Now that the first weekend of the NCAA tournament is winding to a close, there are a few teams who have squeaked through into the Sweet 16 and there are others who have advanced with authority. There are also a few disappointments.
Probably one of the biggest stories of the weekend is the Southwest Region. Of the four teams left, 3 are double digit seeds. This was said by many to be the easiest region in the tournament. In the first round 5 of the 8 games were won by lower seeds. I am not surprised at how poorly the Big East teams are performing in this tournament. I have felt all along the Big East was over rated. Marquette, the supposed last big east team in just beat Syracuse who finished #4 in the Big East. Pittsburgh went down early as they did in the Big East tournament. Louisville dropped their first game to Moorehead State. St John's was considered the hottest team in the Big East, but dropped their first game to an average Gonzaga team. The Big East may have deserved to get 11 teams into the field, but they are clearly not as good as everyone claims them to be. The Big East has 2 of those 11 teams in the Sweet 16, and both teams finished the regular season in the bottom of the conference. The way everyone talks of the Big East they should have at least 6 or 8 teams still playing. Yet the so called "best teams in the country" are preparing for next season.
There are teams that are still playing that are under rated because of all the talk about the Big East teams. North Carolina, Arizona, Kentucky, Florida, Wisconsin are a few of the teams still playing that haven't got near enough consideration all year long. Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Georgetown, have been in the top 10 for most of the season, yet they are all eliminated early.
Jay Bilas started the week off by commenting on how much the level of play in the NCAA tournament has decreased over the years. I disagreed with him at the time, and after the first weekend of this years tournament, disagree with him more. This tournament is one of the biggest sporting events in the country. It's right up there with the Super Bowl. Most of America, whether they know anything or not probably fills out a bracket. One of his problems is the "one and done" players. I disagree with that theory. I think that's what's wrong with the NBA. Take the New York Knicks and Miami Heat for example. They have loaded up with stars, yet are struggling to win. When you get 3 or 4 stars on a team they all want to be in the spotlight, fight over it, and it destroys the team. That's one of the greatest things about college basketball is the team play. Basketball is a TEAM sport, and in the NBA it's an individual sport. K-State had a "one and done" player in Michael Beasley a few years ago. They barely made it into the NCAA tournament. Beasley is the ONLY reason that team got in. The next season, minus Beasley and Bill Walker had one of the best seasons in K-State history, loosing to Butler in the Elite 8. Those guys only have one thing on their mind and that's playing in the NBA and getting rich. Let them go. With that attitude they are better off there anyway.
One of the big changes with the tournament this year was adding Turner sports to the network. In years past it was only CBS and they chose wich game you watched, and often switched from it for something else. Under that format I wouldn't have been able to watch KSU v USU thursday night. When the NCAA announced that Turner sports would join CBS, instead of the sports giant ESPN many people, mostly with ties to ESPN were outraged. Personally I was in favor of it. I don't care much for ESPN. Their "Championship Week" was the biggest load of crap I've ever seen. They have rights to 5 of the 6 power conference tournaments. ESPN has 5 networks, 6 if you include ABC. Only 2 of those networks broadcasted conference tournament games and ESPN was dedicated to the precious Big East. They only had 3 Big XII tournament games on ESPN and one was the championship game. There's no excuse for that. With 6 networks and 5 conference tournaments there's no reason every tournament game shouldn't be televised. One of the arguements against Turner sports doing the NCAA tournament is their supposed lack of knowledge of college basketball. Turner does NBA games, so they figured guys like Charles Barkley and Marv Albert wouldn't know anything about college basketball. Well, I am impressed with how well they've done this weekend. I think Charles Barkley has done a better job the Seth Davis, and that's all he does is follow college basketball!! I was particularly impressed earlier when he voiced his opinion about the Big East being over rated with Rick Pitino on the set. I couldn't imagine Doug Gottlieb or Jay Bilas saying what Barkley did. I personally would MUCH rather listen to Marv Albert call a game than Dick Vitale. I still found myself switching games much like CBS to watch the end of certain games, but i was nice to have control over that. When they started that god-awful chant, I could change the channel. I didn't have to watch Purdue's tank job.
I am looking forward to the Sweet 16 round. Matchups like Butler/Wisconsin and BYU/Florida will be fun to watch. After watching the last few Kansas games, they are very similar to last year. They wait until the last 10 minutes or so of the game to turn it on, and like it did last year against Northern Iowa, it's going to catch up with them. Just becuase every other team left is a double digit seed doesn't give them a yellow brick road pass to Houston. Richmond is a giant killer, VCU is riding that "underdog" roll, and Florida State is peaking at the right time and have one of the better defenses they will face this season. They very well might make the Final 4 just to spite me, but it won't be an easy road.
As far as teams that are headed home, I have no sympathy for. It's easy to make excuses, but ultimately you put yourself in that situation in the first place. Kansas State was matched against an underseeded Wisconsin team. Purdue coach Matt Painter suspended one of his key players. Well, KSU put themselves as a 5 seed with their mid-season struggles. Had they played to their potential all year, they'd be a #1 or #2 seed. Purdue had an opportunity at a 1 seed but lost to Iowa to close the season and the first game of the conference tournament against MSU. Texas fans are complaining about the 5 second call, but they put themselves in that situation. They trailed most of the game. If they're that good, they should have been leading. I am very bummed that my 2 favorite teams got eliminated this round, but there's no point in dwelling on it. A million different things could have been done differently, but you can't go back in time to change it. At the risk of sounding like my father, there are more important things to worry about. The sun will still come up tomorrow. Time marches on. The world is still turning. Onward and upward...
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