The view from my couch, or How I Somehow Survived Sitting On My Ass For 12 Straight Hours of NCAA Hoops (And Lived To Tell The Tale)
Make no mistake, I have a challenging job.
An NCAA Tournament day on the couch:
Noon – My first thought before embarking on this college hoops journey is that this is going to be a very chalky tournament – again.
Consider, last year there were the fewest upsets (by seed) than in any NCAA Tournament since 1985. And it’s going to happen again this year (I think).
Here’s why: In the pre-NIL and portal days, mid-majors had a superpower: They were older teams with several experienced upperclassmen, and they were getting the best of these highly-ranked power conference teams with lots of one-and-dones and underclassmen. The mid-major teams had guys who had played together forever. The power conference teams often struggled under the klieg lights of the NCAA Tournament. Now, with the portal making teams older and guys staying in school longer to chase the dollars, the mid-majors no longer have the experience advantage.
Now we’ll grab some coffee and see if I’m right. (Probably not). We’ll count the upsets together.
12:05 -- All I hear is bitching about modern day college athletics, how NIL and the portal and big money have ruined our fun and games and turned them into pro sports. But here’s the thing: We still love the games. We still love the players. It doesn’t matter how many millions they’re taking in. It doesn’t matter if they’ve played for three schools in four years. This is a chance to see the super-freshmen do their thing on the biggest stage, a chance to watch elite coaches guide their teams. College sports might be the Wild West – how often have we heard coaches complain about the state of the game? -- but when it comes time to lace them up, there’s nothing quite like the NCAA Tournament.
12:15 -- It’s 9-seed TCU and 8-seed Ohio State at 12:15.
I’m happy. My old Jersey friend Bill Raftery is on the game. Raftery isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but if I don’t hear “onions” and “organizing those puppies” at least once per game, I feel like I missed something. I think he’s sneaky good. Has been for a long time, going back to his Big East days.
TCU is making Ohio State crazy with its hustling, trapping defense, forcing multiple turnovers. A late 11-0 run and the Horned Frogs lead by 15 at half.
1:10 – Checking out No. 4 Nebraska and No. 13 Troy. Rooting hard for the Huskers, not only because they’re in the Big Ten, but because they’ve never won an NCAA Tournament game in their program history. (Neither has Troy, for that matter.) It’s time for Fred Hoiberg to end that streak. They’re playing in OKC, so it’s a hugely pro-Nebraska crowd, and they’re making some serious noise. There’s a good reason for that: Nebraska’s Pryce Sandfort, the Iowa transfer, is knocking down jumpers from everywhere. The Huskers now lead 41-25 at half.
1:34 – Back to Ohio State-TCU. The Buckeyes are on a 10-zip run and have pulled within 43-40.
1:55 – Over to fifth-seeded Wisconsin and 12th-seeded-High Point. A lot of the smart college basketball folks loved High Point making a small run after averaging 90 points per game during the regular season…until they noticed that dangerous Wisconsin is their first-round opponent. Badgers lead, 12-5. The tournament is all about guard play, and Wisconsin’s got two of the best, John Blackwell and Nick Boyd.
Should mention, Wally Szczerbiak (didn’t need to check the spelling) is on the call. I was thrilled to watch his alma mater, Miami, win its First Four game Wednesday night, knocking down 16 3’s in the process. Yes, they belonged here – not that there should have been much question. An unbeaten regular season is an unbeaten regular season. I don’t care who you’re playing – and Miami tried to schedule up, to no avail – but you pull that off, you belong in the tournament. Regardless of what Bruce Pearl thinks.
