NCAA Tournament

Well, it is NCAA tournament time. For the past few years, I have written a column at the Collegian about the tournament. I’m guessing that if I continue in the field of sports writing, most years I will write a column of some sorts about the Madness of March. This year will be no different. But this year I am not going to extol the wonders of tournament, nor give advice on picking brackets (I’ve been smoked too many years in a row in my family pool to do that). No, instead, I am going to complain. Something new for me.
I am so bored with all of the “bubble team” talk before the tournament and the few days after the tournament. Which team will get in? Who helped their chances? Who was robbed? Which team that didn’t make it deserves to be there the most?
News flash: It does not matter, no not one bit. Those teams that were “robbed” play no significant role in who wins the national title. The teams that had their “bubbled burst” are irrelevant to the overall scheme of the tournament.
The teams that were left out are insignificantly better or worse than the teams that made it.
Really. They are. The differences between the 60th best team in the nation and the 70th best team are minimal, and mostly subjective. Ask 10 different “experts” to rank the teams 60-70, and you will get 10 different orders. It does not matter.
Let me repeat, and this time, with emphasis. IT DOES NOT MATTER.
In the tournament, it comes down to matchups and getting on a roll. It is rare that one of the last few at-large teams make it to the final four. And if they do, it is because they had a favorable draw and caught fire. Not because they were that much better of a team then number 66 or 67.
The only people who should be upset are the players, coaches and fans from that school. Those last few teams are probably going to lose in the first round, maybe the second. They do not have a legitimate shot at winning. But for those kids, those fans, getting one game in the Big Dance can be a live-long memory. It can make the entire college career. For them, missing out by one or two teams can be devastating.
But for the casual fan … get over it. The “bubble teams” will not affect your bracket more than a few games in the early rounds. And they affect everybody equally. By complaining about it, all you do is show your ignorance about the tournament while trying to show off your knowledge about RPI rankings and strength of schedule. In the end, though, you just look republican.