!
As always, there were teams that got snubbed for the NCAA tournament this year. Not as bad as USC in 1971 but back then there were only 32 teams in the tourney. Now there are 68 with those pesky season ending tournaments that can give a bid to a team that would not have been invited. There are too many alleged snubs to review this year. Saint Johns was one of those snubs. The Johnnys had played well down the stretch and through the first three rounds of the Big East tourney. In the semifinals, they faced the UCONN Huskies and were double digit underdogs. They rocked 90 points against one of the best defenses in the country and covered. The Yard could not ask for much more, especially the cover. Coach Rick Pitino stated publicly he felt the same way. The New Mexico Lobos raced through the Mountain West Tournament and grabbed the guaranteed bid. The Lobos might have gotten in anyways but maybe not. NM Coach Richard Pitino was thrilled with the win. It would be fun if they were both in, but the kid did what was needed, and dad is probably going to the NM games. Go Lobos!
From the couch: Women’s basketball is having a season. Caitlin Clark and her quest to obliterate every college basketball scoring record has been a huge influence. It is a wonderful empowering story. The women’s game has evolved, and it is fun to watch. Clark breaking Kelsey Plum’s D1 Women’s scoring record was a bummer because Kelsey is our homegirl, but it happens. It is also true that she also has broken Pistol Pete Maravich’s all-time men’s scoring record. It is a NCAA Men’s scoring record in a men’s sports. Her accomplishment is meteoric against the competition in her lane and not diminishing her accolades. In context, Caitlin played all four years notching 133 games. The Pistol could not play as a freshman and played just 83 games in his career. Clark made over 520 three pointers and counting. They did not have the 3-point shot during Pete’s era. The one record that will never be broken was Maravich scoring average 44.2 per game. Clark averages 28.4. Go Bruin Women!
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