March Madness

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you’ve noticed the buzz surrounding the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. For the first time this season, 68 teams participated in the games, an expansion from the 64 last year. Even if you have no rooting interest in the tournament, you should watch for the upsets and Cinderella teams. Cinderellas are teams that come out of the blue and win games that no one expected them to. It’s too early to know who the Cinderellas are this year, but there were already a few upsets today. Morehead State, a small school in Kentucky and a #13 seed, edged #4 Louisville by a point. Louisville was considered to be a legitimate Elite Eight contender. Looking at the bracket, Morehead State now faces #12 seed Richmond, who upset #5 seed Vanderbilt. The real test would likely come against #1 seed Kansas, who were shocked by #9 seed Northern Iowa last year.

In last year’s tournament Butler, a #5 seed from the mid-major Horizon League, made it all the way to the championship game against Duke. Butler had so many compelling storylines throughout the tournament. The Final Four was held in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, just a few miles from their campus. As they started to advance further in the tournament, people compared their run to that of Hickory’s improbable run to the Indiana state championship in the legendary basketball movie Hoosiers. What pushed the excitement over the top was the fact that they were playing Duke, universally considered the most hated team in college basketball. Unfortunately, Butler’s half-court heave to win the game rolled off of the rim and Duke was crowned the champion. But there’s always next year, and that’s what makes the tournament so compelling. You never know which team is going to win a few games and make some noise.

As for the championship contenders, Ohio State, Duke and Kansas (all #1 seeds) don’t have a lot of weaknesses. The advantage of having such as high seed is you’re playing teams that are seeded in the middle of the pack. Theoretically, this should make the path to the Final Four easier, but if you’re not prepared these teams are easily capable of beating you. You have to come to play everyday or you’re going to get sent home. It’s not like the NBA playoffs where you get up to 7 games to determine who belongs in the next round. The stakes are so much higher here and that’s what makes it so exciting.

I’ve been hearing people talking about a BCS in college basketball. Although they’re just trying to get people riled up, I want to share my thoughts on this. Frankly, it sounds like an irrational disaster. First of all, you would have computers using superficial criteria to determine who the two best teams are. They would immediately matchup in the championship game, eliminating the opportunity for any upsets and Cinderellas in the tournament. The other deserving teams would be relegated to meaningless games, denied the opportunity to compete for a championship. The great thing about the current system is that your regular season results don’t mean anything. You can have 10 loses and make a deep run in the tournament. The BCS would take all of the excitement out of the tournament, eliminating the competition that keeps us on the edge of our seats. Be sure to watch Illinois’ game against UNLV on Friday. No one expects us to go very far, but there’s a reason why it’s called March Madness.