What the (insert proper curse word here) is a Florida Gulf Coast University?! That was the phrase exclaimed at TV’s across the nation by casual bracketers, college basketball fans, and Vegas gamblers after the many unexpected upsets took place during the first few rounds of the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament. One of the larger upsets has to be the revered and feared, #2 seeded Georgetown Hoyas of NW Washington DC getting smashed from beginning to final buzzer by upstart college Florida Gulf Coast University (they have yet to yet to celebrate a silver anniversary) and neophyte basketball program (its 2nd year of post season eligibility). Georgetown University is 224 years old and has been a national basketball powerhouse since the early 1980’s birthed by one John Thompson, which makes it so sad, that it’s being buried by his son, John Thompson III. But let us not pull focus on the Hoyas, there were a few highly seeded programs that were upended, such as, the #12 seeded LaSalle beating Kansas State, #12 Ole Miss beating #5 Wisconsin, #1 seeded Gonzaga Zags were scared by HBCU Southern University (GO JAGS) and they were literally shocked with a loss to the #9 seeded Wichita Shockers and my personal favorite, the #14 Harvard Crimson triumphing over Lobos of the #3 seeded University of New Mexico. As I browse the many forms of media, I sense an overwhelming feeling of contempt for the parity in this year’s tournament. Which begs the “what in the hell do you want America?”
This is the tournament we’ve been asking for all of our lives. Unexplainable, blue collar, ‘I ain’t scurred’, ‘little engine that could’ teams making national powers publicly cry for which we we’ve got no answer. The term “March Madness” wasn’t coined because highly seeded collegiate basketball teams demolish lower seeded teams as expected. No, it was created because of the maddening confusion in these David versus Goliath wins. That is the beauty of the race to the Final Four. The BS sports writer fueled speculation, seeding based on the regular season or conference tournament wins doesn’t matter. As long as you’re one of the 68 teams chosen, your five players, just line up against another five players for 48 minutes and whoever has more points at the final buzzer advances to the next round. We’ve seen these teams throughout the years of this fabled tournament. Matter of fact, they have their own special nickname, ‘Cinderrella’. We’ve seen them before, The Cleveland States, the Richmond Spiders, the VCU’s, the Murray States, the George Masons and presently, the mighty Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast University (est 1991). Each year we see that one Cinderella team go deep in the tourney only to have the glass slipper turn into a pumpkin soon but this year we’ve had numerous David like teams beat highly seeded Goliaths and we need to enjoy this. Matter of fact we’ve lived long enough to see a perennial, Cinderella team in Gonzaga University develop into #1 seeded program. Yet, I hear and read the complaints from fans and media, ‘it’s not the same quality of college basketball as in years past’.
Two years ago, a Butler Bulldog program came within one great looking, half-court shot, of a national championship over Duke. Did we see a Duke basketball team on the decline or a Butler program on the rise? I believe we saw the playing field finally leveling off, where seeds may be nothing but a number in the future. In era of ‘one-and-done’, the 5 star blue chip athletes are going to the Dukes, the Kentuckys, the Carolinas and other national powers with no intent on staying and the players that these national powers pass on go to smaller schools with the intent on staying for more than a year. These athletes who could be playing multiple years for these national powers are playing together for years at these mid majors and raising the level of play on those campuses. National powers are annually having their team rhythm and development interrupted by the defection of a ‘one-and-done’ player to the NBA. Prior to the ‘one-and-done’ exodus we saw young talented teams grow into very formidable collegiate lineups, as we saw with Georgetown in the 80’s or Duke in the 90’s. Well now it just happens at the Butlers, the George Masons and the VCU’s are doing it. It's like we cheer for the little man to make the climb but once he gets his fingers to the top of the mountain we want to step on his hand. People have complained for years about predictability of the tourney and people are now complaining about the upsets while witnessing may be the greatest NCAA tournament in history. Call me crazy, but if Creighton, LaSalle, Miami and Florida Gulf Coast make it to the Final Four, I’m booking a flight to the ATL.
Now Follow Me. Follow Me to Freedom.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
MARCH MEDIOCRITY OR MARCH MAGIC
What the (insert proper curse word here) is a Florida Gulf Coast University?! That was the phrase exclaimed at TV’s across the nation by casual bracketers, college basketball fans, and Vegas gamblers after the many unexpected upsets took place during the first few rounds of the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament. One of the larger upsets has to be the revered and feared, #2 seeded Georgetown Hoyas of NW Washington DC getting smashed from beginning to final buzzer by upstart college Florida Gulf Coast University (they have yet to yet to celebrate a silver anniversary) and neophyte basketball program (its 2nd year of post season eligibility). Georgetown University is 224 years old and has been a national basketball powerhouse since the early 1980’s birthed by one John Thompson, which makes it so sad, that it’s being buried by his son, John Thompson III. But let us not pull focus on the Hoyas, there were a few highly seeded programs that were upended, such as, the #12 seeded LaSalle beating Kansas State, #12 Ole Miss beating #5 Wisconsin, #1 seeded Gonzaga Zags were scared by HBCU Southern University (GO JAGS) and they were literally shocked with a loss to the #9 seeded Wichita Shockers and my personal favorite, the #14 Harvard Crimson triumphing over Lobos of the #3 seeded University of New Mexico. As I browse the many forms of media, I sense an overwhelming feeling of contempt for the parity in this year’s tournament. Which begs the “what in the hell do you want America?”
This is the tournament we’ve been asking for all of our lives. Unexplainable, blue collar, ‘I ain’t scurred’, ‘little engine that could’ teams making national powers publicly cry for which we we’ve got no answer. The term “March Madness” wasn’t coined because highly seeded collegiate basketball teams demolish lower seeded teams as expected. No, it was created because of the maddening confusion in these David versus Goliath wins. That is the beauty of the race to the Final Four. The BS sports writer fueled speculation, seeding based on the regular season or conference tournament wins doesn’t matter. As long as you’re one of the 68 teams chosen, your five players, just line up against another five players for 48 minutes and whoever has more points at the final buzzer advances to the next round. We’ve seen these teams throughout the years of this fabled tournament. Matter of fact, they have their own special nickname, ‘Cinderrella’. We’ve seen them before, The Cleveland States, the Richmond Spiders, the VCU’s, the Murray States, the George Masons and presently, the mighty Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast University (est 1991). Each year we see that one Cinderella team go deep in the tourney only to have the glass slipper turn into a pumpkin soon but this year we’ve had numerous David like teams beat highly seeded Goliaths and we need to enjoy this. Matter of fact we’ve lived long enough to see a perennial, Cinderella team in Gonzaga University develop into #1 seeded program. Yet, I hear and read the complaints from fans and media, ‘it’s not the same quality of college basketball as in years past’.
Two years ago, a Butler Bulldog program came within one great looking, half-court shot, of a national championship over Duke. Did we see a Duke basketball team on the decline or a Butler program on the rise? I believe we saw the playing field finally leveling off, where seeds may be nothing but a number in the future. In era of ‘one-and-done’, the 5 star blue chip athletes are going to the Dukes, the Kentuckys, the Carolinas and other national powers with no intent on staying and the players that these national powers pass on go to smaller schools with the intent on staying for more than a year. These athletes who could be playing multiple years for these national powers are playing together for years at these mid majors and raising the level of play on those campuses. National powers are annually having their team rhythm and development interrupted by the defection of a ‘one-and-done’ player to the NBA. Prior to the ‘one-and-done’ exodus we saw young talented teams grow into very formidable collegiate lineups, as we saw with Georgetown in the 80’s or Duke in the 90’s. Well now it just happens at the Butlers, the George Masons and the VCU’s are doing it. It's like we cheer for the little man to make the climb but once he gets his fingers to the top of the mountain we want to step on his hand. People have complained for years about predictability of the tourney and people are now complaining about the upsets while witnessing may be the greatest NCAA tournament in history. Call me crazy, but if Creighton, LaSalle, Miami and Florida Gulf Coast make it to the Final Four, I’m booking a flight to the ATL.
Now Follow Me. Follow Me to Freedom.
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