The Sweet 16 beckons, but before we get around to breaking down what lies ahead, let’s take stock of the first wave of stories to greet us in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, now that the round of 32 is done.
*
10 – REALITY CHECK FOR THE SEC
Georgia manipulated the RPI (which it’s supposed to do, but still masks real achievements). Ole Miss did well in its first game but didn’t have enough for a deep run. LSU was… well, LSU, in its exasperating totality. Arkansas’s defense, which LSU shredded in early March, was similarly porous and unable to avoid fouling against North Carolina.
The non-Kentucky portion of the SEC was quickly dismissed from this tournament. No Florida, no 14 seed (such as last year with Tennessee), no future. The SEC, more than any other conference, deserves the “it was what you thought it was” designation after this past weekend of hoops.
9 – HUNTER OF DREAMS
The journey of Georgia State in this NCAA tournament was a powerful, emotional and thrilling rollercoaster ride with endless layers of happiness and heartbreak. Ryan Harrow couldn’t play in the win over Baylor, after years of trying to put himself in a position to be a March Madness participant. Kevin Ware — he of the broken leg everyone in America saw in the 2013 Elite Eight — found his way to the Big Dance with GSU. Then there were the Hunters — coach Ron and son R.J. — who captivated America with their energy, optimism and openness.
No story was more refreshingly real — stripped bare of pretense in a very positive sense — than the one authored by Georgia State’s players and coaches. They put on a show for us. We are grateful.
8 – BARNES-BURNER
Texas didn’t make good use of an 11 seed in the NCAA tournament, unlike UCLA. The Longhorns’ exit means that Rick Barnes can’t feel very secure about his position in Austin. We’ll see what the next two weeks bring in the way of news.
7 – EASTERN OPPORTUNITY AND CARRIER DOME CONTRADICTIONS
The last time Syracuse hosted an NCAA regional, the top two seeds — West Virginia and Kentucky — played in the regional final in 2010. This year, the East Regional in Syracuse will be the first regional without the top two seeds since the 2004 Midwest Regional in St. Louis.
Oklahoma is the highest remaining seed in the East, but the Sooners do not look like a team that is likely to beat Michigan State in the Sweet 16. This is a wide-open bracket in which all four teams have a reasonable shot of going to the Final Four. This isn’t the sexiest region, but it’s probably going to have the most competitive set of three games this upcoming week.
6 – THE BIG 12: STILL REALLY GOOD, BUT FLAWED
The Big 12, it was widely acknowledged, did not have a national title contender in the bunch this season. Therefore, the first-weekend flop from the conference should not be overemphasized or overreported. The better point of emphasis is that Big 12 teams were up and down throughout the conference season — even Kansas encountered quite a lot of turbulence, especially in the latter stages of February and the first week of March. You did not know what you were going to get from the likes of Iowa State and Baylor from week to week. Oklahoma was outstanding at the very beginning and end of its game against Dayton on Sunday, but the Sooners looked like an NIT team in the middle 20 minutes of that contest.
The Big 12 still had the best regular season of any conference… but its teams were constantly frustrating and did not carry themselves like heavyweights.
Such was the case this past weekend.
5 – REPLAY REVIEW: SHORT, RIGHT, EXPANSIVE
The Valparaiso-Maryland game featured two instances which highlight the flaws of the current replay-review process. First, an out-of-bounds call clearly seemed to show that Valpo should have gained the benefit of an overturn of a call which gave the ball to Maryland. Yet, the officials not only kept their initial call; they did so after a long review of the play. Errors by officials point to the need for an NBA-style command center for quicker processing of reviews. That’s one thing college basketball should seek (as should college football).
The other Valpo-Maryland play worth discussing was the final missed shot by the Crusaders. Replay clearly showed the Valparaiso shooter getting raked on his elevation. Replay has been able to review and overturn a lot of erroneous out-of-bounds calls in college hoops, inspired by errant calls in the 2012 Alabama-Creighton NCAA tournament game and the 2013 Illinois-Miami NCAA tournament game. The next step is to enable missed foul calls to be reviewed… from a command center, with a one-minute limit on the review time.
Making replay more expansive but also quicker is the sweet spot college basketball has to find.
*
4 – GOALTENDING AND BASKET INTERFERENCE RULES: IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE
Dez Bryant caught that ball in Green Bay this past January, even if NFL rules say he didn’t.
UCLA’s Bryce Alford was almost certain to miss that final three-point shot he took against SMU on Thursday in Louisville.
Rules in sports should be simplified to the point that they reward honest effort. Bryant made a catch. SMU forced what was almost certain to be an errant shot in the final 15 seconds of regulation. Neither Dallas-area team deserved to lose due to bad rules in sports rulebooks. It’s time to change goaltending and basket interference rules in college ball and, for that matter, pro ball. The key insight: Removing or at least severely reducing various rim-and-cylinder issues from a referee’s list of tasks will make life easier for officials. This is something we should seek in all sports, not just college hoops. In the NFL, for instance, having possession with two feet down should be the only interpretation officials need to make. Recent additions pertaining to a “football move” or the “process of a catch” are, and always have been, entirely unnecessary complications.
Let’s hope college basketball can create a better, simpler rulebook on goaltending and basket interference plays.
3 – GREGG MARSHALL: PROMINENT IN THE PRESENT, FEARED IN THE FUTURE
As Wichita State produces another impressive March moment — this time in a Super Bowl-level bragging rights game against Kansas — Gregg Marshall’s star just keeps rising in the coaching world. Marshall is a no-brainer top-10 coach in college hoops. The top five is a question, but the top 10 should exist beyond all doubt.
The more Marshall achieves, the harder it is to think that he can resist the allure of a program such as Indiana or Texas. First things first: Wichita State is one win away from setting up what would be a hugely savored NCAA tournament rematch against Kentucky, the team which spoiled the Shockers’ unbeaten season last year. However, once this season ends, Marshall’s place in the coaching community is going to be a central topic of conversation.
2 – VILLANOVA AND VIRGINIA: VEXED… BUT DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON THE COACHES
Our reviews of Villanova’s and Virginia’s losses can be found here (for Villanova) and then over here (for Virginia).
These teams had their weaknesses, and they rose to the surface in a one-game situation. The easy temptation is to look first at the coaches. In reality, that’s the last thing one should do. Jay Wright and Tony Bennett got the most out of their rosters during the regular season. What they both lacked in the end? A do-it-yourself low-post scorer, a guy who can catch a post feed and get work done on his own without a guard having to break down the defense and set something up. That’s a roster deficiency more than a coaching deficiency. We’ll see what these programs do to adjust next season.
1 – THE ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE: ACHIEVING CLEARLY AND CONVINCINGLY
The Atlantic Coast Conference was the real star of the first weekend. Does this mean it was better than the Big 12? No. Three of the ACC’s tournament teams — North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Louisville — were just as volatile as many of the Big 12’s tournament teams. What also has to be said is that the Big 12 got 70 percent of its teams (7 out of 10) into the field of 68. The ACC got 40 percent of its teams into Bracketville (6 of 15). It makes a big difference when there’s a difference of four to five schools between conferences. The ACC was the home to a lot of mediocre (at best) basketball in 2015. The Big 12 kept only three teams (Texas Tech, TCU, and Kansas State) home in the postseason.
Yet, while not top dog in the regular season, the ACC has clearly shot ahead of the pack in the postseason. Those very same volatile teams over the past few months — N.C. State, Carolina, and Louisville — have played much better than they did for extended stretches of January or February. Louisville in particular looked like a transformed team on Sunday against Northern Iowa. North Carolina State — which has shown how good it can be when it decides to fully focus — put its best foot forward against Villanova. Notre Dame took Butler’s best punch and survived, getting Mike Brey within one win of his first-ever Elite Eight.
The most interesting case studies ahead for the ACC: How North Carolina performs against Wisconsin later this week in Los Angeles, and how Notre Dame handles the challenge of a roaring Gregg Marshall-coached Wichita State squad in Cleveland.
