March Madness Underscores The Parity in Men’s College Basketball
As a basketball enthusiast, I always look forward to the NCAA men’s tournament as there are inevitably upsets that no one can predict, not even the sports analyst or commentators who follow these teams throughout the regular season. Guess that’s why it is appropriately called March Madness. I participate in the March Madness brackets each year and normally come out okay after the first round. However, I stopped looking at my brackets after the first round of the tournament this year as the team I picked to advance to the championship game and to win it all, lost in the first round. Now, you may be wondering what team that was. Ok, I’ll confess that I was a bit biased and allowed my enthusiasm for my alma mater, UVA, to get the best of me. I made this decision fully understanding that it was not statistically possible for UVA to win it all given the higher seeded teams they would have to play against in the tournament in addition to losing one of their starters, Ben Vander Plas, who fractured his right hand in practice before the tournament commenced. However, I convinced myself that it is March Madness and so anything can happen. So, why not pull for my team. After all, it would make watching the tournament that much more exhilarating.
UVA, a No. 4 seed, played in the South Region and lost to a No. 13 seed, Furman after leading the entire game. Losing to Furman brought back memories, one that I had previously tried to suppress, of losing in the first round to UMBC when UVA was a No. 1 seed and UMBC was a No. 16 seed in 2018. Yes, up until then, a No. 1 seed had never lost to a No. 16 seed since the Division 1 men’s tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. So, as an avid UVA basketball fan, this was very difficult to accept and the media didn’t make it easy to forget. It was touted that UVA made history but in a not so good way. Well, like records are made to be broken, history is made to be repeated, as five years later, another No. 1 seed, Purdue, lost to FDU a No. 16 seed in the first round of the tournament. All of the other No. 1 seeds, which includes Alabama from the South region, Houston from the Midwest region and Kansas from the West region, were successful in surviving the 1st round. However, there were more unexpected upsets in the 2nd round as Kansas, the national champions from 2022, lost to Arkansas, a No. 8 seed and Alabama and Houston both fell in the Sweet 16 to San Diego State and Miami, respectively, who were both 5 seeds. This is the first time since the tournament seeding began in 1979 where a No. 1 seed will not appear in the Elite 8. An even more historic fact is that a No. 1 seed has always made it to the Final Four and have won the last five NCAA Tournaments.
All of this highlights the parity in men’s college basketball. No one can accurately predict the winners of March Madness, regardless of their seeding, and that is what makes this event so much fun to watch. The one and done format of March Madness makes it even more interesting as any team can beat another team on any given day. So, every team needs to bring their “A” game or go home. It is exciting to see so many great basketball players from all around the country, who may not have the same visibility throughout the year, displaying their talents and skills. Although not realistic, given the number of teams participating in this tournament, I wonder what it would be like if it was the best of 3 games instead. Just some food for thought.
The Blue Bloods of College Basketball
According to the NCAA, a “blue blood” refers to “an undefined elite class of college basketball programs. These are teams that have a track record of winning. The teams that are most often associated with the term “blue blood” are Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana and UCLA. So, let’s explore how the two ACC teams, Duke and North Carolina, fared this past season and in March Madness.
It is expected that Duke would be highly ranked each year as they typically attract the top basketball talent in the country. However, this year was a bit more challenging for them. They were picked to finish the season as number 2 in the preseason ACC men’s basketball poll and No. 7 in the AP polls but instead finished 3rd and 12th in both polls, respectively, ending the season with an overall record of 27 -9 and 14-6 in the ACC falling behind Miami and Virginia. The AP poll provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA men’s basketball team, as compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadcasters from across the nation. Duke remained ranked in the top 25 for the first 10 weeks of the season by the AP poll, but then fell out of the national top 25 in January of 2023 after losing to Clemson. The last time Duke fell out of the Top 25 was in the 2020-2021 season. Some of this may be contributed to the fact that Duke had a new head coach, Jon Scheyer, combined with a young team that had to learn how to play together. Jon was a player and associate head coach for the legendary Naismith Hall of Fame coach, “Coach K”, who retired last year. However, Duke started to play very well towards the end of the season and won their last 6 games heading into the ACC tournament and consummated their season as the ACC Tournament champions given them an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They received a No. 5 seed in the East Region and defeated Oral Roberts in the first round of the dance but later lost to No. 4 Tennessee in the 2nd round.
North Carolina started the 2022-2023 season ranked No. 1 in both the AP and ACC preseason polls due to their amazing run in the 2021 Final Four with an unforgettable win over Duke in Coach K’s last game. They advanced to the NCAA championship game as a No. 8 seed before losing to Kansas, who was ranked No. 1. Their No. 1 ranking in 2022 was based on the success they had in 2021 combined with the fact that they were returning four of their starters, Armando Bacot, RJ Davis, Caleb Love and Leaky Black. However, they performed very inconsistently offensively throughout the season. Injuries to their star dominant center, Armando Bacot, who led the ACC with 10.4 rebounds earning his way to First Team All- ACC honors, didn’t help them as well. As a result, they ended the season falling out of the AP men’s top 25 poll with an overall record of 20-13 and 11-9 in the ACC and weren’t invited to the NCAA Tournament. They also declined an NIT invitation after losing to Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. This is the first time that a pre-season No. 1 team missed the NCAAs. They are coached by Hubert Davis, who was a recipient of two National-Coach-of-the-Year awards in 2021 in his first season as their head coach.
Dawn Staley, a gifted leader, player and coach
South Carolina Gamecocks entered the Final 4 matchup against Iowa with an impeccable overall record of 36-0 and 16-0 in the Southeastern conference “SEC” in the 2022-2023 season before losing to Iowa with a final score of 77 to 72. Congratulations to their illustrious and highest paid African American college basketball coach in the country, Dawn Staley, who has played an instrumental role in leading them to 2 NCAA championships in 2017 and 2022. Staley signed a whopping seven-year, $22.4 million contract extension in 2021 with South Carolina. Staley’s storybook coaching career wasn’t always rosy nor was it a career path that she had envisioned for herself. She started coaching the Gamecocks in 2008 and had to rebuild the program from scratch, enduring two losing seasons at the start. The slogan that says “it is not how you start but how you finish”, although she is not finished, is fitting for the job she has done so far at South Carolina. Since winning only 10 games in the 2008 -2009 season, Staley continued to improve the team’s record in each subsequent season, before leading them to their 1st number 1 ranking and Final Four appearance during the 2014-2015 season. They repeated as SEC regular season and tournament champions in the 2016-2017 season for the third year in a row, and advanced to their second Final Four in school history. They defeated Mississippi State in the national championship game to win the first national title in school history in 2017. After the 2017 win, The Post and Courier listed Staley first in their ranking of the most powerful people in South Carolina sports. Staley became the second African American female to lead a women’s basketball team to a national championship following Carolyn Peck who had coached Purdue to the 1999 national championship.
In 2022, the Gamecocks were #1 in both the SEC and AP polls for the entire season. They defeated 14 ranked teams and I can’t help but highlight Staley’s wins against the University of Connecticut, “UConn” Huskies team in both the regular season and the NCAA tournament. UConn is coached by Geno Auriemma, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee in 2006. Anyone who follows women’s college basketball know that Geno has dominated this sport with an impressive track record for a very long time. He has led UConn to 17 undefeated conference seasons, six of which were undefeated overall seasons, with 11 NCAA Division 1 national championships. It appears that the tables are turning as Staley is the first coach to defeat Tara VanDerveer of Stanford, Kim Mulkey of LSU and Auriemma of UConn, who are all legendary coaches, in the same season.
By way of background, Staley is from Philadelphia and played her high school ball at Murrell Dobbins Vocational High School in Philadelphia before matriculating to UVA where she was a dynamic All-American point guard for the Cavaliers from 1988 to 1992. She led UVA to three consecutive Final Fours from 1990 through 1992 and was a two-time Naismith College Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992. She was named the Most Outstanding Player in the 1991 NCAA Final Four. After her outstanding collegiate career as the NCAA’s all-time steals leader, she was the number 9th pick of the Charlotte Sting in the first round of the WNBA draft in 1999 and led them to the championship game of the WNBA playoffs in 2001. She was traded to the Houston Comets in 2005 and retired at the end of the season to focus on her coaching position with the Temple Owls. Staley mentioned that she had no interest in coaching when Temple University’s athletic director, Dave O’Brien approached her while she was attending the Final Four in Philadelphia. She initially resisted the offer but then finally accepted the position after being challenged by O’Brien to figure out a way to turn the program around. This started the beginning of her incredible coaching career. She coached the Owls from 2000 to 2008 before accepting the head coach position at South Carolina. Under her leadership, the Gamecocks has captured five SEC regular season championships, seven SEC tournament titles, four Final Fours, two NCAA National Championships, seven sweet sixteen appearances, five SEC player of the year awards and five SEC freshmen of the year awards. She has also been awarded SEC coach of the year five times.
Much kudos to Dawn Staley for accepting the challenge to coach the Temple Owls even though she didn’t initially believe that it was her calling. Who knows where South Carolina and women’s basketball will be without her taking on this role? The lesson here is that we shouldn’t ignore the natural gifts we are blessed with that others may recognize in us. Rather, we should look to harness our gifts to make a difference in the world.
The three-point shot has revolutionized the game of basketball
I grew up watching NBA basketball in the 80’s when dunking was the highlight and ultimate attraction in the games. I believe that dunking is what made the NBA so popular back then as players consistently displayed their raw and creative athleticism. This was an era comprise of the likes of Julius Erving, David Thompson, Darryl Dawkins, Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan and George Gervin just to name a few. I personally was a huge fan of Julius Erving, aka, Dr. J, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers and was a teammate of another electrifying dunker, Darryl Dawkins. Dr. J’s whirlwind dunks, and in many cases almost defying gravity, was exciting and fun to watch. As time has passed, the game has evolved and has taken on a different level of entertainment for fans including myself. While players still dunk the ball in college and NBA games today, I don’t believe that it is as frequent as it once was. No matter how impressive a dunk is today, it still just counts as 2 points.
The introduction of the three-point shot in 1979 by the NBA has revolutionized the game and will continue to do so for years to come. October 12th, 1979 was the inception of the first three-point field goal made by Chris Ford, a Villanova alum, in an NBA game. Chris hit this historical 3 point shot while playing for the Boston Celtics in the 1979 -1980 season. Since then, the three-point shot has increasingly become the dominant factor in most college and NBA games today and for good reasons. While a three-point shot isn’t as exhilarating as a dunk, in my opinion, it is, nonetheless, very impressive to see the level of accuracy players have developed in completing these shots over the years and the impact that they can have on the outcome of the game. For example, if you are down 10 points with 2 minutes to go in the game, you only need to make 3 three-pointers to get back in the game as compared to 5 two-point shots. So, teams with great three-point shooters have a better chance of coming back.
The three-point line was originally located 23 feet and 9 inches in the center of the court and 22 feet in the corners. However, the NBA made a change to the three-point line in the 1990’s with the goal of raising the average points per game, which had been decreasing. So, it was shortened from 23 feet and 9 inches to 22 feet. However, they didn’t achieve the expected results and returned to the original distance, which remains the same today. The three-point line in men’s college basketball is 22 feet, 1 ¾ inches and it is 20 feet, 9 inches in women’s college basketball.
So, let’s take a look at a phenomenal three-point shooter, Caitlyn Clark, who played for the number 2 Iowa Hawkeyes in the recent women’s NCAA tournament. Caitlyn, a guard for the Hawkeyes, had an extraordinary three-point performance in the NCAA March Madness championship game against the number 3 LSU tigers, albeit in a losing effort. She scored 30 points which represents a new record in a single NCAA tournament game. She also had 7 three- pointers which is the most three-point shots made in a national title game. In short, a whopping 21 of her 30 points were three-pointers. Looking at her playing reminded me of Steph Curry’s amazing March Madness run in the 2008-2009 season where he led his team, the number 10 Davidson Wildcats, to the Elite 8, before losing to number 1 Kansas team that would eventually advance to win the title that year. Despite the loss, Curry set the NCAA record for the most three-point shots in a single season with 162 and he has continued his three point prowess in the NBA. So, while both Caitlyn and Steph didn’t win the big dance, they will both always be remembered for the NCAA records they set and will go down in history for their incredible performances. They have set a high bar for others to follow.
