Forgive me, readers, for it has been four days since my last blog post. In founding this blog, I fully intended to update daily. During the Tournament, I even had a few designs of posting several times a day, as if all seven of you couldn't live even a few hours without my witty quips, limitless imagination, and inflated view of myself. It's amazing what a little beer can do to these best laid plans, which should go a long way toward explaining what a whole lot of beer can do. I decided early that I could be the self-important guy at the bar who was blogging in public, I could write from behind the hanging cloud of inebriation at the end of each day, or I could wait until the weekend was over to provide random thoughts that occurred to me over the course of my four-day bender. So here we go:
It takes no credentials to be on ESPNU
Thursday and Friday mornings, before the games tipped off, ESPNU hijacked the morning hours of SportsCenter and opined and speculated about the forthcoming action. Poorly. Don't confuse them with the normal ESPN College Hoops crew - these clowns were (somehow) several steps beneath the Gameday Crew in terms of quality. I can't be assed to present all of their names, but some random white guy anchored the show. Analysis was provided by some faceless middle-aged white dude who probably coached JV basketball at a high school in Akron and an inarticulate black man, likely the sixth man at a west coast school back in the day. I think it was Adrian Branch, who may or may not fit into the latter two categories, but he was most definitely an inarticulate black man.
But I digress. They were awful. At no point was their incompetence more on display than when faceless white guy lauded Kansas State head coach Frank Martin as "a true American success story," clearly illustrating that he had not done any homework, and instead gone with the obvious: Frank Martin was an assistant coach for awhile until an administration took a gamble on him. Now, he's won an NCAA Tournament game. Sadly, Kansas State University suits didn't do much more homework than this when they hired the man.
The fact is, Frank Martin's resumé contains work as a high school basketball coach in Miami. His team, which included Steve Blake and Udonis Haslem, won the Florida State Championship, only to be stripped of every single win that season because he invented addresses in order to make his star players eligible to play for his team. Scandalous, isn't it? Yet Kansas State didn't even investigate this matter when presented with the option of hiring Frank Martin - a man who had only spent six years as a collegiate assistant coach. Why were they so hell bent on hiring him, you do not ask but will be told, anyhow? Because he had the ability to keep Bob Huggins' prized recruit, Michael Beasley. How could he do so? By retaining Beasley's AAU basketball coach, Dalonte Hill. Hill was formerly an assistant at Charlotte, where Beasley had originally and not-coincidentally committed.
All of this information has already been reported by various media outlets, and I'm by no means insisting that the hacks at ESPNU were obligated to put an asterisk next to K-State's win over USC. It was neither the time nor place for reporting such things, and I don't have that much of a problem with the hiring of Delonte Hill, as it was all handled within the boundaries of NCAA rule. It's just ridiculous to think that Frank Martin is the definition of an American success story. At best, he is a moderately capable coach, opportunistic enough to land a moderately good coaching gig and uncannily had the means by which to hang on to the one player who could take him anywhere. At worst, he is a cheating, incompetent coach who, despite having the most talented player in the country, was not able to take his team further than the second round. Unless he can continue a pattern of hiring AAU coaches who are linked to stud basketball players, my guess is that he'll be fired in five years.
I was right about Indiana
I just had to point it out. It's not as if Arkansas was a wickedly talented team, either. To have picked Indiana over Arkansas wouldn't have been a terrible choice, but those that thought Indiana might upset UNC need look no further than UNC's dismantling of Arkansas. Now, their two best players are likely off to the NBA. Their interim coach should undoubtedly be removed from his post. To say they'll be rebuilding next year is a massive understatement.
I was wrong about the Tournament in general
I stand by my statement that it's the worst tournament field in recent memory. While I didn't come out and say it, I really thought it was going to be something of a boring tournament with very few upsets. I'm pleased to say that nothing could have been further from the truth. It's the first time I can remember two second-round matchups of 12 vs 13 seeds, which has made for some very interesting Sweet 16 participants. Folks who didn't go to work on Friday were treated to arguably the best two games of the tournament when Western Kentucky hit a three pointer in overtime to knock off over-seeded Drake, and San Diego hit a shot in the lane with under two seconds to go in their improbable overtime victory over peaked-too-soon UConn. While I was quite pleased to have seen the end of both of these games, I regret not going to a bar to do so. You see, in Nashville, we were stuck watching Texas annihilate Tennessee's own Austin Peay State University by virtue of Nashville's proximity to Clarksville, TN. It was never close, and it was an absolute snooze of a game. That's neither here nor there. My point is, it's been a real joy so far.
We've seen the new Duke
The worst thing that happened to Duke was that it managed to actually beat 15 seed, Belmont. The Bruins fought mightily, but class prevailed. That narrow victory allowed Duke apologists to deny that anything was really "wrong," and instead Duke can accept the fact that they were bounced out by a good West Virginia Team. Fans can look forward to something similar next year. A loss to Belmont would have rattled a few cages, but a loss to West Virginia just makes one say, "Maybe next year." For those that closely follow college basketball, the late-season decline of Duke (2-3 in their last five games) is not unprecedented or unexpected. Since last making it to the Final Four in 2004, March swoons have been the norm. Coach K has decided that he's no longer going to schedule non-conference road games, and maybe the ACC isn't quite as strong as everyone thinks. They were over-seeded as a 2 seed, and they just didn't look prepared. I think we're more likely to see another early exit next year than we are a Final Four appearance.
Don't be deceived, Kansas is not a lock for the Final Four
A 3, a 10, and a 12. It sure looks like the Midwest Region has opened up like the Red Sea for Kansas to waltz into the Final Four. It isn't so. Granted, neither Villanova or Davidson really match up that well with the Jayhawks, but Wisconsin is a beast. They're style is boring, plodding, and ugly. They've not won over a lot of "basketball people" along the way, but they're statistically one of the stiffest challenges left in the tournament. Wisconsin was fully deserving of a 2 seed. They were even better than the 2 seed in their own Region. Add to it that the game will be played in Michigan, and it should be enough to make Kansas fans sweat.
For those that are curious, the easiest path to the Final Four has to be UCLA. Once they've brushed aside the plucky little Hilltoppers, they're left to face either the West Virginia one-man show or an unhealthy Xavier. In Phoenix. Honestly. All seeding aside, I just don't see any way that Kansas' path would be easier than UCLA's.
There will probably be more to come, but it seems my job requires me to do actual "work." The humanity.
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