Navigating Towards March Madness

It’s March Madness time. Basketball junkies, casual observers and others will be tuning in, filling out brackets and entering contests and office pools. But just getting to this point is the difficult part. The term March Madness is reserved for the Division 1 NCAA Tournament, but the real basketball madness begins in late February, with tournaments scheduled and championships at all levels decided across the country. And the culmination of this basketball feast actually arrives in April, when the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Division 1 champions are decided. For fans of high school and college basketball, single-elimination tournament games are coming at us from all directions as the big tournament draws closer. Navigating towards March Madness, that is, prioritizing which events to follow with a schedule this packed can be a challenge. If you’re also a fan of the NBA, something’s gotta give.

NBA Schedule Winding Down

With rare exceptions, see you in late April. And Lebron isn’t playing. Ouch.

High School Tournaments From Coast To Coast

I don’t attend too many high school games nowadays. The seating is usually a bit too uncomfortable and the security checks rival those at the airport in certain venues. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a subscription to a website that broadcasts high school sporting events, because one of my former 10-and-under players–now in his thirties–is coaching basketball at his high school alma mater and they’d reached the quarterfinals in their state tournament in Georgia, and this gave me an opportunity to watch the game. I also had the opportunity to see them advance to the Final Four in their classification where they lost a close semifinal game to the eventual champion, But I had no idea what I’d stumbled upon.

This site broadcasts state high school tournament games from all over the US, so I’ve spent the past couple of weekends watching state championships decided from Alaska to Florida, from Vermont to California, and many points in between. It was amazing to watch all the talent from around the county, the supports from the different communities, the coaching strategies (including the mistakes we’d often see in a recreation league setting), the buzzer-beaters and the wild celebrations (and tears) that follow. Even got to watch my old neighborhood school, Tri-Cities HS, win their first state title on a ridiculous three-pointer as time expired. It’s been a wild couple of weeks; just yesterday I found myself watching state champions crowned in Illinois, Michigan, Alaska, North Carolina and New York, and missed several more.

The Glut Of College Basketball Conference Tournaments

While watching portions of all these high school contests, there were the college basketball tournaments to consider as well. I under$tand why these tournaments take place but I’ve never been a fan because they totally render the regular season meaningless, especially for the smaller conferences assured of only one NCAA Tournament bid. For those smaller schools, their entire season is decided in three days or less, and everything they’ve accomplished during conference play can be wiped out with one bad conference tournament game.

in 2019, schools like Sam Houston State, Radford, Hofstra, Drake, and South Dakota State can speak to this a lot better then I can, having won the regular-season title in their respective conferences but headed to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) after losing in their conference tournaments.

It’s a personal choice, but for years now I’ve largely ignored the power conference tournaments unless there’s a developing story, like a regular-season pushover getting hot for a few days and advancing deep into the bracket. This rarely happens, so I focus on the smaller conferences. Those games mean everything to the kids, and it shows.

Don’t Get Injured Out There

For example, the 2019 NCAA Tournament pairings were announced just a couple of hours ago, and there were a few conference finals aired earlier in the day. The fans of Michigan and Michigan State were understandably amped to watch another rivalry game between the two schools decide the Big Ten Tournament champion, but in the larger picture, both teams were already guaranteed NCAA Tournament berths AND high seedings. The American Conference title game with Cincinnati and Houston featured two more teams securely in the national tournament. The day before, North Carolina and Duke met for the third time–this time in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals–under similar circumstances and to lots of hype, and few would be shocked if they met for a fourth time in the latter stages of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

But compared to what was at stake in the smaller conference tournaments, these were merely exhibition games. Not only did Duke and North Carolina qualify for the NCAA Tournament, both got #1 seeds, and deservedly so, even though UNC lost the game..

And this year, after watching portions of so many games with everything on the line, it’s even tougher to scale it back to watch one where the biggest thing at stake is potential seeding, if that.

Mid-Majors Fighting For The Scraps

I opted to watch the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game between Georgia State and the University of Texas-Arlington, two teams with limited exposure fighting to represent their one-bid conference in the national tournament. Earlier in the weekend I tuned into the Mid-American Conference championship game between Bowling Green and Buffalo; the so-called “bubble” teams squirmed with Bowling Green threatening to slide into an automatic NCAA bid with a win and Buffalo already having earned at least an at-large bid with their strong season-long performance.

During the week I tried to at least tune in to each of the mid-major tournament finals, especially if there was a chance of the top seed being knocked off. Unfortunately, based on crowd size, many of these tournaments are held in venues much larger than needed.

Late Saturday evening, one of the networks was showing a replay of the Division 3 championship game between Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Swarthmore (Oshkosh won 96-82). Having attended a Division 3 school whose basketball team reached the Division 3 Final Four during my senior year, I can relate to how these events can light up a campus.

But I was worn out. Time for bed.

But Wait…There’s The FIRST Four

Thankfully, the high school tournaments are winding down, at least. I’m almost drained from watching all these emotional contests, enjoyable as they were. I was looking forward to the three-day respite between Selection Sunday and the start of the big tournament on Thursday, then remembered those days are gone. Almost forgot the First Four play-in games in Dayton, Ohio, featuring the lowest-seeded at-large (11th seeds) and automatic qualifiers (16th seed). These take place on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and a basketball junkie like myself will watch at least a portion.

About Those Brackets…

No major gripes with the teams selected this time, and with so many variables to consider there will always be some head-scratching decisions, but it would have nice to see a squad like UNC-Greensboro get a nod. They won 28 games and lost in the conference tourney final to Wofford, who was rewarded with a 7-seed in the NCAA Tourney. But once it was revealed that Belmont University received an at-large bid, you could almost guess that Greensboro was doomed.

I root for St. John’s to do well and they had a good season, but I didn’t think a squad that went 8-10, finished seventh in a down Big East Conference and lost by 32 points at home to Marquette while getting eliminated from their conference tourney was deserving of a bid. But sometimes squads like that can be dangerous. They were the last team in.

…And Those “Quadrant 1” Wins

I actually heard one of the television college hoops pundits comparing the “resumes” of a couple of bubble teams, one from a power conference, the other a mid-major. The power conference school had over ten “Quadrant 1” wins–defined as a home win against a top 30 team, a neutral-court win over a Top 50 team, or a road win over a Top 75 team–while the smaller school had but four.

But, of course. The smaller school’s opportunity for those types of wins ends with the start of their conference schedule, while the larger school still has the bulk of their opportunities during conference play. And for pre-conference schedules, the bigger schools aren’t exactly tripping over each other to schedule games against the top mid-major squads unless they’re at home.

Time To Fill Out Those Brackets

It’s funny watching the television experts trying to beat each other to pick upsets, for this will cement their “genius” status. After watching them play a couple of times this season, I was ready to jump on the Southland Conference champion Abilene Christian University bandwagon. They’re writing a nice story as a former Division 2 powerhouse in only their second year as a qualifier for their conference title, and finished the season with a 27 and 6 record. I thought, depending on their first round matchup, they might be able to spring an upset. Then I saw their first round opponent is the University of Kentucky.

Never mind.

I will fill out one bracket only, and warm up the shredder.

Who ya got?

Photo by Todd Greene on Unsplash