| 22 March 2010
Honestly, isn't the NCAA Tournament great? Just when you think things can't get any better, there's Bruce Pearl pacing the sidelines in his orange blazer and proving once again, that this is in fact, the best sporting even out there.
For anyone who watched, this weekend was obviously no exception. And after sacrificing my social life, and taking in as much of the weekend's action that I possibly could, it's time to hand out some awards.
Time to praise the good, mock the bad, and recap everything else that happened in the NCAA Tournament's first weekend.
The Healthcare Reform Award, For the Biggest Storyline of the Weekend Hands Down:
Could it be anything else other than Northern Iowa beating Kansas?
I mean after all, this was the first time a No. 1 seed lost on the first weekend of the tournament since 2004, when a way less talented Kentucky team lost to UAB. Not to mention the Jayhawks were picked by over 40 percent of America to win the National Championship, including two very important people: The leader of the free world, Barak Obama, and the biggest fraud in the college basketball world, me.
Either way, what was most impressive to me about the victory was that Northern Iowa played like they thought they should win the game, as opposed to playing like they could win. Coach Ben Jacobson even said himself that by the middle of the first half he had a pretty good feeling Northern Iowa would get the victory.
All game long Northern Iowa was like a hot blackjack player, they hit 21 every hand. They were efficient on offense, and made their open jumpers and foul shots. They stayed calm and made enough plays down the stretch (Cough...Ali Farokmanesh...Cough), even when it seemed like they were giving the game away. And for all the talk about Kansas superstar Sherron Collins having an "off game," remember that Northern Iowa was ranked No. 2 in college basketball this year in defense, allowing opponents only 54 points a game. Did Collins have a bad game, or was the defense just that good?
Also in victory, Jacobson himself won an award, the "Steve Alford/Gary Waters/Mark Turgeon Award, For The Coach Who Turned A Deep NCAA Tournament Run Into A Seven Figure Pay Day," from some major conference school.
Honestly, watching that game, I have no reason to think that Jacobson isn't a legitimate superstar head coach in the making. His ability to get guys to play fundamentally sound, hard on defense and turnover free, translates to success anywhere. Small school, big school. Big 10, Big East, if he decides to stay at Northern Iowa. Whatever.
Watching Jacobson's team on Saturday against Kansas, actually reminded me of watching a young Urban Meyer coaching Utah in the 2004 Fiesta Bowl. You just knew that the guy had confidence in himself, and it translated to his players.
My prediction is that Jacobson ends up in at least one Final Four within the next 15 years, wherever he ends up.
Speaking of coaches and Final Four's...
The Coach K in the Mid-'90's Award, For Coach Who Always Has His Team Most Ready Come NCAA Tournament Time:
Coach K used to be the best at having his guys foaming at the mouth when the tourney tipped off, and now he's passed the torch to John Calipari. Love or hate the guy, nobody has team more rearing to go in March than Coach Cal. I suppose there's a reason he's gone to four straight Sweet 16's, and been to the Elite Eight or beyond in three of the last four years.
My favorite part about Calipari's shtick, is the mind games he's always playing with the media, fans and (most likely) his players at this time of year. Let me explain.
Right around this time last week, I was running on the treadmill and watching Sportscenter, when Calipari was on the TV doing an interview. Honestly, the guy was talking in "coach-speak" so thick, I practically needed an interpreter to translate for me. During the entire interview, Calipari answered every question with responses like, "We're just so young, I have no idea what to expect," and "Truthfully, we're focusing on one game at a time. We'll be lucky to get to the second weekend." After five minutes the guy practically had me feeling sorry for him. Seriously.
Well fast-forward to this past weekend, after his Wildcats laid their second straight beat-down of the tournament on Wake Forest, and Calipari was singing a completely different tune. This time, he was saying stuff, like "You know, a week ago everyone in the media said we were too young to win this thing. And now we're the favorites? Boy you guys change your minds quickly."
Umm, coach... The reason that everyone in the media thought your team was too young to win the championship is because, well, that's all you've been saying for the last SIX MONTHS! And it's what you've been hammering home in every interview for the last seven days. No wonder we were thinking that! What did you expect?
But that's exactly what Coach Cal does. Nobody is better is at tricking people into thinking his team is awful, and then using the "Us against the world," mentality, than Calipari, something that he's been doing since his UMass days 15 years ago. And it's those same motivational skills that are the reason that Kentucky actually is the favorite going forward. I'm just curious to see what he'll be saying at this time next week.
On the opposite end of the coaching tree...
The Deer In Headlights Award, For the Coach Who Most Looked Like He Was Going To Throw Up on the Sideline As His Team Melted Down:
I know a lot of you want me to make the case for Kansas coach Bill Self, but I'm just not buying it. Truthfully, I don't really think Self did anything bad from a coaching standpoint, just that Kansas ran into the wrong team, on the wrong day Saturday, and in a one-and-done tournament, that tends to happen from time to time. Nope, Self is safe for another year. The winner of this award is Jay Wright from Villanova.
(And just a note for the readers, this section gets a little long. If you don't care about the Villanova game, or my opinion on it, go ahead and just skip ahead to the next part. I won't hold it against you. Maybe...)
Back to Wright. As a general, I like the guy. He is a great coach who always seems capable of doing the most, with the least. Hell, he got a team to the Final Four last year that had one legitimate low post player, which as the kids say, ain't easy. I've also heard from several people that have worked with him personally, that he's about as nice of a guy as you'll ever meet. Which is why this is tough for me to say: But coach, you laid an egg on Saturday. Big time.
Why you ask? Well before I go any further, I want to reiterate that I am nothing more than a fan. I don't claim to know the game of basketball, or his players any better than Wright does himself. With that said, to steal a line from Frank Costanza, "It's time for the Airing of Grievances!"
Getting back to Saturday. For starters, let's look at Villanova's first round win against Robert Morris. Whether you agree or disagree with some of the refereeing down the stretch in that game, you can't deny that Villanova was at the very least aggressive, drove toward the basket, and put pressure on the refs to make calls. Whether you liked those calls or not is your opinion, but again, the Wildcats did a good job of putting the referees in a tough position, and forcing them to blow the whistle one way or the other. Scottie Reynolds ended the game going 15 for 16 from the foul line, the biggest reason they held on to beat Robert Morris.
With that said, in Saturday's game, Villanova settled for way too many jump shots. Waaaaaaaaay too many.
It's bad enough that Reynolds and Corey Fisher were a combined 5 for 24 from the field against St. Mary's, but the fact that they only got to the foul line a combined five times is absolutely inexcusable. Reynolds was an 84 percent shooter on the season, and Fisher 77 percent. So why were they continually settling for 18-foot jump shots? Why didn't their head coach kick them in the butt, and tell them to take the ball toward the basket? Why? Why? My bracket is in shambles coach, I want answers!!
I also thought Wright totally mismanaged his bench.
Again, I'm only a fan. But I've seen enough Villanova games to know that when they bring Taylor King in off the bench, he's going to shoot. A lot. The guy is a cold-blooded, react first, think second gunner, like some bad guy in a Martin Scorsese film. And as soon as I saw King coming in off the bench late in Saturday's game, I knew disaster was about to hit.
Which is exactly what happened, as King jacked up three straight ill-advised shots on three straight possessions, after coming in with under eight minutes to go.
In King's defense, he made the first shot, and the ensuing free throw to give Villanova a lead. But on the next possession he forced another, sending Wright into a fit on the bench, and then missed again the following possession, giving Reynolds a, "Seriously, I'm going to strangle this guy," look on his face. That final shot was King's last of the game as Wright immediately pulled him. But again, if I, Aaron Torres knew King was going to come out firing, why did his coach not know the same?
I also thought Wright left freshman Maalik Wayns in for too long (Wayns had a crucial turnover with 30 seconds left in the game) and didn't get Corey Stokes enough shots, as Stokes went 4 for 9 in the tournament from three.
Either way, the season is over at Villanova, and so is Reynolds career. And I blame the coach for it. It's like I tweeted on Saturday afternoon, "No coach does more with less than Wright. But this year he had more, and fell flat on his face."
(Also getting honorable mention in this category is John Thompson III from Georgetown. Hey, umm, coach your team is down by 15 with six minutes to go, think you might want to pressure the ball? Just thinking out loud here, sorry)
Patrick O'Bryant Award, For The Goofy Big Man Who Played His Way Into A Fat NBA Contract:
You remember O'Bryant right? He had two big games for Bradley in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, parlaying it into the ninth overall pick in the following draft. And four years later, last I heard about him, he was playing last summer in the Vegas Summer League for his third team in four years. That little nugget of information coming from a girl I met in San Diego who claimed to know him. My guess is that she wasn't lying, you know, since nobody just claims to know guys like Patrick O'Bryant. Unless you actually do.
So anyway, who is this year's Patrick O'Bryant? It's got to be St. Mary's big man Omar Samhan. Samhan is also a double award winner, taking home the award for the "Quotable, Goofy Big Guy," of which we seem to get one every year.
Regardless, Samhan is the talk of the tournament, and rightfully so. He dropped 29 and 11 in the first round against Richmond, and followed that up with another 32 and 7 against Villanova. And during those wins, he seemed to display everything you could ever want from a big guy: Quick feet, a soft touch, good passing out of the low post. Truthfully there just aren't that many seven footers who can do all that.
And it was during that Villanova game, where I also got three separate texts (three), from friends with some variation of "Man this guy Samhan is legit." Which isn't too bad, considering a week ago nobody had ever heard of him.
So where does that leave him as an NBA prospect? He's certainly got a brighter career ahead of him than O'Bryant , and I could definitely see him finding a little niche and sticking in the league for 10 years.
Just pray your team doesn't take him with the No. 9 overall pick.
The Adam Morrison Crying Against UCLA Award, For The Super Exciting Game That Left The Loser In Tears:
Ok, this is a bit of a cop out but I can't decide which was the best game of the first weekend was, so I'm leaving it up to you. Here are my choices, let me know what you think:
1. Northern Iowa-Kansas (Second Round)
2. Murray State-Vanderbilt (First Round)
3. Wake Forest-Texas (First Round)
4. Michigan State-Maryland (Second Round)
5. San Diego State-Tennessee (First Round)
Vote to the poll on the right side of your screen. (No the other right... Just kidding!)
(By the way, wow! Look at those games! Doesn't even include New Mexico State-Michigan State, Florida-BYU, Texas A&M-Purdue and a few more I'm sure to be missing. Again, just... Wow!!)
The FreeCreditReport.com Award, For Worst Commercial That Was Seemingly On A Repetitive Loop During This Tournament:
Sorry, another cop out. I was all set to write about this subject, then decided that truthfully, it deserved the lead of it's own Jerk List. Check back next Monday for my thoughts.
The Cornell Big Red Award, For the Team That Is An Underdog on Paper, Until Their Game Tips Off and you Realize, 'Damn, These Guys Are Good':
Well, since the award is named after them, how could it not go to Cornell? (Speaking of which, Jay Bilas must be walking around with a pretty big hop in his step this morning, after he picked Cornell to go to the Elite Eight. I'm still wondering why I didn't listen to him.)
After watching Cornell this weekend, what was truly impressive to me, is that in the two games that they were considered underdogs, they looked like the better team once play got under way. They were more crisp on offense, great on defense and got to every loose ball. Over the weekend, Cornell also hit seemingly every open jumper, were almost pathologically unselfish, and made their foul shots.
Maybe most importantly, Cornell and Northern Iowa brought up a hotly contested debate I had with myself last night, and left me with a thought which I'll end this article with...
The Tiger Woods Award, For A Moment of Personal Reflection:
As I tossed and turned in bed last night, I started thinking about college basketball as we know it. How the "one and done," rule has changed the game, its positive and negative impact, all that kind of stuff.
Which led me to my biggest question of all when it comes to the state of the game today: What is the value of only having the absolute best players for a year or two because of the rules, versus having less pure basketball talent, and being able to nurture and harness it over three or four years?
Let's go back to the Northern Iowa-Kansas game (And if you're sick of hearing me talk about it, I apologize).
Northern Iowa was a team that returned all five starters from a team that lost to Purdue in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. And if you watched this weekend, you could tell. Every guy knew where every other guy was going to be on every play. The team as a whole had their half-court sets down crisp, and it seemed like they could get any shot they wanted, whenever they wanted it, even though Kansas had seemingly every physical advantage (height, length, athleticism) in the game. Watching Northern Iowa it was almost like the entire team had telepathy. Same with Cornell in their two wins.
Now contrast that with any team of the "elite," teams in college basketball.
Think about this: In the last two years alone, Syracuse has lost four guys early to the NBA, Kansas, Arizona, USC and UCLA three, Memphis and North Carolina two, and a handful of other teams at least one. That's just two years!
These elite schools have no choice but to recruit the absolute best of the best, because ultimately the best players win championships. It's the gift and the curse of being at the top. With turnover like that, there's just no way that the best teams (at least as we determine the "best"), can be as comfortable with each other as the perceived mid-majors. It's impossible that Kansas or North Carolina can play basketball the way Northern Iowa and Cornell do, when those teams only spend eight months together before players leave and a new group comes in.
So now I ask you this: As a fan, what would you rather have? The best players coming in and out every eight months like George Clooney funnels girlfriends into his mansion, or a group of six or seven guys that really care about each other, and get the opportunity to play together for two or three years? There's no right or wrong answer, just something to think about.
Northern Iowa returned five starters off a 23 win team last year. Cornell four off a 21 win team as well. And while I'm almost certain they won't win a championship (Again over six games, talent trumps everything else), it's teams like them that make this tournament great.
But at this point, with the way the game is, can we still really consider them underdogs?
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