Wild Wild Wildcats

This year’s NCAA March Madness basketball tournament has been everything it’s meant to be, exciting and entertaining. Around this time, last year, the kids from Kentucky were all playing in their last high school basketball game and now they’re all playing in the Final Four for the NCAA National Championship. There have been some great college basketball games this year, but none compared to what we have been witnessing in these championship games. The majority of the games have been very close and exciting. The University of Connecticut, a No. 7 seed, shocked many of the critics with the success of where they are. The Final Four bound No. 8 seeded University of Kentucky is a team loaded with super freshmen with great size. The overall favorite, from day one, has been the University of Florida and they will meet the UConn Huskies. I think we can count on this game to be what is expected, another thriller! Since a No. 1 is playing against a No. 7, don’t put your money on what looks to be a sure bet because there isn’t one. Someone failed to tell the Huskies that they’re a No. 7 seed. Also, don’t think the No. 2 Badgers are a sure bet against the Wildcats. They certainly will not take their opponent lightly. How could they? The young Wildcats have no idea that they are underdogs. Or, are they? Young people have no fear! Imagine this: There could be another first in NCAA history, one that is more possible than plausible. We could see a final game with a 7 seed playing an 8 seed for the national championship. A tournament with a record number of overtimes and pick and rolls may be the most entertaining in NCAA’s National Championship history. Mostly every team has used a rendition in their man-to-man offenses of the ancient basketball strategy of the pick and roll, which translates into a player setting a screen on the guy, or girl with the ball and then releases from the screen (pick) and cuts to the basket, looking for a pass. The technology used by the referees of the video replay to help them make the right calls and even correct a questionable one, has really made an impact on these games. In the Wisconsin-Arizona game, with a little under three seconds left in the game, the refs watched a replay for five minutes to determine who got the ball. Arizona down by a score of 64-63, even though they were rewarded the ball, failed to score in their loss to the Badgers. It seems there is no room for human error, but there were questions that made most of us wonder, “Why are some referees quick with the whistle and other aren’t?” Then there are the officials who seem to change their minds, philosophically, during the progression of a game by changing the way they make calls, from close to loose, or just the opposite. All is part of a tournament that has been one for the NCAA history book. Another first for March Madness, two brothers are coaches at different schools and both teams made it to the Sweet 16 and there was a possibility that if they made it to the final four, they would have played against each other—bothers Sean Miller, head coach of the University of Arizona, and his bother Archie Miller, the head coach at the University of Dayton and the Cinderella Flyer. Both the Dayton Flyers and the Arizona Wildcats were defeated by Florida and Wisconsin, respectively. I’m not making any predictions because so far I have struck out. I like Gators’ head coach Billy Donovan, but I’m not a Gators’ fan. I like the Kentucky Wildcats, a team assembled by the somewhat controversial coach John Calipari. I’ve always been a backseat fan of the University of Connecticut and I do like the second year coach Kevin Ollie. He has great energy and I love the way senior guard Shabazz Napier plays. I might be leaning in Wisconsin’s corner because I really appreciate what coach Bo Ryan has worked so hard for, in his first Final Four as a Division I head coach. Ryan is an old school coach, a man of spirit, discipline and toughness. It’s something that he wears on his sleeve, which translates through how his team plays. They just don’t make these kinds of coaches anymore. The Bo Ryan’s of days gone by! A note of interest is that Wisconsin was the last team to defeat Florida, during the regular season. Ryan has been the head guy at Wisconsin since 2001. Since then, the Badgers have been averaging 25 wins a season under his command. If you look at the history of his career, one can see that he has paid his dues for his membership into the Final Four. He won four Division III national championships at Wisconsin-Platteville and has an overall career record of 704-223. To top it all off, I feel his team has the total package of great outside shooting and a 7-footer who can take over a game, junior Frank Kaminsky. I am so ready for these games, and making things better, spring is finally here and the boys of summer are on the field. Baseball just gives me a warm feeling because my favorite weather is connected to the game. One question: Does anyone have a chance to win their NCAA pool? Mine was a real mess. I picked the Spartans of Michigan State to win it all!