Four Thoughts on the NCAA Tournament

1)  You could have offered me a huge paycheck and promised me a long weekend with Mélanie Laurent (what?  I have a thing for French actresses) in a villa in Corsica and I still would not have wanted to switch places with Stilman White.  No way.  By now, we all know of the diminutive, rarely used back-up point guard for the University of North Carolina who stepped in to the starting line-up when the starter, Kendall Marshall, was unavailable due to injury.

"Stilman, go be scrappy over there! OVER THERE!"

While most sportswriters will call White’s efforts “scrappy” and “tenacious”, really just code speak for overmatched, white athletes who don’t crap their pants during the game, I will venture to say that White spent a great deal of time contemplating the wisdom of not embarking on his Mormon mission before enrolling at UNC.  Though, all things being equal, he played inspired and gave UNC a chance to win.  Which is all you can ask from a deep reserve against a team on a roll (Ohio) and an inspired group of talented upperclassmen (Kansas).  However, I also think after the games (at least the first one) in the locker room, before he passed out from exhaustion due to playing five times more minutes than his previous career high, Stilman White checked the seat of his shorts… you know, just in case.

Look upon my works, ye mortal, and tremble...

2) Kentucky, when they eventually win the championship, will not ruin college basketball as we know it.  There will not be a rush to be a factory for “one-and-done” athletes to act as a finishing school for former pros.  We will see the Mayan prophecy come true before we will see the likes of 1960s UCLA again.  The answer is for a myriad of reasons… (Glad you asked). A) There aren’t enough coaches who can boast the Calipari credentials (I coached in the league, I have enough sources around to know how to best prepare you).  Unless an influx of college coaches flocked to the college ranks (Hi, Larry Brown). B) There simply aren’t enough Anthony Davis’ to populate many teams.  Sure, Kentucky has gotten some of the consensus top basketball players in each class, but so has UNC, Arizona, UCLA, and Ohio State.  The problem lies in that, whenever you have the fickle soul of a teenager, inconsistency reigns.  Just like Thomas Robinson came out of nowhere to be a star at Kansas, the Wear twins have plummeted from top 10, blue chip recruit status. C) Some of these schools actually have academic reputations to uphold.  True, this caveat won’t affect Kentucky or virtually anyone else in the SEC outside of Vanderbilt (Sorry.  It’s true… The Commodores should do themselves a favor and beg their way in to the ACC), but it’s true for UNC, Duke, UCLA, UCONN (well, maybe not UCONN so much), and Syracuse, along with a lot of other teams that find themselves in residence in the top 25.  Sure, those chancellors and boards like having top basketball teams, but they like having their top rankings in U.S. News and other academic listings more.

You lose to Savannah State and suddenly everyone forgets that you beat TCU and lost to Marquette by 1

3) Lehigh and Norfolk State pulling twin upsets speaks more about the parity and dispersion of talent than Butler, VCU, or George Mason.  I know the twin 15 seeds winning their first two games didn’t really illicit as much delirious joy as the latter three (save for in Lehigh County, PA, Hampton Roads Proper, VA, and Chapel Hill, NC), but it could be a case of expectancy given the previous results of cinderella teams and each team’s second round exit.  However, as its been known for some time that the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association… home to VCU and George Mason) has been a highly competitive conference (before the Rams and Patriots, Hofstra, Old Dominion, and Lasalle garnered multiple bids in the 90s), the same could not be said for the MEAC and Patriot League (Bucknell won a game a few years back, but, before that, you’d have to go to David Robinson’s Navy teams for anything noteworthy; while the MEAC has pulled the 15-over-2 routine more than any other conference, they’ve never received a higher seed than 15).  Their results, coupled with UNC-Asheville pushing Syracuse to the limit, shows that we’re entering a new landscape where, truly, every team that makes it to the second round (sorry, play-in teams.  There’s a reason you’re playing in), has a legitimate chance to make it to the second weekend.

4) All-Tournament Team (I know, the three most important games are left to be played)

G: CJ Fair

G: Micheal Kidd-Gilchrist

F: Thomas Robinson

F: Anthony Davis

C: Tyler Zeller (Jared Sullinger didn’t pull down 20 rebounds in a game)

Fellowship For the Ring

Conspiracy theory: UNC will win the NCAA tournament due to the “Lord of the Rings” factor.

The Tar Heels have been contenders each of the past 2 years only to be bounced by not playing “their game.” In ’07, they dominated Georgetown for 35 minutes, then took a barrage of bad-look 3s in the final 5 instead of pounding it inside and got humiliated in OT. In ’08, once again the favorite to win and finally back in the Final 4, Kansas brough the energy and ran up an insurmountable 1st half lead while UNC coach Roy Williams stood silent on the sidelines. In short, during both losses, the team played wildly inconsistent to their image, almost as if they were throwing the game.

Now, the LOTR tie-in. In 2001, “The Fellowship of the Ring” was nominated for 13 Oscars and went home with 4. In 2002, “The Two Towers” got 6 nods and picked up a mere 2, both in technical categories. Word was that the Academy was waiting to honor the third film of the trilogy, “The Return of the King,” and thereby reward the efforts of the entire saga.

And that’s what happened. “ROTK” went a perfect 11 for 11, nabbing Best Director for Peter Jackson, best adapted screenplay, Best Picture, and other capstone categories, most of which had eluded the equally masterful prior LOTR films. In each case, the Academy didn’t want to “waste” a win on the earlier films by having a 3-year LOTR monopoly, regardless of merit, and chose to honor other films.

So, with UNC, this is their “Return of the King.” The filmmakers players from the past 2 campaigns are back and they’re ready to make it count. For Tyler Hansbrough, the team’s Peter Jackson, this is his last shot until he heads to the pros for his own “King Kong” difficulties. The Heels’ own Gollum, Ty Lawson, will prove to be the difference-maker. He may also be playing the mystery card to compliment the team’s recent question marks.

UNC has built their own hubub, with the Lawson “injury” and an earlier than expected exit from the ACC tournament, raising questions about their legitimacy. It’s probably all a hoax, designed to improve Vegas odds and help UNC players win individual bracket pools. Lawson will play, and he’ll play well. UNC will defeat the armies of Sauron all Big East challengers and win over Academy voters fans who may have written them off.

There’s your bracket advice. But don’t take my word for it. I sure as hell am not.