Each March, college hoops take over the sports pages with prognosticators and bracketologists giving their take on the tourney. This week, The Queens Courier is no different as Steve Mosco and Pete Davis square off with six burning questions.
Q: What’s the best part of the NCAA Tournament?
STEVE: For some people, the March Madness office pool is the one and only reason to watch the tournament at all. These cubicle crapshooters choose their picks through a sophisticated process involving win/loss records, school geographic locations and mascot cuteness factors. True fans delight in their participation because it affords the opportunity to take advantage of a coworker’s open-wallet ignorance and overwhelming need to follow the herd. There is the off-chance that random betting can capture office riches, and why not, the underdog should win every now and then. But beware; a defeated bracketologist will more than likely fly into an indignant, curse-filled rage. For giving the otherwise uninterested a reason to gamble, and for causing hilarious temper-tantrums, the office pool is the best byproduct of the tournament.
PETE: Yeah office pools are great, and I have been known to participate in a few, but to me there’s nothing better than the first two days of the Big Dance. How many of us have skipped class or taken off work to make sure we are in front of our TV sets for the tip offs of the opening games? Every year, the first two days and nights of the NCAA tourney provide great theatre with the possibility of a David beating Goliath on a buzzer beater or that classic three overtime game that has you sitting on the edge of your seat for an hour.
Q: Who should be the favorite to win this year’s tournament?
PETE: While I’m not a big Kentucky or John Calipari fan, I think you have to put the Wildcats as the favorite to win it all this year. Yes, they are a very young team dominated by freshmen, which usually doesn’t qualify as a championship recipe for success in the NCAA tourney, but I think one thing, or I should say one player, makes them the favorite – John Wall. Anyone who has watched a Kentucky game this season knows this kid is a stud. He just knows how to make big plays when his team needs it the most, and he does not let his team lose. The biggest thing is that he wants the ball in his hands at the end of the game – something freshman usually shy away from – so I wouldn’t bet against the kid.
STEVE: Pete, Kentucky is good, but they aren’t the favorites. Each year, when the debate about who will win the NCAA Championship hits the ether, Kansas is inevitably in the mix. This is no coincidence as Kansas is routinely ranked among the best teams in all of college hoops. This year, Kansas’ strength lies in their maturity and experience. All-American players Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins have been there, done that, and they bring a wealth of wisdom and skill to a relatively young team. And this young team is rich with depth. They have at least eight players that are basically interchangeable, playing whatever position is needed by Coach Bill Self. Another big factor for KU is the strength of the Big XII conference. Who else is ranked in the SEC besides Kentucky? Tennessee? Ok, who else? The team has already shown in 2008 that they have what it takes to beat John Calipari for a shot at cutting down the nets. Enough said.
Q: Who are this years “Top Cats?”
PETE: I know I just argued that Kentucky should be the favorite to win it all, but that doesn’t mean I think they will. In fact, I don’t think they are even the best Wildcats team in the country. That honor should go to Villanova. The team that made the run to the Final Four last year is even better this year, and coach Jay Wright’s guard-dominated lineup will give teams fits in the tournament. In the tournament, teams with the best guards usually win, and from top-to-bottom, Villanova has the best guards in the country. There aren’t too many other people I would want to have the ball in his hands at the end of the game than Scottie Reynolds. Add in the fact that they played in the toughest conference during the season and they are battle-tested, and it could be a title for Nova Nation come April.
STEVE: Come on Pete, the Wildcats from Kentucky make the Wildcats from Villanova seem harmless and house-trained by comparison. Sure, 2008 was an embarrassing season for Kentucky as they played in, and lost, the NIT in cringe inducing fashion. Missing the tournament assured changes were coming to Big Blue Nation, and one of those changes had a name: John Calipari. As one of the most successful coaches in America, he’s the perfect fit and he displayed that by overseeing the top recruiting class in the country. Point guard John Wall leads that class and is expected to be the number one pick in the next NBA draft. After a few down seasons, Kentucky’s Wildcats believe they have the talent to win the SEC and be a contender for the Final Four. Villanova, on the other hand, they’re better off finding a nice spot in the sun for a long catnap.
Q: Who will be this year’s Cinderella story?
STEVE: Watch out for West Virginia. The Mountaineers finished the regular season last year with a record of 21-10 despite being drubbed by elite teams in conference play down the stretch. Considering how stacked the conference was, West Virginia could have been a top 10 team if they played anywhere outside of the Big East. Coach Bob Huggins enters his third year at WV running his program with a group of players that are now accustomed to his style of play. Huggins’ players can now say confidently that they bring experience and knowledge to the program, and this makes all the difference in the world. With players like Devin Ebanks, Da’Sean Butler and Casey Mitchell, the Mountaineers could very well be this year’s fashionable sleeper pick for a Final Four appearance.
PETE: I like your West Virginia pick Steve, so I’m going to pick a team that plays a similar style of basketball, but I think will go a little further than the Mountaineers. I’m gonna head up to Wisconsin and take the Badgers. This teams has all the makings of a Cinderella team this year. They have a great coach in Bo Ryan, they play a style of basketball that teams aren’t used to with their slow-it-down, spread-you-out attack, veteran leadership in Trevon Hughes and a balanced attack that any number of players can get hot from outside and beat you on a given night. Not to mention that a Bo Ryan team is always going to play defense, so I like their chances of advancing to the Elite 8 or even a Final Four.
Q: Which school has the best fan base?
PETE: Two Words: Cameron Crazies. As a Duke fan for nearly two decades, everyone knows that the Cameron Crazies have the best fans in the country. The inventors of some of the most original chants throughout the years, Duke always has a tremendous home court advantage year in and year out in the ACC. Plus, how can you not go with a fan base whose students camp outside in tents for weeks and some years even months just to get tickets for its annual matchup with the hated Tar Holes. Cameron Crazies hands down.
STEVE: Come on, the Cameron Crazies are so the 90s. The Breslin Center, where the Michigan State Spartans play, is commonly regarded as the toughest place to play in the Big Ten. Students have to regularly attend games for their first three years to get a shot at seats in the lower bowl their senior year. This long wait stirs the Spartan-faithful into a deafening frenzy where you’re considered a freak if your face is NOT painted green. Plus, it just sounds cool to sit in the “Izzone,” which consists of nearly 4,000 rabid and mouthy fans, giving Breslin an exciting and intimidating atmosphere with an undeniable home-court advantage. Students in the Izzone are known for going into detail with their taunts, attacking players for grade point averages, police records and embarrassing nicknames. All that noise takes players out of their game, giving the Spartans a distinct advantage.
Q: What’s a better event – the Super Bowl or March Madness?
STEVE: The Super Bowl is the culmination of a season’s worth of blood, sweat and tears. From training camp on, every player is geared toward that ultimate goal of playing on the final Sunday in late January (or early February). Aside from that, the sheer event the game has become assures that it passes all other sporting championships with barely a tug on its jersey. It’s an unofficial national holiday that sees families across America stuff themselves with copious amounts of food, drink and pre-game breakdowns. It’s like Thanksgiving without the familial angst and awkward silences. The Super Bowl is such an event that it even boasts features for the non-fan. People who spend the majority of the game in the kitchen race into the TV room for commercials, the needlessly long halftime show and the inevitable wardrobe malfunction. The Super Bowl not only trumps March Madness, it trumps birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and births.
PETE: It’s gotta be March Madness. Sure the Super Bowl is big Steve, but you are overlooking one important point, you’re comparing ONE game that lasts for about three hours and includes two weeks of hype and six hours of pregame coverage with an event that takes place over three weeks. How many times are we going to see Peyton Manning or Tom Brady in the Super Bowl? Too many if you ask me, but in the NCAA Tournament we are constantly seeing new players from many different schools compete for the ultimate prize in college hoops. Even if your favorite team is not in the tournament or gets bounced in the opening rounds, there are still a ton of great stories you can latch onto and root for every year.
