It’s hardly a surprise that the madness this March is wilder than ever. The season was screwed up badly by the Coronavirus pandemic, so it stood to reason that the NCAA Tournament would be more unpredictable than ever.
But North Texas 78, Purdue 69?
Who saw THAT coming?
I paid my money and entered the NCAA pool in which I’ve participated for years. My expectations weren’t high because I haven’t followed college basketball as closely as I usually do, due mainly to all the games canceled or postponed by the virus.
Billy Reed is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the Transylvania University Hall of Fame. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times and has won the Eclipse Award three times. Reed has written about a multitude of sports events for over four decades and is perhaps one of the most knowledgeable writers on the Kentucky Derby. His book “Last of a BReed” is available on Amazon. In addition, the three teams I used to cover most – Kentucky, Louisville, and Indiana – all were in disarray. The Wildcats had maybe their worst season ever, the Hoosiers fired Coach Archie Miller after the season, and the Cardinals fired two Kevin Mack assistants.
None made the NCAA field, although some U of L fans think they only reason they didn’t make it was bias on the part of Mitch Barnhart, the UK athletics director who’s also chairman of the NCAA selection committee.
West Virginia 84, Morehead State 67.
The Eagles, of all teams, were the only Kentucky team to make the field. They played valiantly against West Virginia, but just didn’t have the talent to pull an upset. No disgrace there, and they should be even better next season.
In the early going, the Big Ten got good news and bad news. Besides the Purdue-North Texas game, Oral Roberts shocked Ohio State, 75-72. But Wisconsin ripped North Carolina, 85-62.
The tournament hasn’t been kind to the ACC. Duke ended its season prematurely because of the pandemic. League tournament champion Georgia Tech got waxed by Loyola of Chicago, 71-60, and we’ve already discussed the mess at Louisville.
However, I admit I was surprised by the UNC loss. Every time I saw the Tar Heels on TV, they looked pretty good. They were a tall, talented team that has a license to improve under Hall-of-Fame coach Roy Williams.
See you next season, Heels.
By the time you read this, more upsets will be in the books. Nobody, including the top seeds, is immune to the upset virus. Anybody who can pick the Final Four should receive an honorary degree from Harvard or Trump University, take your pick.
If anything, however, the upsets have made the tournament more riveting. We’ve seen a lot of buzzer-beaters and close games. Considering the uneven schedules of most teams, the quality of play has been surprisingly good.
Now that Morehead is gone, I don’t really have a rooting interest. But I do have a lukewarm interest in Texas Tech, where Bob Knight coached after leaving IU, and Oklahoma State, where Eddie Sutton coached before coming to UK in 1985.
Also, Oklahoma State is where the iconic Henry Iba coached. He invented the motion offense that still is being used by many teams today. Iba deserves to be on any Mt. Rushmore of coaches who did the most to build the college game.
So far I haven’t heard any complaints about playing all the tournament games in or around Indianapolis. Not only was it the safe and prudent thing to do, the people there know as much about putting on basketball tournaments as they do hosting the Indy 500.
Last time I checked my pool, I was tied for last place. It would take a miracle for me to make the top five, all of which will provide a payoff.
Maybe I should become an Oral Roberts fan. The motto there is “Expect A Miracle.” But…naw. Not even the promise of money can make me pull for university named for a (yuck) televangelist.
