Let the Madness begin. One of America’s great sports (and betting) events begins today with the tipoff of the NCAA Tournament. (We’re not counting the play-in game, sorry).
Who will be this year’s George Mason? George Mason? The Patriots will get a chance to repeat their historic run to the Final Four two years ago. First, though, they’ll need to get past Notre Dame in the finale of a sensational first day at the Pepsi Center, with four intriguing matchups.
Can Tom Izzo get his team to peak at tournament time again? Is Pitt as good as Bob Knight says it is? Will the Colorado connection help Washington State advance? And, is George Mason a real dark horse?
Few are giving the Patriots a chance to make it out of Denver. Here at Tournament Central, we’re rooting for coach Jim Larranaga, who says, “Some people, when they get picked, complain about who they are matched up with, what their seed is, where they were sent. We don’t look at it that way. We’re just happy to be in the tournament.”
Not a lock to sign
Washington State coach Tony Bennett was recruited by his father, Dick Bennett, at Wisconsin-Green Bay, after starring at Green Bay’s Preble High School. He told his dad he wanted to take at least one more recruiting visit before deciding on a school, even though everybody figured he would join his father across town.
Dick Bennett, who would later coach Wisconsin to the 2000 Final Four and laid the foundation of the current roster at Washington State, was losing his patience. According to The Seattle Times, he told Tony: “Here’s the deal. Either you commit to us now, or I’m pulling the scholarship off the table.”
In his next game, Tony almost scored 50 points.
“Every basket I’d score,” Tony recalled, “I’d look up and just glare at him, like, ‘Go ahead and take it off the table.'”
Geography lessons
The selection committee didn’t do any favors for Southern Cal, Gonzaga and Butler, pitting them against higher-seeded teams that figure to have a sizable home-court advantage. Usually a higher seed earns a team a little more respect.
No. 6 seed USC must play 11th-seeded Kansas State in Omaha; No. 7 seed Gonzaga has to play No. 10 Davidson in Raleigh; and No. 7 Butler will face No. 10 South Alabama in Birmingham, Ala.
Leave the driving to us
North Carolina, the overall top seed, won’t have to step on a plane unless it makes it to the Final Four in San Antonio.
UNC will have only short bus trips from Chapel Hill for first- and second-round games in Raleigh, N.C., and to the East Regional in Charlotte, N.C. Fans of archrival Duke, a No. 2 seed, must be seething. The Blue Devils were placed in the West Regional.
Of course, if Duke had won the ACC Tournament, it might have a better argument to stay closer to home.
Scouts galore
Omaha might set a record for most NBA
scouts at a site for opening-round games.
In addition to super freshmen O.J. Mayo at
Southern Cal and Michael Beasley squaring
off against each other, there are several
other NBA prospects on hand, including
freshman Bill Walker of Kansas State, senior
Brian Butch of Wisconsin and up to
six pro prospects at Kansas, including juniors
Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers
and sophomore Darrell Arthur.
Shut-down defenses
More often than not, NCAA Tournament
games become defensive battles, with
high-scoring games rare. If you’re looking
for trends, keep an eye on the following
teams, all of whom rate among the best in
the country in an overlooked stat, defensive
field goal percentage: Georgetown (36.3 percent),
Kansas (38.0), Louisville (38.3), Connecticut
(38.4) and Memphis (38.4).
Clang, clang
As talented as No. 1 seed Memphis is, the
Tigers have an Achilles heel that could
well upset their Final Four ambitions-
poor free-throw shooting.
Of the 65 teams selected to the NCAA
Tournament, Memphis ranks dead last in
team foul shooting (59.2 percent).
U-M-B-C, U-M-B-C!
Maryland-Baltimore County is making its first appearance in the tournament after winning a school-record 24 games.
Retrievers fans, at least those old enough to remember a couple of decades ago, must wonder if the wait might have been much shorter had current Colorado head coach Jeff Bzdelik remained longer than two seasons.
Bzdelik got his first head-coaching job at UMBC in 1986. He has a 25-31 record before embarking on an NBA coaching career.
