Just My Thoughts: Madness In Its Many Forms
By JON COOK
It seems a bit odd that a guy who nearly lives and breathes hoops the way I do would not have a new column posted for a couple of weeks, but the broadcast schedule of the state tournament two weeks ago followed by a long overdue break for our editor last week means that lately “Just My Thoughts” have been exactly that.
Being left alone with my thoughts following the state finals (especially this year’s edition), and in the midst of NCAA March Madness, has resulted in a great deal of reflection about the game that I love so much.
Our site has been replete with thoughts on the state tournament over recent weeks so I will spare our valued & appreciated readers anything further on that topic. When this column is posted we will essentially be one day away from naming a new national champion in men’s college basketball.
The tourney has more than lived up to its March Madness moniker this year and that madness has taken seemingly countless forms:
In the last 20 years I can’t recall any team being more of a consensus favorite among the “experts” to win the tourney, yet lose in the first round, than Michigan State.
We have never, and I mean never seen a bigger collapse in NCAA basketball than Northern Iowa’s implosion against Texas A&M. The idea that the epic meltdown came immediately after that same team had advanced because of a half court buzzer beater seems almost fitting… Be honest, some of you out there actually picked Northern Iowa to beat Texas AND picked A&M to then knock off the Panthers of UNI… And you actually pretended to be smarter than the rest of us when it all worked out for you.
Literally just minutes in real time after Northern Iowa dispatched Texas with the desperation heave, the Cincinnati Bearcats lost a tournament game when the would be game winning dunk was disallowed after video review. The ball was actually inside the cylinder, but was still touching the “shooter’s” hand as time expired. Can there be a more perplexing way to lose?
We have heard ad nauseum this year how the season has been defined by a resurgence of outstanding senior players and how, in an age dominated by the “one and done” players, this season has been a validation of upperclassmen. Yet during the tourney the following seniors had almost inexplicable exits:
1. Senior AP player of the year Denzel Valentine and Michigan St. fall to Middle Tennessee.
2. Northern Iowa was playing with multiple senior guards turning the ball over in appalling ways against Texas A&M.
3. Senior Perry Ellis, who was averaging nearly 24 ppg in the postseason delivered 4 points as the overall #1 seed Kansas Jayhawks were ushered out of the tourney in the Sweet 16.
4. Fellow #1-seed Virginia saw a huge lead disappear in a stunning Elite 8 loss to Syracuse, when senior and ACC player of the year Malcolm Brogdon was 2 of 14 from the floor.
5. Oklahoma’s unanimous 1st Team All American and senior Buddy Hield entered the Final Four averaging 29 ppg during the Big Dance. He ended his career Saturday night with just 9 points as the Sooners were destroyed by Villanova 95-51.
These are some truly bizarre contradictions to what was absolutely a fantastic year for seniors & upperclassmen all over college basketball. But this is also further proof that this March has been nothing if not filled with Madness.
In an effort to restore some sanity though, I’ll take preseason #1 North Carolina to cut down the nets in Houston tomorrow night and end the season where they began. And if that happens Northern Iowa will be able to further console themselves by remembering that on November 21, 2015 they actually beat the national champs 71-67. How’s that for madness? It’s been quite a month of March (and a tiny bit of April) indeed. But these are… Just My Thoughts.