Well, we have our Final Four in college basketball. We got to this point by holding an annual 64 team tournament....a playoff, if you will. It wasn't created by a computer system based on quality wins and losses and strength of schedule. Yet why do I feel like last years college football season got it more right than this years college basketball Final Four?
At the end of the college football season, there are probably five teams that could all argue they had "the best year." The BCS system at least gives us arguably two of those top five teams in the national championship game. That's guaranteed every year. Sure, we may not be happy with the final two in the title game, but it's usually not too far off (like last season: we got Texas vs. Alabama).
When the regular college basketball season ended, if you were asked, "who are the best four teams in college basketball right now?" - how would you answer? Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, Ohio State? You might throw in a team like Kansas State. What's the Final Four this year? Butler, Michigan State, West Virginia and Duke. Satisfied?
I know it's semantics, but one system gives us a "tournament champion" and the other system give us "the best team that season." If Duke basketball wins this tournament, they will have accomplished it by defeating: Arkansas-Pine Bluff, California, Purdue, Baylor, West Virginia and either Michigan State or Butler. Remember that list of the best teams this season in college basketball (Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, Ohio State)? Duke didn't have to play any of those teams. Now, I understand, that's not Duke's fault and if those teams were really "the best", why didn't they get in the way of Duke's path? But my point is, we aren't guaranteed anything with the March Madness tournament. We aren't guaranteed that the top teams will meet in a 4 team playoff. In college football we are closer.
So next Monday night one team will be cutting down the nets. It could be Butler. What it won't be is "the best team in America."
From TLanceB over @ teh twitterz
ReplyDeleteI've already had this "argument" with a friend this morning and I didn't articulate my side well, so I'll try again. Winning six games to be a champion brings a lot more truth than winning one game after computers and bias determine two teams. For college basketball, this was a freaky tournament. Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, and Ohio State (my opinion of the four best teams) all played well except for a few minutes against opportunistic, emotionally charged opponents. Well, Syracuse played like crap for most of their loss. Duke is very good. Michigan State is showing heart and the talent of their coach after losing their best player. Butler and West Virginia have overachieved at the right time. Does this mean if one of these four teams win it all then college basketball is cheapened? No. No more so than in 2006 when St. Louis won 83 baseball games, got hot, and won a World Series. Playing well at the right time is equally as important as winning the most games prior to a post season. If Stanford beats Connecticut in the women's final, does that mean Connecticut was overrated and unworthy of high praise? No.
PS, I'm cheering for Michigan State and West Virginia. Just because.
Totally disagree with you here. You want to have some committee just pick the final four teams and dispense with the remainder of the tournament? Sounds like the BCS to me. And the BCS sucks, period. Even in years when the BCS title game matches the best 2 teams, the other BCS games have been--by and large--extremely lame. The entire basketeball tournament, upsets and all, is amazing. Who would want to throw it all away?
ReplyDeleteHey, I hear your argument about who teams are playing...Baylor played a pretty low-seeded string of teams to make it to the Elite 8, but then they were exposed.
This tournament isn't to crown "the best team", but to crown a champion. There are many years when the champion of the tourney WAS the best team (UNC last year, for example)...but many when it was not (UNLV in 1991, for example). Instead of bemoaning the lack of "high profile" teams in the final four (I can only imagine what you'd say if Tenn and Baylor had won yesterday, joining Butler and WV), we should be celebrating the effort put forth by the teams that did make it.
I'm really just annoyed that the tournament committee gave Duke a f-ing cakewalk to the Final Four. I love March Madness. It's a great event, with lots of drama. My point is, it doesn't guaranttee us that the BEST teams will end up in the Final Four. The BCS is so close...if they would just do a "plus one" or take the top four teams in the standings and create a National Semi-Finals Tournment.
ReplyDeleteGreat words Kid! This is the first year in along time that the I feel the selection committee got it wrong in College basketball. They are usually right on point. Is Duke one of the best team in the land stacked up against the likes of Kentucky or Kansas?! Not sure, but they are the best of the remaining teams. This doesn't mean they will get past WV, who are playing extremely well to this point. But they are the best of the four from the coach to the players as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to see a Kentucky or Kansas in the finals, it would have meant my brackets were worth something. But that has not happened for millions of wanna be bracketologists!!! We will all gather in a our favrorite spots with our closest friends, if only for one night. Drink beer and eat wings or tofu, what ever you like. And cheer on one of the four teams and then all of the chatter will start the following morning. That is when I want to read your blog.
Entertained as usual!!!