March Madness is apparently the time of year when perceptions trump everything else. It doesn’t matter if the things perceived can be backed up factually or not. Whether it is the idea that a 12 seed will always upset a five; that the First Four is the most evil thing ever; or that certain coaches and schools can’t go dancing deep in the NCAA Tournament because, well, they just can’t, some ideas just seem set in stone.
That last idea — some coaches and schools just won’t go deep in March — is a weird but often accepted perception. Members of the media, fans, and even your aunt who picks her bracket based off the mascot’s resemblance to Uncle Festus, will not choose certain teams to go deep in their brackets because they never seem to — no matter how good of a seed or matchup they are given.
Sometimes that perception is fair. There do seem to be a few coaches who have the inability to take their teams past a certain point. However, there are also other coaches and programs who have gotten this label hurled at them for reasons I am not too sure of.
One team which has been labeled as a program that can’t go on a run is Villanova. Technically, that’s true. There isn’t a player on this roster who has gotten further than the third round. If you want to label the Wildcats incapable because of that, despite being a one seed, then I suppose that’s your right.
Usually, though, these perceptions are more thrust upon coaches instead of players. People bash Mark Few for the lack of Gonzaga runs, John Thompson III for apparently making Georgetown a regular easy out, and other coaches who are reportedly the worst Tournament coaches in the history of history.
What about Jay Wright, though? If there’s any idea out there that Nova can’t go on a run, the perception must have been built off a history of ineptitude. He must be the reason, right?
Well…
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Wright, who is correctly lauded as being one of the best coaches in the country, is viewed as bringing the same types of teams into the NCAA Tournament: guard-heavy teams, they say — which is mostly true. Yet, it is also odd that his critics knock Wright for having guard-heavy teams, since March Madness is supposedly all about guard play (more perceptions!).
What is usually left out in the “Wildcats can’t advance” debate is the fact that Wright has taken them on deep runs: two Sweet 16s, an Elite Eight, and a Final Four to be exact. That’s four more-than-respectable runs in his 13 previous seasons (not counting this, his 14th).
That might not scream “Coach K taking Duke to five straight Final Fours” or “Tom Izzo making Michigan State a regular NCAA Tournament behemoth,” but it isn’t trash. More importantly, it shows that Wright, as a coach, is capable of taking players under his leadership on rather lengthy runs.
Why the pervasive and often reflexive skepticism directed at Villanova? Maybe it is because it has been since 2009 since Villanova has gotten through to Sweet 16 land and beyond, or because of the idea that the Big East Conference is a shell of its former self, so Nova must be bad via transitive property. Maybe Villanova is doubted because people are lazy and criticisms are far easier to hurl in hordes at the general direction of no one actually listening, than it is to accept the fact that it is actually okay to not go to the Sweet 16 every single year.
That last part is the most important one. People have such a weird idea as to what success actually is that it blinds them from gauging it properly.
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With the NCAA Tournament being in a single-elimination game setting, it allows for lesser teams to advance. Anything can happen during any given game. In fact, history has shown us that it isn’t even the usual perceived best teams who win the whole shebang (which is another way to highlight that perceiving things are dumb). Being able to acknowledge that aspect of the Tourney should give way to having more reasonable expectations of how programs can perform in that setting on a regular basis.
That’s where expectations meet the perception of teams. People expect Villanova to fail early only because the Wildcats normally at least meet — but often exceed — regular-season expectations. So, since they sometimes don’t do great in March, there must be some underlying problem with them. Really, apply this to many of the other programs people perceive to be wretched NCAA Tournament teams. (Villanova’s Big East neighbor, Georgetown, is a perfect example of this.)
This does not apply to coaches who always seem to go to the Final Four. Really, we should certainly react the complete opposite way for those who do consistently defy the odds and always seem to go on deep runs. Those few coaches who do so are incredible — they should be celebrated for achievements that should only enhance their legacies.
Regardless — according to lovers of perception at least — it must mean that brackets have to be filled out with the same exact teams advancing each year and the same programs losing early as well. Not only does that put a hamper on bracket pools (and probably eliminates them completely); it also makes no sense because it just doesn’t work that way. The same eight teams are not in the Elite Eight every year — I promise.
Eh, I guess if you still want to perceive that Jay Wright and Villanova can’t go dancing deep into the Tournament despite history telling you otherwise, I suppose that means you are really stupid. I have nothing to back that up except that you are failing to live up to my regular expectations of you as a member of the human species. The vibe you give off is that of a person I perceive as being really, really dumb. You wouldn’t make the Sweet 16 every year as a person.
Oh, wait — I’m being unfair to you, aren’t I? Yes — in the very same way you’ve been unfair to Jay Wright, if you’re one of those who thinks he’s not measuring up in Philadelphia.
Hooray, perception — right?
