The NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament is now under way. March Madness has already flexed its muscle with several upsets (North Texas over Purdue, Oral Roberts over Ohio State and others), with more to come. There’s so much to talk about regarding this tournament, these are my highlights and low lights.
The NCAA can breathe a temporary sigh of relief – the Men’s Basketball Tournament is their cash cow, a second cancellation would have further doomed the NCAA’s future. There is some concern that a COVID outbreak in the Indianapolis bubble could blow up the tournament, but I think at this point, the NCAA would have to accept that its 68 team field could be cut down to the low 60s/high 50s due to COVID dropouts by the end of the event. Nothing like a bye to the final four, right???
Travel advantages have been minimized as the teams play in a bubble of gyms in Indianapolis, Indiana. A thirteen seed doesn’t have to worry about the notion of traveling to Charlotte or Greensboro to play Duke in a virtual home game for the Blue Devils. While no team has to worry about playing Duke this year, sweeping away the advantages of a regional host clearly changes the game. A one seed is cooped up in the same hotel bubble concept as a sixteen seed. Every coach from Morehead State to Houston now has to deal with the same problem – keep the kids engaged during down time and avoid the ennui that goes with sitting around in a hotel room with nothing much to do. The bubble concept definitely aids a bit to even the playing field amongst the top teams and the lower level automatic qualifiers.
Two disappointing stories haven’t gotten the attention that I would have expected. First – one of my least favorite basketball hall of famers – Patrick Ewing. Ewing has never been the most well spoken, nor the best under pressure. We all have our weaknesses. His gift that has nothing to do with anything he can control, is that he is a seven foot tall man with great agility. The result, a national title as a player (Georgetown), a fantastic NBA career, and several gold medals representing Team USA. And because he was a great player, he was then given opportunity after opportunity to coach at high levels. Now the head coach at his alma mater, he exemplified elitism in a recent press conference.
In the Big East tournament last week (played at Madison Square Garden where Ewing spent most of his career as a New York Knick), he was stopped by security and asked for his ID before being allowed in for his team’s game. Instead of politely providing an ID, he made a stink. In a press conference after the game, he decried ‘you should know who I am, my number is retired in these rafters’. A couple of massive problems here – Ewing is a coach who is expected to set an example for his team. So much for setting an example of humility and grace. Other problem – the security guard was just doing his job. It’s certainly possible that he has never been in MSG to see Ewing’s retired number, and also possible that the security guard would not recognize Ewing by sight; at a tournament like this there are 6’8” – 7’0” basketball players and fans at every turn. Ewing is an embarrassment to Georgetown basketball regardless of whether or not they sniff a win in this years tournament.
Now to a disappointing story about one of my favorite hall of famers – Michigan State University head coach Tom Izzo. MSU is my alma mater and I’m a huge fan of Izzo’s consistent success over more than 25 years. However, Izzo made a huge coaching mistake at the end of the first half of their loss to UCLA (Sparty was actually winning 44-33 at that time). Rather than ride the momentum with positivity in to the locker room, Izzo grabbed Gabe Brown’s arm and yelled at him from the sounding of the halftime horn all the way in to the locker room. I believe that this act rattled Gabe, and probably rattled the whole team (why is coach all over Gabe???).
The result was a slow start in the second half, and UCLA had eclipsed their 11 point deficit no longer than three minutes in. Sparty mentally ran out of gas, and couldn’t make a basket to finish things off late in regulation. In overtime, it was all over for Sparty, UCLA held Sparty to only three points in the OT and secured the victory. If Izzo wants his squad to return to its winning ways during March Madness, he must eliminate these sorts of outbursts at individuals on his team. This is not about old school or new school, this is about what should get the job done. There is no reason why MSU should have lost the game with an eleven point lead (playing the right way as they had) going in to the half.
Two ‘bluebloods’ in Kentucky and Duke did not make the tournament, but that is a good thing this year. I’ve never been a believer in the ‘one and done’ concept which Kentucky follows – yes it can help a team win, but it is not how you assemble a team. You can put together a good group of players, but ‘team’ is far from a realistic goal here. What you have in Kentucky is a bunch of me first kids all using the name Kentucky to hopefully get a ticket to the pros. Only a few will make it pro, the rest will be left out of the NBA cash lottery. And after being coddled as a University of Kentucky Big Man on Campus for their college careers, they won’t be prepared for a real world career of ‘gasp’, something not basketball.
For Duke I feel differently about why I think it’s good that they are out. I like the way Mike Krzyzewski coaches, and there is no better place to play than Cameron Indoor Stadium. For me it is a hard place to call a game as an announcer (I have called games for Duke Volleyball played at Cameron) but as a fan and player, the environment is second to none. However, Duke assembled a team with at least one selfish player that ultimately caused Duke to fail to make the tournament. Mid-Season, Jalen Johnson ‘opted out’ of the season. Johnson was their best player, and he opted out to protect his chances in the NBA Draft. After he opted out, Duke actually played better (thanks to the departure of their selfish teammate), but the loss of what was a key player to the squad was too much for the Blue Devils to overcome.
Had Johnson opted out prior to the season, he could have used the explanation of concern regarding risk for catching COVID. The NCAA gave him this excuse to use but he didn’t use it. Instead, he quit in the middle of the season. His teammates must have thought of him as selfish, but the coaching staff for Duke did not say much about his departure. They don’t want to risk the reputation for seeming to not care about the importance of some of their athletes doing what they can to go pro. Jalen Johnson, like Patrick Ewing, is a selfish ‘me first’ man. NBA scouts are now doubting whether or not Jalen will be a good teammate for any team, or if his selfishness will infiltrate and poison pro locker rooms. Sadly he will still get drafted – FOMO will cloud the judgement of the team that drafts him.
This is a great year for teams like Baylor and Gonzaga to make their mark. I for one hope that one of these two teams wins it all. Both Scott Drew and Mark Few are classy guys leading teams that aren’t supposed to win it all. Baylor is not a men’s basketball school per-se, (it is certainly a women’s basketball school with recent championships in 2005, 2012, and 2019) and with their massive past football problems, a championship for Baylor Men’s Basketball would be a crowning achievement. My hope though is for Mark Few to take the championship title for Gonzaga. Few has passed up multiple ‘bigger’ coaching opportunities to remain in Spokane, Washington where he continues to lead his team in the West Coast Conference. Few is known to be an avid outdoorsman and fly fisherman at that – Spokane gives him that balance along with the nasty hours that accompany collegiate coaching. A championship for Gonzaga also would temporarily dispel the notion that only a Power Five school can win it all. With MSU now out of the tournament, I will be rooting for Gonzaga.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is a great way for our society to return to some normalcy. My boss is not a sports fanatic though he enjoys watching an occasional game, and he can talk sports at the coffee corner at work with the best of them. He remarked months ago that without sports, fans are left to other options for entertainment that may not be as innocent. If super fan screams at their TV for two sports hours on a Saturday, besides the annoyed roommate or spouse in the house, everyone comes out alright in the end win or lose. Banter at the coffee pot about some Netflix series is just not as authentic. We as a society take the Men’s Basketball tournament for granted, so in a nasty lesson of fate, last year’s tourney was taken away like a failed magician ripping the tablecloth from a fully plated table. So in the words of Dan Dakich, make some seven, eight, or nine layer dip, get some chips and a beer, and enjoy the ups and downs of the 2021 tournament.
Paul MacDonald - Sports Broadcaster 